Memory Film: a filmmaker's diary
'Memory Film' is an immersive, poetic documentary by Jeni Thornley based on her silent Super 8 archive (1974-2003), filmed during the decades of her personal and political filmmaking producing 'Maidens', 'To the Other Shore', 'Island Home Country' and the collaborative feature 'For Love or Money'. Accompanied by a sweeping score by Egyptian-Australian oud maestro, Joseph Tawadros, ‘Memory Film’ is a lovingly crafted, lucid meditation on resistance, legacy and carving out one’s place amid constant transformation. Documenting the activism of three decades, amidst the intense sexual politics of radical feminism and social change, 'Memory Film' is also a road movie of an inner journey of liberation – gender fluidity, utopian feminism, love and its tribulations, the pleasure and pain of motherhood, violence against women and the desire for a world free of war and colonizing. Thornley’s ‘Farewell film poem to life’ unfolds with haunting tactility: along with the celluloid’s visible grain, foregrounding both impermanence and the inexorable passage of time.
Nominated for the 2024 Best Sound in a Documentary AACTA Award, the 2023 Australian Innovation Award (Black Magic) MIFF, the Australian Film Critics Association, Best Documentary nomination, 2023 and Top 10 Australian Films 2023, 'The State of Australian Cinema'.
JOTZ Productions with Anandi Films. In association with Melbourne International Film Festival Premiere Fund; Screen Australia; Documentary Australia; Lesbians Inc.
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JENI THORNLEYDirector'Maidens’, ‘To the Other Shore’, ‘Island Home Country’ and the collaborative feature ‘For Love or Money’, Island Home Country
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JENI THORNLEYWriter
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TOM ZUBRYCKIProducerGulpillil - One Red Blood, The Weather Diaries, Ablaze, Senses of Cinema, Kindred, The Carnival.
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JENI THORNLEYProducerSEE ABOVE
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LINDI HARRISONEDITORI am a Girl, Sherpa, Embrace, Salt, Wik vs Queensland, Incarceration Nation- 2022 winner Logie Awards - Most Outstanding Documentary. Lindi’s 2023 editing credits include, Kindred, The Carnival and memory film
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JOSEPH TAWADROSCOMPOSER14 albums of original music, with 14 ARIA nominations and 4 ARIA Awards
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TRISTAN MEREDITHSOUND DESIGNCARBON, ABLAZE, THE DOCTOR BLAKE MYSTERIES
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NICHOLAS HOWERCOLORIST
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Project Type:Documentary
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Runtime:1 hour 21 minutes 19 seconds
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Completion Date:June 30, 2023
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Production Budget:200,000 AUD
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Country of Origin:Australia
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Country of Filming:Australia
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Language:English
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Shooting Format:SUPER 8 DIGITIZED PRO-RES DCP
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Aspect Ratio:16:9
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Film Color:Black & White and Color
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First-time Filmmaker:No
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Student Project:No
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Melbourne International Film Festival. MIFF Premier FundMelbourne
Australia
August 20, 2023
World Premiere
Australian Innovation Award (Black Magic) Nomination -
Top Ten Australian Films of 2023Adelaide
Australia
The State of Australian Cinema, Mousoulis -
Australian Academy Cinema Television Arts- Best Documentary Sound (nomination)Gold Coast
Australia
February 8, 2024
Award Ceremony
AACTA Award for Best Sound in a Documentary-Nomination Tristan Meredith -
Antenna Documentary Film FestivalSydney
Australia
February 9, 2024
Sydney Premiere
Official Selection -
Melbourne Women's Film FestivalMelbourne
Australia
March 25, 2024
Women's Film Festival Premiere
Official Selection -
Australian Film Critics AssociationMelbourne
Australia
Nomination
Best Documentary Nomination 2023 -
Revelation International Film FestivalPerth, WA
Australia
July 3, 2014
Official Selection -
Women's Film Festival, Arc Cinema, National Film & Sound ArchiveCanberra
Australia
August 28, 2024
Official Selection Arc Cinema -
Melbourne Cinematheque: ‘Contested Histories: The Documentaries of Jeni Thornley', RetrospectiveMelbourne
Australia
October 30, 2024
Official Selection -
Visible Evidence Conference, Monash UniversityMelbourne
Australia
December 21, 2024
Official Selection
Distribution Information
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Antidote Films Executive Producer Gil ScrineDistributorCountry: AustraliaRights: All Rights
Writer Director Producer - Jeni Thornley was born in Launceston, Tasmania, educated in Melbourne and lives and works in Sydney. She is a documentary filmmaker, writer and film valuer. Her award-winning documentaries 'Maidens', the collaborative feature 'For Love or Money', 'To the Other Shore', 'Island Home Country' and 'Memory Film' are landmark films in Australian independent and feminist cinema, widely distributed and screened on national television (ABC TV and SBS). Jeni was active in distribution and exhibition at Sydney Filmmakers Co-operative, worked on many independent films, wrote for Filmnews, was Manager of the Women’s Film Fund and Project Coordinator, Documentary (AFC). Jeni lectured in documentary at UTS from 2002-2013 and completed her doctorate. She traces her passion in film to her father’s family, who exhibited films in cinemas across Australia during the silent period, the ‘talkies’, and the TV era. She is currently a Visiting Scholar in the School of Communication, UTS, writes about film regularly and is distributing 'memory film' with Antidote Films.
A silent film with music. 'memory film' is an experiential, lyrical documentary expressing cinema’s power, not via ‘issues’, but with a poetic sensibility blending images, music and sound. The superb soundtrack counterpoints the grainy textural quality of the Super 8. Original music by oud maestro Joseph Tawadros and creative sound design by Tristan Meredith interweaves with the images. As there are no speaking voices, narration or interviews, the film offers an immersive experience of the interplay between public and private – transforming lives. 'memory film' is unique as its legacy harks back to the silent movie era. Tawadros’ expressive music score and Meredith’s sensitive use of sound offers viewers a meditative, inner experience of social change. As editor Lindi Harrison and I initially layered guide track music and sound into the rough cut, the ‘affect’ was compelling, confirming my instinct that the ‘silent film’ conventions of image and music with no speaking voices was the perfect mode for Super 8 film in the digital era.