Projects galore happening

Treasurer Glenn opened the meeting. We had 20 in attendance, which included 4 guests, courtesy of Tewodros Fekadu (Teddy). We had apologies from David who was bogged in Woop Woop and Paul who had relatives visiting.  

The ME Project 

Peter provided an update of events involving his green room. He gave an update for his ME project, which is about meaning: What drives people in life and gives them a sense of joy and purpose? ME is a film about a diverse range of people and their inspiring stories:

• Roman – awe inspired rap 

• Paul - passion of the pen 

• Mariko - relationship connections 

• Jimmy – letting go, compassion and belief 

• Josh – valuing vulnerability 

• Daniel – the power of positivity 

• Charlene – an African heritage 

• David – living longer through purposefulness 

• Rebecca – thriving on harmony 

Peter then showed 2 shorts involving Roman and Josh. 

Peter is also planning to shoot “Coming Out” on Saturday 25th October, which he wants to do artistically, but is still filling out roles. If you are interested and available, contact Peter via peter@peterwaterman.com.au or speak to him at the next club meeting on the 16^th of October. So far, the cast and crew are: 

• Cast - Mark and George

• 20 year old female - TBA

• Director - Peter

• Cameras - Bala and Nigel

Seeking assistance with

• Sound - TBA

• Drone - TBA

BMM Website Update 

Glenn then took us through some changes he had made to the website, including the About Us https://www.bmm.org.au/aboutus section where you can get to meet the Committee (and members who chose to share their profiles). He also took us through the blog and the upcoming projects page https://www.bmm.org.au/s-projects-basic and upcoming events https://www.bmm.org.au/ (scroll down). 

Journey as a filmmaker: Tewodros Fekadu 

Tewodros Fekadu (Teddy) was born in Eritrea in 1971 and scraped through his childhood years between relatives’ houses and the streets of Ethiopia. He has since lived in five countries on three continents. Since 2003, he has lived on the Gold Coast of Australia, where he is an active member of the community. He is the founder and president of the African Communities Association Gold Coast Inc., which shares African traditions and heritage through performance, education and training programs, and festivals. He also works with a number of community-based organisations, volunteering his time to assist with the resettlement of African refugees to the Gold Coast. Tewodros’ company, Moonface Entertainment, produces films and documentaries about East Africa. He regularly returns to Africa to shoot footage for his projects. 

Teddy met his Gold Coast based Australian wife in Japan in 2003 and has plans to relocate to Brisbane. He's always wanted to make films, from when he worked in a video franchise which gave him hope and he dared to dream big. When he was in Japan, he worked in Movie World Osaka, where he got money to buy a camera and shoot documentaries. When he came to Australia, he found that his film system was not compatible and had to restart his career and rebuild his equipment inventory. He did a documentary on Coffee and also opened up a coffee shop, but his film aspirations took a back seat. When the shop next door closed, he expanded his business to include an Ethiopian restaurant to complement his coffee shop. Life (raising a family, bills, school) yet again forced his film making aspirations aside.  

After 10 years and during COVID, he had time to go back to Ethiopia and make a documentary and also to write a book called No One’s Son. He wants to make a film to promote his book and approached Penguin who offered to publish his book but they also wanted the film rights. Because Teddy wouldn't agree, Penguin wouldn't publish him. So, what did he do? Teddy self-published! Four years later, a US publisher picked up his book and let him keep his film rights. Teddy is now looking to create a screenplay to bring his book to life.  

To see some of Teddy's work, click on the following links.

'No One's Son' book & 'Finding Home' trailer

Finding Home Documentary

Harum Scarum 

Neal then took us through a table read of his quirky script called Harum Scarum, assisted by Freddie Lee and Nigel. It is about a single man who meets a woman whose appearance radically changes over time but her personality and voice stay the same. He intends to produce it as part of the Smoke and Mirrors project being run by David. 

Just Desserts a.k.a. Grandma’s Nuts 

This was followed by an advance/test screening of Just Desserts. There were two edits presented, one by Nigel and another by Paul. Both edits contained issues with formats, sound and lighting and were critically reviewed by the members present. Whilst the option of a reshoot was considered, Nigel believes enough was done in post to create an entry for Sydney Video Makers. A revised edit has been made and we are awaiting instructions from SVM as to where to publish it.

Journey as a filmmaker: Freddy Lee Jones III 

Fredde Lee gave us an update on his journey as a filmmaker. He was recently hired to do an actor's role, and he was also meant to do a Dream World review. He was supposed to be on set but unfortunately they started and finished early without telling him. So, he made his own review in 1.5 hours. He then showed us a trailer from his Native series trailer and closed his presentation by saying that filmmaking is an educational tool between himself and his son. 

Member Survey 

Neal updated the members and said that he was working on a survey which Glenn has since published on SurveyMonkey. All members are encouraged to respond. Please check your e-mail or click on this link https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/DDQMRM6 

One thing the survey doesn't offer is open ended questions such as: What are your movie making goals? What would you like to see BMM doing that we aren't already? If you would like to answer these 2 additional open questions, that would be appreciated and you can send your comments/suggestions directly to brisbanemoviemaker@gmail.com