Heinz Boeck
b. September 28, 1953, Moora, Western Australia.

BIOGRAPHY:   Heinz Boeck studied fine art at Claremont Technical School, Perth, W.A. and extended his interest from the traditional art media of painting, sculpture, drawing and printmaking, to photography and then filmmaking because of its broader expressive range. He completed a BA in Social and Political Theory and Communication Studies, at Murdoch University, to inform his creative and critical development.

Early influences included the films of Bergman, Herzog, Fellini, Fassbinder, Godard et al. However, the inspirational turning point in his conceptual thinking and filmmaking practice came with the discovery of the British Structural/Materialist films originating from the London Film-makers’ Co-operative; and the films of Stan Brakhage and Michael Snow. After completing 3 short films – including receiving an AFC ‘No Frills Fund’ grant to make the third (Film # 3) – he decided to move to Melbourne due to the lack of a regular forum and critical appreciation of experimental film in Perth.

Arriving in Melbourne in 1988, Heinz Boeck was involved with the Melbourne Super 8 Film Group (MS8FG) for more than 12 years, during which time this forum for independent and alternative film practice facilitated a vibrant filmmaking culture and an active dialogue between filmmakers.

Heinz Boeck has completed 16 short, experimental films which have been screened widely at MS8FG screenings; at various film festivals throughout Australia, at the London Film-makers’ Co-op and Taichung in Taiwan; and at many other curated screening events in Australia, Europe and America.

	Surface Agent

CRITICAL OVERVIEW:   The process by which my films are made incorporates an active dialogue with my experience: grappling with uncertainties, responding to difficult circumstances; frustration with the nonsense of authority and the banality of convention; and a strong commitment to broadening the expressive range of media to allow for a more dynamic dialogue with our situation. In my films, I am creating a complex entity that presents a dynamic attitude to the audience and this attitude is born out of a committed gesture to take things further. Making films is a way to make a considered intervention into the fabric of discourses that impose themselves on me every day.

One of the most distinctive characteristics of the screened film is the unfolding of events in time. This characteristic lends itself to the development of a narrative flow by our tendency to attempt to draw an associative principle between one shot and those following it (altogether, this then leads to larger effects which override these individual connections).

	Forgotten... Lost in Thought

An overriding concern in all of my films has been to exploit the modal dynamics of this relationship to create poetic effects in the operation of the resulting displacements and the iconic power of the imagery. Like a visual form of metaphysical poetry, each shot in my films can be considered to be equivalent to a conceit in a poem.

Pushing for the invention of unknown visions by juggling unconventional forms – provoking uncertainties, mysteries and doubts. No resolution or specific solution, movement for the sake of movement, how close does one come to breaking off communication with the audience?

Heinz Boeck, September 2003

FILMOGRAPHY:

	knitted brow anthology

Scraping the Brain (1981, 6 mins, 30 secs, Super 8)

Where are you going? hurrying to get somewhere else (1983, 5 mins, Super 8)

Film # 3 (1988, 18 mins, Super 8)

Grrr! (1990, 2 mins, Super 8)

Dead Roads (1991, 8 mins, Super 8)

Big Table (1993, 6 mins, Super 8)

3 short passages (1995, 11 mins, Super 8)

knitted brow anthology (1996, 8 mins, Super 8)

	The Home Yard

Surface Agent (1996, 6 mins, Super 8)

Through the Open Gate (1998, 5 mins, Super 8)

Dungeness Souvenir (1998, 5 mins, Super 8)

Kerbside (1998, 3 mins, Super 8)

Forgotten… Lost in Thought (1998, 10 mins, Super 8)

Brief Encounters (1999, 10 mins, Super 8)

The Home Yard (1999, 10 mins, Super 8)

ancient maritime survey (2001, 13 mins, Super 8)

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY:

	Dungeness Souvenir

"The Roundup" by Chris Windmill (includes a short review of Film # 3), Melbourne Super 8 Film Group Newsletter, Issue 29, September 1988.

"Some notes pertaining to Dead Roads" by Heinz Boeck, Cantrills Filmnotes #67-68; July 1992.

"The German Romantic Spirit and 3 short passages" by Heinz Boeck, Cantrills Filmnotes #79-80; November 1995.

"knitted brow anthology – Some notes on my film" by Heinz Boeck, Cantrills Filmnotes #83-84; December 1996.

"No budget filmmaking in the raw" by Steven Ball (includes a short review of knitted brow anthology), Real Time #16, January 1997.

"Through the Open Screening" by Bill Mousoulis (includes a review of Through the Open Gate), Melbourne Super 8 Film Group Newsletter, Issue 133, March 1998.

"On a planet not far from Earth" by Heinz Boeck, Cantrills Filmnotes #93-100, December 1999.

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