David King
b. January 31, 1955, Melbourne, Australia.

BIOGRAPHY:   David King was a member of the Melbourne Filmmakers Co-Operative in the mid-1970s when – inspired by the likes of Jean-Luc Godard, Vilgot Sjöman, François Truffaut, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Ingmar Bergman, and Federico Fellini – he began making student films on black and white 16mm with a borrowed spring-wound Bolex, a shaky tripod, and a handful of photoflood lights.

Following this, he briefly became a professional cameraman, shooting promotional, educational, and horse racing films throughout Victoria.

In the 1980s, he freelanced as a scriptwriter for the ABC, penning four episodes of the Awgie Award-winning young peoples’ television series, Home, which subsequently sold to networks all over the world.

Around this time, he collaborated with Brian Jones on the privately-funded independent low budget erotic rock’n’roll comedy Coming Of Age which was released through Greg Lynch Film Distributors and subsequently through Golden Lion.

He also received Government funding to develop a 13-part young people's sci fi television series called The Parallax Factor, and had a feature film treatment for an erotic psychological thriller accepted for development by a New York-based distribution company. Unfortunately, neither project was produced.

During the early 1990s, David worked primarily as a journalist, writing a wide range of features and news articles for newspapers and magazines before returning to independent film/video-making in 1995 with the ultra-low budget educational documentary, Getting Together.

In Brisbane, he revived a semi-commercial film/video-making career by producing and directing a series of innovative ultra-low budget community service announcements, promotional, corporate, and educational videos for non-profit organizations. Although working for clients, he had total freedom to create, write, produce, and direct the projects as he saw fit.

David returned to dramatic film/video-making in 1999 with the short film Enigma (Digital Betacam, 16 mins) followed in 2002 by The Job (DVCam/MiniDV, 15 mins) which has now screened at 14 international film festivals in the UK, Europe, the Middle East, and Canada.

A keen advocate of ultra-low budget guerilla style film/video-making, he is now producing and directing his first independent feature length project, the quasi sci fi drama-mockumentary, Purge.

His film writings have appeared in Boardwalk magazine, IF magazine, Metro magazine, and on ScreenHub.

	The Job

CRITICAL OVERVIEW:   Much of David King’s film/video-making (often for non-profit organizations) has been concerned with the problems and issues faced by people with disabilities. Even in this field, he sought to create stylish works of art, using split screen, floating text, bluescreen backgrounds, pictures within pictures, and superimpositions. During the late '90s, his community service announcements frequently screened free of charge during prime time on SBS TV whose advertising department described them as: ‘Among the best we’ve seen’.

Only The Job (2002) and Bondage (in production) represent his current style and themes as an independent narrative film/video-maker.

Initially concerned with misunderstanding between lovers (The Student, 1975, Enigma, 1999), David now focuses on the alienation of modern and future man, the way economic rationalist policies threaten to destroy the things that make us human – compassion, love, concern for our fellow man, and appreciation of a person’s worth regardless of their economic status.

David sees a cold, soulless future where the man is a slave to capitalism, dominated and controlled by technology. With a nod to Japanese anime and the asceticism of Robert Bresson, he seeks to capture the bleak emptiness of such a future with stark lighting, minimal set design, and the complete lack of any earthy colours, or anything organic.

FILMOGRAPHY:

	Reaching for a Dream

As Director:

Daffy (1974, 16 mins, 16mm, black comedy – independent)
Co-writer, Producer, Director, Cameraman.

The Student (1975, 16 mins, 16mm, drama – independent)
Writer, Producer, Director, Co-cameraman.

Imagine It Was You (1997, 30 secs, video, community announcement – PBF Australia)
Writer, Producer, Director, Editor.

Lives are Ticking Away (1998, 30 secs, vidoe, community announcement – Unmet Needs campaign)
Writer, Producer, Director, Editor.

Peter’s Break (1998, 30 secs, video, community announcement – Unmet Needs campaign)
Writer, Producer, Director, Editor.

Enigma (1999, 16 mins, video, drama – independent)
Writer, Producer, Director, Editor, Sound Designer.

	Enigma

Reaching for a Dream (2000, 15 mins, video, promotional video – Access Arts Inc)
Co-writer, Director, Editor.

Message Sticks (2000, 5 mins, video, documentary – Access Arts Inc)
Director, Editor.

The Job (2002, 13 mins, video, drama – independent)
Writer, Producer, Director, Editor, Sound Designer.

IN PRODUCTION –

Purge (2006, 95 mins, video, drama-mockumentary – independent)
Writer, Producer, Director, Editor, Sound Designer.

Other productions:

What Killed Cobb & Co? (1981, 20 mins, 16mm/video, documentary – ABC, Brisbane)
Co-writer.

	The Job

Home (1982, 4 x 30 mins, 16mm/video, drama series – four episodes, ABC TV Drama Dept, Melbourne)
Writer, Storyliner.

Coming Of Age (1983, 80 mins, 16mm, feature comedy – independent)
Co-writer, Co-Editor (uncredited).

Short educational video documentaries (1985, 5 x 3 mins, video, ATV Channel 10)
Researcher, Writer, Co-Producer.

Short educational video documentaries (1986, 5 x 2 mins, video, ATV Channel 10)
Researcher, Writer, Co-Producer, Co-Director.

Getting Together (1995, 24 mins, video, documentary – independent)
Researcher, Writer, Co-Producer, Presenter.

The Cost of Spinal Injury (1996, 5 mins, video, compilation documentary – PBF Australia)
Researcher, Compiler, Producer.

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Writings on film by David King:

"So You Wanna Make Docos?" – Boardwalk arts magazine, Queensland, June/July, 1998.

"Publicity Blues: Gaining publicity for Low/No Budget Shorts in Australia" – Metro magazine, Issue #135.

"The Long and Short of it: European vs Australian attitudes toward short films and their makers" – Metro magazine, Issue #137.

"Threadbare Shorts" – critique of AFC funded short films – Metro magazine, Issue #138.

"In Short" – review of book on short film/video-making in the United Kingdom – Metro magazine, Issue #138.

"Alternative Views" – alternative possibilities for screening short films and videos – Metro magazine, Issue #139.

"Going It Alone: Making Low Budget Feature Films Without Pre-Sales" – Metro magazine, Issue #141.

"Open the Door to Filmmakers with Disabilities" – a look at the experiences of film/video-makers with disabilities – ScreenHub online magazine, June 2004.

"Just How Independent Is IndiVision?" – indie filmmakers look at the AFC’s funding program for low budget features – ScreenHub online magazine, February, 2005.

Contact David King

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