CRITICAL
OVERVIEW:
Although studying filmmaking in the
late ‘70s, I had to start from scratch when taking up the craft
again in 1989. Did the usual amateur stuff of filming the dog
and the backyard but it was by joining the Melbourne Super 8 Group
and watching films by directors more skilled than myself that
I learnt how to make films fit for public consumption. A course
in screenwriting would not have hurt though, as the narratives
in the films are often messy and incoherent. When I tried to make
a serious film such as The Last Train to Heaven, people
just sat there numbed. Can't blame them - it was crap. I found
my niche was in satire and action, the films Furious and
Fuego are possibly the best examples of this. Yet sometimes
I wasn't sure the audiences were laughing with the film or at
the film. No matter, the Super 8 Group adopted me as the house
rogue which was nice.
Perhaps it
was seeing Robert Mitchum in The Night of the Hunter as
a kid that I was for a time fascinated by naughty charlatan vicars
up to mischief. Deranged criminals in positions of trust who are
simultaneously charming and repulsive. Whether it was that film
or others like it, a heck of a lot of oddballs inhabit my films.
Being dragged up a Catholic in Canberra with all its concomitant
baggage - often told by Catholic teachers that I was stupid and
later recieving food parcels from the same church, more than once,
consisting of out of date milk, weeviled flour and dented cans
with no label, gave good grist for the creative mill. (and tucker
for the dog)
Maybe these
experiences of hypocrisy and irony on my self obsessed, overly
impressionable spirit have warped my mind, I don't know, but I
can't help but to take the piss out of society. Filmmaking has
always been a great adventure for me, meeting some amazing people,
having had some truly memorable times and realising there's always
more to learn about it. In 1999 I was burnt out with it and needed
to do something else for a while.
I heard recently
someone had this inscribed on their tombstone: "He never grew
up, but he never stopped growing." Wish I had thought of that.
In conclusion, I suppose my film career has been about being serious
about not being serious. (Hey, there's my epitaph!) and I'll return
to it one day.
Perry
Laird, March 2005
FILMOGRAPHY:
Action
(1976, 6 mins, Super 8)
co-directed
with Simon Cooper & others
The Searcher
(1977, 8 mins, Super 8)
Welcome
to Fairfield (1989, 5 mins, Super 8)
Dreaming
Sistas (1989, 3 mins, Super 8)
co-directed
with Paul C Laird
Sisters
Fertility Dance (1990, 3 mins, Super 8, B/W)
Flowers
(1990, 30 mins, video)
co-directed
with Paul C Laird
Death
of the Piano Player (1990, 5 mins, Super 8)
co-directed
with Dan Persse
Metal
and Flesh (1990, 15 mins, video)
collaborator
- Yurri Azic
The Crying
Forest (1991, 19 mins, Super 8, B/W & Color)
Stranger
Street (1991, 15 mins, Super 8)
Vicar
(1992, 3 mins, Super 8)
co-directed
with A. Newman
Space
Case (1992, 3 mins, Super 8, B/W)
co-directed
with A. Newman
Pizza
Monster (1992, 3 mins, Super 8)
The Night
City (1992, 19 mins, Super 8, B/W & Color)
Killer
(1992, 1 min, B/W)
co-directed
with A. Newman
Last Train
to Heaven (1993, 19 mins, Super 8, B/W & Color)
Black
(1993, 3 mins, 16mm, B/W)
co-directed
with Michael Adami
The Hand
That Shook The World (1994, 3 mins, Super 8)
co-directed
with A. Newman
The Battle
of Battles (1994, 3 mins, Super 8, B/W)
co-directed
with A. Newman
Forest
Embassy (1994, 5 mins, Super 8)
Friendly
Visitor from Space (1995, 3 mins, Super 8)
The Hit
(1995, 3 mins, Super 8)
La Mort
(1995, 3 mins, Super 8)
co-directed
with A. Newman
Furious
(1995, 11 mins, Super 8)
collaborator
- Michael Adami
Fury (1996,
15 mins, Super 8)
The Beast
of Brunswick (1996, 3 mins, Super 8)
Fiore
(1997, 14 mins, Super 8)
Fuego
(1998, 16 mins, Super 8)
The Village
Idiot (2002, 3 mins, Super 8)
Music
video for Problem
Cape Blood
(2002, 5 mins, Super 8)
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Friendly
Visitor from Space
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Other
Film, Theatre & Musical Projects:
Clothing
and Identity (Director Y Azic, Actor, 1991, 15 mins, video)
Zoo (Dir
Paul C Laird, Actor, 1991, 15 mins, video)
Potion
(Dir PC Laird, Actor, 1992, 10 mins, Super 8)
Amulet
(Dir PC Laird, Actor, 1992, 15 mins, Super 8)
Ladykiller
(Dir Bill Mousoulis, Actor, 1994, 80 mins, Super 8)
Fairyland
(Dir A. Newman, Camera, 1997, 9 mins, Super 8, B/W)
Harangue
(Dir Michael Adami, Actor, 1993, 7 mins, 16mm, B/W)
Film Clip
for Brass Bed (2001, Director, Super 8)
Purge
(Dir David King, Actor, film in post-production, 2005, feature)
One For
The Money (Dr Tadgh Taylor, Actor, 2006)
The Wrath
of the Righteous Man (Dir Lucien Spectre, Actor, 2007)
DV Clip for
Problem - Actor, Assistant Dir, 2006.
Realistic
News - Theatre Production at St Martin's South Yarra
(Dir
PA Laird, Script Y Azic, 1990, 30 mins)
Metal
and Flesh - Theatre Production at Universal Theatre Fitzroy
(Dir
PA Laird, Script Y Azic, 1990, 59 mins)
Lucid
Dreaming - Theatre Production, Actor, 2005
Shrimp
- Theatre Production, Actor, 2005
People on
a Planet Self-titled EP (1988, Drums)
Problem CD
"The Sweet Smell of Success" (2001, Vocals, Guitars, Drums)
Mouthful
EP "Demonstration" (2001, Vocals, Drums)
Mouthful
CD "Hard Nut" (2002, Vocals, Drums)
Problem CD
"Hot Load" (2004, Vocals, Guitars, Keys, Drums)
Ryan Ferry
Self-titled CD (2005, Bass, Vocals)
Problem "Vegetable
Man" The Vegetable Man Project CD- a Syd Barrett Tribute Compilation
2007
Problem EP
"Outbreak" (2008, Vocals)
SELECT
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Cantrills Filmnotes,
No 73, 74 May 1994
©
Perry Laird, May 2008.
Perry's
Problem MySpace page
Back
to Melbourne independent filmmakers index page
Melbourne
independent filmmakers -
a web resource
is compiled by Bill Mousoulis.
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