Movies You Made: “Cockatoo”
March is Movies You Made month at Go Into The Story where we feature the work of some independent filmmakers.
Today: Cockatoo.
Production notes from writer-director Matthew Jenkin:
‘Cockatoo’ is an Australian film and it premiered at Flickerfest in Bondi, Australia in 2012 and won the Best Screenplay award. Over the next two years it screened at over 30 international film festivals including Palm Springs, interFilm Berlin, Boston and Rome Independent.
Not long ago I uploaded it to Vimeo and in February it became a Staff Pick.
AWARDS
Best Original Screenplay — Flickerfest (Australia)
Best Foreign Director — Outbox International Film Festival (Lebanon)
Jury Award for Best ‘Wild Side’ Short Film — Tri Media Film Festival (USA)
Audience Favourite Award — DC Shorts Film Festival (USA)
Silver Yowie Award for Best Short Film (Open) — Blue Mountains Film Festival (Australia)
Audience Favourite Award — Blue Mountains Film Festival (Australia)
Honorable Mention Award — Anchorage International Film Festival (USA)
Honorable Mention Award (Comedy Fiction) — Taos Shortz Film Festival (USA)
Best Film — West End Film Festival (Australia)
Best Australian Film — Clare Valley Film Festival (Australia)
Best Actor (Female) — Matilda Brown — Clare Valley Film Festival (Australia)
PUBLICITY
Short of the Week (Feb, 2014)
Aint It Cool News — Muldoon’s Saturday Shorts (Feb, 2014)
Castle Co-Op Review by Blake Howard (2UE)
Rave Magazine article on the Flickerfest National Tour (Feb, 2012)
artsHub article on our selection in CFC (May, 2012)
Film Army blog (and short review) on CFC Worldwide Short Film Festival (June, 2012)
DC Shorts program wrap-up (August, 2012)
On Tap magazine interview (September, 2012)
Review from Huffington Post (September, 2012)
DC Shorts feature on short films from Down Under (September, 2012)
5 star review from DC Shorts screening by Erica Laxson (September, 2012)
Blog review from Blue Mountains Film Festival (October, 2012)
MAKING-OF VIDEOS
Watch the videos that go behind-the-scenes.
Synopsis
A man with a broken heart tries to relive his failed relationship by hiring a young girl to play his ex-‐girlfriend. If only she could get the accent right…
Cast
Michael — Alan Dukes
Melanie — Matilda Brown
Redhead — Kate Worsley
Crew
Writer / Director — Matthew Jenkin
Producers — Matthew Jenkin and Oliver Leimbach
Director of Photography — Chris Bland
Editor — Brendon Killen
Original Score — Oliver Leimbach
Sound Design — Tom Lowndes
Colourists — Ellena Flikier and Mick Jones
Stills Photography — Bradley J. Conomy
Costume Designer — Elizabeth Franklin
1st Assistant Director — Peter Burge
Camera Operator — Chris Bland
Camera Assistant — Matthew Challinor
Sound Recordist — Joseph Dutaillis
Production Manager — Sarah Muir
Make-Up Design — Yasmin Orr
Make-Up Artist — Ebony Ryan
Title Design — Brendon Killen
Poster Design — Bradley J. Conomy
Dedication
Cockatoo is dedicated to the loving memory of Matthew Jenkin’s father, Peter, who passed away during pre-‐production, aged 58 (June, 2011).
Here is the 11 minute movie Cockatoo:
I asked each of the filmmakers in this month’s series to answer this question: What inspired you about this particular story to make it a movie? Here is Matthew’s answer:
I had just met Matilda Brown and we discussed working together. She simply said in an email “write me a role.” Two days later I sent her a script called ‘Second Chance’ which later became ‘Cockatoo.’ But taking back a step, I read an article in the newspaper that there was friendship service in Sydney where you could hire a friend to keep you company, like going to the movies or doing the shopping, whatever you wanted in order to beat loneliness. The article also sighted a similar service in Tokyo where men can hire women to portray their future wives in order to prepare them for married life! I suppose in case they had never lived out of home and needed to learn how to cook, clean etc. I thought the idea of a personal service in a non-sexual arrangement was fascinating so I started exploring the possibilities of why someone would need this service. So I combined this idea with a short I had written ten years ago about a guy unable to move on from a relationship and ‘Second Chance’ was born — however, it was a dark drama about Michael wanting to get revenge on his ex, so he hires an actor to portray her and kills her then turns himself into the police! It was on the second and subsequent drafts that the transition to comedy began to naturally happen. We filmed the sixth draft from memory.
The Facebook page for Cockatoo is here.
The Ninja Milk website is here.
The Ninja Milk Facebook page is here.
Twitter: @ninjamilkfilm.
Drop by Comments to give some feedback on Cockatoo.
Tomorrow: Another Movie You Made.
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