The Treatment

Mildura Writers Festival Documentary Treatment By Emel Berdilek and Vincent Kos

The big question:
How have the people; writers, festival community and the event of the
Mildura Writers Festival progressed over time.

Themes:

• People/ Writers, festival community.
• Event/ Mildura Writers Festival.
• World/ Mildura.

Aim:
We endeavor to answer our big question, which is how exactly have the people; the writers, festival community and the event itself progressed over time. This documentary encapsulates the adventure or more so the journey to the Mildura Writers festival.

Target Audience:
Lovers of literature and writing enthusiasts.

Synopsis:
Beginning with the small city of Mildura, we move into the heart of the action, the festival. Narrated by Stefano de Pieri, the Writers Festival is introduced, creating a factual timeline from how the festival began to how it has flourished today.
Leading into the festival, people attending share where they are from and their connections with the festival, describing their personal journey from when they had first heard about the festival or a writer to the moment they arrive at the event.
Featured interviews from the writers that the people have come to see make the heart of the festival and the film. Writers like Tracy Farr, Thomas Keneally, Eileen Chong and Alexis Wright spell out the beginning of their careers as writers, their struggles and successes, down to the very moment they have found themselves homed at Mildura delivering an interview to young filmmakers at the Writers Festival.
We conclude with the enlightening and inspiring energy emitted from these journeys, taking away the notion that the adventure is never over. The festival will keep on celebrating, the writers will keep on writing and we will keep on reading or aspiring to be like our writer idols.

Interview Questions:
Stefano de Pieri
1. How/When did the Mildura writers festival begin?
2. How has the festival progressed since it started in your restaurant in the early 90’S
3. Did you predict that the festival would expand like it has?
4. What inspired you to start the festival in the first place? Did you have help from other people?
5. Are you a fan of literature? Do you have a preferred genre?
6. What is your connection with Mildura? Is there something that keeps you here?
7. What makes Mildura special to you?
8. What makes Mildura a prime location to host a writer’s festival?
9. What do you think makes a successful festival?
10. What do you like the most about the festival?
11. Do you see the festival expanding or changing in the near future?
12. Which writers can we expect to see at the festival?
13. What do you think about the journey that the festival has taken from begging (first idea) till now?
14. What kind of people have you come to expect at the festival? 15. What kind of audience is attracted to the Mildura festival?
16. Are most of the audience locals or do they travel from further places to get here?

Public (Festival Goers)
1. What is your name and do we have permission to use you in this documentary?

2. Are you a local or did you travel to get here?
(If you have travelled where did you come from?)
3. Where did you first hear of the Mildura’s writer’s festival?
4. Have you attended the festival before? (If not is it what you expected?)
5. Have you noticed the festival changing, as it gets older? (If so what has changed about it? What is still the same?)
6. What is it about the festival that draws you too it?
7. Why did you want to go to the Mildura’s writer’s festival? 8. How has the atmosphere of the festival been so far?
9. Do you have a highlight experience from the festival?
10. Which writers are you excited to see?
11. What do you think attracts renowned writers to Mildura?

Writers
1. What attracted you to the Mildura’s writers festival?
2. How did you get here? Where have you travelled from?
3. When did you first decide become a writer?
4. What were you before you were a writer? Student/Working?
5. Did you ever have doubt that you would succeed as a writer?
6. How do you know if you have made it as a writer?
7. How has writing shaped you through the years?
8. Have you changed since becoming a writer?
9. How have you managed to make writing a career?
10. What is the relationship between your personal experiences and the world and your writing?
11. What have you learnt about yourself as you have progressed as a writer?

12. Do you enjoy festivals as a non-­‐writer, being a writer? 13. How does this festival compare to others?
14. What is unique about the Mildura Writers Festival? People, location ambience? 

The Never Ending Story

We reached post production last week. Vincent and I have been filtering through all of our on camera interviews with Stefano De Pieri, Sharon Olds, Tracy Far and Thomas Keneally. The process, is excruciatingly drawn out. We have found ourselves spending days leading into nights, boxed in an edit suite. The journey is proving well worth it when we can finally complete a segment and listen to it. All of the most important, key moments of delivery from these writers have been spliced into a visual narrative and it feels so good.

Thomas Keneally, one of my personal stand out favourites was an absolute pleasure to edit long nights through. There is a reason he won our "Never Ending Story Award". He tells so many lengthy personal stories. But, its not a bad thing. It is enjoyable to listen to. You cant help feel connected with his words. Not to mention his laugh, it's infectious. He laughs, I'd laugh. No matter how many times I replayed it. I felt so happy after that edit session.

Dream Time Quick Sand

My days were long and tiring. Filming key writers like Sharon Olds, Thomas Keneally and Tracy Farr for my "journey" documentary turned ever quickly into bitter sweet quick sand.

My partner and I would be spending late nights planning out our days and interview questions, with days spent honing into presentations to start filming at the right time to capture the topic of conversation that would work with our film. The spirit was there, willing and fighting, loving so much of what these writers were painting all over the audiences faces. Smiling. But, we had a broken smile. Working off minimal sleep and almost 98% work time. Exhausted. 

What I took away from these lectures was an SD card of footage, a memory of inspiring stories, unclear of who they belonged to and a deep desire to sleep. It was all a blur, really. I didn't think that much about what the writers said or who said it. Until I slept.

I dreamed. Every night in Mildura. I dreamt about stories and places, living out my dreams. Every morning I woke excited; inspired to write scripts and screenplays. I also woke up exhausted, every day. Unfortunately I forgot all my ideas. 

I cannot remember who exactly said it, but I am so sad that I didn't practice it. "Just write, get all your ideas out onto paper and don't think". 

If I had done that at least my dreams would still be real and not lost in a dream time quick sand. 

Underneath the Orange Rind

Red dirt, deceiving sunshine. Home soil of the Mildura Writers Festival.

When I arrived, I didn't expect what I found. Beyond the heart of Mildura's intimate world; the nature, thriving community and small town feel, the roots were intwined and connected, linking the people (both writers and locals) to the festival.

As days rolled in due course, crops began to grow in the lecture rooms and our minds, revealing eye widening citrus and lip curving content when I slowly peeled back the orange husk.

The sweet juicy centre of ripened writers blew my mind. I'm not saying that every writer was my taste. I harvested from those who spoke to my essence, taking the fragments that were sweet on the ear, unknowingly walking into a feast of knowledge in each lecture.

The writers that stood out for me, I interviewed alongside my partner. Thomas Keneally was one subject, vibrant of colour and wisdom. He over most branched out of the writer line up, as I set my eyes on palatable potentials.

For a man so wrinkled and ripe on the outside, is so full of life on the inside.

He gave me a taste of his journey, telling stories about "residing back into a child like state", a technique he grasps to structure his writing. He has grown so long in the literate sun that he has absorbed the rays of wisdom, now glowing from his essence. It is no wonder he is an amazing writer.

Tom has grown and planted idea seeds in many, making him a obvious meal for the mind, ripe for the picking.

Stefano's Roots

Intimate. Connected. Organic. Closeness. Community. Familiarity. Natural.

These are the words used by Stefano de Pieri today in an interview to describe his connection with Mildura and the land it settles on. It is home for the people who live here, and a home away from home for the writers of the Mildura Writers Festival, visitors or even passers through.

There is definitely a energy here that is busy a connected; whether it be people to other people or people to the land. Despite the isolation, there is also an abundance of what Stefano describes that you will never get in any major city.

Day One; Writers in ACTION was not a lie.

Energetic. 

It's my word for the day. From the moment I slid into my new friend Liz's car this icy morning, the adventure energy was already flowin'. In her passenger seat riding 'shot gun' was a guy who enthusiastically introduced himself as Lewi (Lewis). I was so looking forward to see the rest of the people who have cascaded themselves into the Writers in Action: Mildura Writers Festival goodie bag.

Greeted with a warm smile and quirky charm, I finally met Sue who I had spoken to on the phone about my drive to create a documentary about the 'Adventure of Writing', using the festival as a case study, but thats another post. I could tell that her warm and bouncy attitude would make taking this subject a rewarding and exciting experience to learn more about writing.

Gradually, the class piled in. It was really nice to be meeting fresh faces in a new location. Everyone seems like a great character and I look forward to seeing them over the next 4 days. The room had great energy that just grew as the day progressed. It was a comfortable and inspiring atmosphere that I think great connections and creativity will fly.




Tonight, Vincent and I had the privilege of filming the Thomas Keneally interview, guided by Mildura's very own Stefano. You could just tell by his long stories that Tom is a story teller/writer. We made some great connections also, like Paul who has said he will help us organise the interviews or anything we need. As did Danata.

The whole day was action without a pause.
It felt nice, but now, I am exhausted.

Pre- Writers Festival Excitement

Photography by Getzal Photography Australia  

I have heard about the Bendigo Writers Festival from other students at La Trobe which got me excited about the subject, so I looked into it. Much to my surprise I enrolled into the festival held in Mildura, a small town on the edge of the Australian desert. Because I am primarily a film and cinema student, this idea in itself that got me jumping out of my seat in pure joy as it is a great location for film and filmography opportunities.

During the festival, Im hoping to gain a lot of inspiration from texts that interest me, from writers like Alexis Wright that focus a lot on Indigenous Australians and non-fiction script writes like Thomas Keneally. I wonder what it is that has drawn these writers to Mildura. I really want to find out the connection between the meanings between a page and words for these writers; the words and the narrative; the narrative and the image; the image to the moment. The connections between locations and events that inspire the words of a writer, helping them to create a deep and meaningful message conveyed in a piece. To me, these are the important layers that help me with a story, however different, are intwined.

"A picture is worth a thousand words". But how many words worth was the moment in time, or the motion of inspiration derived from the world, that these writers sought from. This intrigues me the most.

Photography by Josie Cosgrove