Chris Löfvén
b. April 4, 1948, Geelong, Victoria, Australia.

BIOGRAPHY:   Chris Löfvén began making films at the age of 10, on 8mm. He quickly graduated to 16mm, with a series of shorts in the mid-'60s that were recognised both in Australia and overseas. Under the influence of the Cantrills and the Melbourne experimental film scene, he made his first feature, Part One - 806, in 1971. He followed this with the color musical spectacular Oz - A Rock 'n' Roll Road Movie in 1976 (which has just recently been restored by ScreenSound and is out on DVD). Along the way, he has made numerous music clips (famously for Spectrum and Daddy Cool), and has recently returned to the fray of creative filmmaking with a couple of experimental works on DV.

CRITICAL OVERVIEW:   Chris Löfvén's career is, by any standards, incomplete. A precocious talent, his career stalled when his ambitious Wizard of Oz-inspired feature Oz - A Rock 'n' Roll Road Movie failed with both the critics and public. Yet David Stratton labelled it "one of the most inventive and enjoyable of Australian films - clever, brash, noisy, gutsy and uninhibited". Earlier, Löfvén had shown great imagination with his 16mm narrative shorts, John Nicoll calling House with a Secret and Forgotten Loneliness "completely modern in tone, effective and subtle ... [they have] a gentle and playful mood". Löfvén has also been interested in more classical avant-garde cinema, as evidenced by his Part One and Part Two films, and his recent work.

FILMOGRAPHY:

	Teenager with a vision: Chris Löfvén in 1964.

The Tunnel (1963, 3 mins, color, 16mm)

House with a Secret (1964, 6 mins, B&W, 16mm)

Forgotten Loneliness (1965, 8 mins, B&W, 16mm)

Gift from a Stranger (1965, 7 mins, B&W, 16mm)

The Warning (1966, 7 mins, B&W, 16mm)

Helen (1967, 2 mins, B&W, 16mm)

"Something About Your Baby" (The Vibrants) (1967, 3 mins, B&W, 16mm, music clip)

"Sorry" (The Groop) (1967, 3 mins, B&W, 16mm, music clip)

Part One - 806 (1969-71, 70 mins, B&W, 16mm)

Part Two - The Beginning (1971, 10 mins, color, 16mm)

"I'll be Gone" (Spectrum) (1971, 4 mins, B&W, 16mm)

"Eagle Rock" (Daddy Cool) (1971, 4 mins, B&W, 16mm)

Cruisin' (London, 1973-74, 36 mins, color, 16mm)

"Good Toon" (Sweet Feed) (London, 1974, 4 mins, color, 16mm)

OZ - A Rock 'n' Roll Road Movie (1976, 90 mins, color, 35mm)

followed by numerous music clips, commercials and a music doco:

Stockley See Mason 'Beg, Steal or Borrow' (1979, 50 mins, color, 16mm)

again followed by more music clips, commercials and corporate video.

Recent experimental works:

Bass Up (2001, 4 mins, color, video)

Window (2002, 4 mins, color, video)

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY:

David Stratton, The Last New Wave: The Australian Film Revival, Angus & Robertson, Sydney, 1980.

John Nicoll, "Lucky dip images on show", The Age, May 23, 1986.

Contact Chris Löfvén

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Melbourne independent filmmakers - a web resource is compiled by Bill Mousoulis.