Bill
Mousoulis
b. July 14, 1963, Melbourne, Australia.
BIOGRAPHY:
Bill
Mousoulis is a Greek-Australian independent filmmaker and occasional writer on film. He has made over 100 films since 1982, working in both Australia and Greece, including 11 features,
the latest of which is My Darling in Stirling (2023).
In
1985 he founded the Melbourne Super 8 Film Group, and in 1999 he founded
the online film journal Senses
of Cinema. He founded this website (Melb indie filmmakers) in 2003, and the website Pure Shit: Australian Cinema in 2018.
CRITICAL
OVERVIEW:
As a filmmaker, Bill Mousoulis has
been influenced in equal measure by the French nouvelle vague
and the Italian neo-realists. Many of his short films are snappy
and colourful hybrids of various non-narrative forms (essay, diary,
documentary, music clip). His longer narrative films have a different
feel, being very formal, minimal, moody, but are also sometimes expressionistic. He is a realist by trade,
and, being fascinated by the human soul, his key subjects are
love and murder. With his two features made in Greece in the 2010s, Wild and Precious (2012) and Songs of Revolution (2017), he devled more into socio-political material, and with his most recent feature, My Darling in Stirling (2023), he has created a full-blown musical (but still in a realistic setting).
See Innersense,
Bill Mousoulis' website, for much more on his work.
FILMOGRAPHY:
Dreams
Never End
Family
Life (1982,
3 mins, Super 8)
Doubt (1982, 8 mins, Super 8)
In
a Lonely Place (1982, 4 mins, Super 8)
Random
(1983, 3 mins, Super 8)
Random
Too (1983, 3 mins, Super 8)
Mary-Go-Round
(1983, 3 mins, Super 8)
'82
Into '83 (1983, 7 mins, Super 8)
Home
Movie (1983, 3 mins, Super 8)
Back
to Nature
Double
Play (1983, 3 mins, Super 8)
Reflections
(1983, 3 mins, Super 8)
Mystery
(1983, 24 mins, Super 8)
Ascension:
The Story of Bill (1983, 14 mins, Super 8)
Soul-Twister
(1983, 11 mins, Super 8)
Christine
and Linda Go Skating (1983, 16 mins, Super 8)
Dreams
Never End (1983, 9 mins, Super 8)
J.C.:
The Jewellery-Case (1984, 10 mins, Super 8)
Faith
Aspire
to Infinity (1984, 17 mins, Super 8)
Pretty
Naive (1984, 13 mins, Super 8)
Streets
(1985, 5 mins, Super 8)
Drive
(1985, 9 mins, Super 8)
Love
Letter (1985, 6 mins, Super 8)
Back
to Nature (1985, 13 mins, Super 8)
Everyday
(1985, 5 mins, Super 8)
Body
Talk (1986, 4 mins, Super 8)
Glass
Darkly (1986, 7 mins, Super 8)
Embrace
Physical
World (1986, 10 mins, Super 8)
Still
(1986, 7 mins, Super 8)
Fun
Girl (1986, 4 mins, Super 8)
The
Green Door (1986, 5 mins, Super 8)
The
End of the World (1987, 10 mins, Super 8)
Faith
(1987, 27 mins, Super 8)
A
Question of Faith (1987, 9 mins, Super 8)
Glorious
Day (1987, 12 mins, 16mm)
Embrace
(1988, 8 mins, Super 8)
Knowing
Me, Knowing You
Knowing
Me, Knowing You (1988, 6 mins, Super 8)
After
School (1988, 20 mins, 16mm)
Waiting
in the Wings (1988, 5 mins, Super 8)
Out
(1988, 30 seconds, Super 8)
We're
Chained (1989, 4 mins, Super 8)
Melbourne
'89 (1989, 13 mins, Super 8)
Between
Us (1989, 37 mins, 16mm)
Precious
(1989, 10 mins, Super 8)
Precious
Crazy
Motherfucker (1989, 3 mins, Super 8)
Change
(1989, 1 min, Super 8)
Honey
(1989, 7 mins, Super 8)
How
Soon is Now? (1990, 3 mins, Super 8)
Richmond
Girl (1990, 6 mins, Super 8)
sex/dialogue/empathy:
38 (1990, 7 mins, Super 8)
Construction
Group (1990, 7 mins, Super 8)
Love
(1991, 3 mins, Super 8)
Michelangelo's
Dream (1991, 5 mins, Super 8)
Open
City
Untitled
(1992, 4 mins, Super 8)
Open
City (1993, 80 mins, Super 8)
Ladykiller
(1994, 80 mins, Super 8)
Document
45 (1994, 10 mins, Super 8)
Vale
(1994, 3 mins, Super 8)
Rich
Woods '90-'95 (1995, 7 mins, Super 8)
Abbot's
Ford '95 (1995, 6 mins, Super 8)
Fit
Waters '95-? (1995, 3 mins, Super 8)
Ladykiller
Cinema
1895-1995 (1995, 3 mins, Super 8)
The
Shadows (1996, 5 mins, Super 8)
Makes
Me Stronger (1996, 8 mins, Super 8)
When
I Grow Up (1996, 34 mins, Super 8)
Green
(1996, 3 mins, Super 8)
How
To Use Your Camera (1996, 7 mins, Super 8)
White
(1996, 2 mins, Super 8)
My
Blessings (1997, 78 mins, 16mm)
Desire
The Wild
Bunch (1997, 2 mins, Super 8)
Thirteen
(1998, 3 mins, Super 8)
Holy
Land (1998, 3 mins, Super 8)
Winter
(1998, 8 mins, Super 8)
Underground
Sky (1998, 16 mins, Super 8)
Desire
(1999, 77 mins, 16mm)
Cold
Heart, Warm Mind (1999, 4 mins, Super 8)
Focus
at Infinity (1999, 2 mins, Super 8)
Lovesick
The Circle
Turns (2000, 7 mins, Super 8)
Lovesick
(2002, 70 mins, Super-16)
Needles
and Pins (2002, 3 mins, video)
When
I Grow Up ('02) (2002, 40 mins, Super 8)
The
Color of Murder (2002, 4 mins, Super 8)
Passage
(2003, 16 mins, video)
Don't
Move (2003, 6 mins, video)
High
(2003, 3 mins, Super 8)
Passage
New Horizons
(2003, 9 mins, video)
A Sufi
Valentine (2004, 34 mins, video)
Canary
(2004, 2 mins, video)
Spring
Rhapsody (2004, 84 mins, video)
Blue Notes
(2006, 93 mins, video)
Nocturnal
Submissions (2006, 6 mins, video)
Kosta
(2006, 17 mins, video)
A Nocturne
(2007, 70 mins, video)
A
Nocturne
1:20 p.m.
(2007, 8 mins, video)
Flash
(2007, 16 mins, video)
I'm Gonna
Leave You (2008, 3 mins, video)
Ηλιοβολοσεμα (Volos Sunset) (2009, 7 mins, video)
The Experimenting Angel (2010, 7 mins, video)
Culture Shock, Level One (2010, 6 mins, video)
Pig in a Poke (2010, 9 mins, video)
I Had to Fall in Love With You (2011, 3 mins, video)
Wild and Precious
Into the Wild (2011, 7 mins, video)
Wild and Precious (2012, 87 mins, video)
The Making of Wild and Precious (2012, 18 mins, video)
Daddy-Long-Legs (2014, 8 mins, video)
co-directed with Vicky Mousoulis
To Paramythi (The Fairy Tale)
(2014, 2 mins, video, color, sound)
Wide Open Road (2015, 3 mins, video, color, sound)
Three Strikes (2015, 10 mins, video, color, sound)
co-directed with Vicky Mousoulis
My Darling in Stirling
Songs of Revolution (2017, 118 mins, video, color, sound)
Songs of the Underground (2017, 78 mins, video, color, sound)
Songs of the Crisis (2017, 56 mins, video, color, sound)
Smasth the Fascists: OUST! (2017, 17 mins, video, color, sound)
"Oh, what a night!" (2017, 19 mins, video, color, sound)
Frozen Stars (2018, 3 mins, video, color, sound)
My Darling in Stirling (2023, 79 mins, video, color, sound)
Songs of RevolutionTRAILER (2017)
The Experimenting Angel (2010, 7 mins)
SCREENINGS:
Over 550 (with a combined audience of around 35,000),
including at:
Adelaide Film Festival (2015, 2023)
Athens International Film Festival (2008, 2012)
Cyprus International Film Festival (2012)
Asia Pacific Film Festival (2012)
Greek Film Festival of Australia (2012)
Cork Film Festival (2008)
Brussels International Festival of Fantastic Film (2008)
Melbourne International Film Festival (1986, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91,
96, 97)
Melbourne Underground Film Festival (2001, 03, 04, 05, 06, 07)
Brisbane International Film Festival (2001)
Sydney Film Festival (1990)
St.Kilda Film Festival (1988, 89, 90, 96, 04)
Melbourne Super-8 Film Festival (1986-99)
Sydney Super-8 Film Festival (1984-87)
Fringe Film and Video Festival (1984-90, 97, 02)
Frames Film and Video Festival (1990, 94)
Melbourne
Cinematheque (1988, 2023)
Nova
Dose, Cinema Nova (2001)
Australian Centre for the Moving Image (2004)
La
Mama Theatre (2004)
SBS-TV "Eat Carpet" (1989)
Also: various
smaller screenings overseas, in Europe, U.S.A., Phillipines, Argentina,
Japan, etc.
AWARDS:
After
School
Certificate of Merit, St.Kilda Film Festival, 1989
Between
Us
4th Best Film, St.Kilda Film Festival, 1990
Best Fiction Film nomination Dendy Awards, 1990
Lovesick
Best Innovation in Undeground Cinema, Melbourne Underground Film
Festival, 2003
Best Cinematography, Melbourne Underground Film Festival, 2003
Spring
Rhapsody
Special Jury Prize, Melbourne Underground Film Festival, 2005
Best Sound, Melbourne Underground Film Festival, 2005
Blue Notes
Special Jury Prize, Melbourne Underground Film Festival, 2006
Best Cinematography, Melbourne Underground Film Festival, 2006
Best Supporting Male Actor (Adam Royall), Melbourne Underground
Film Festival, 2006
A Nocturne
Best Film, Melbourne Underground Film Festival, 2007
Best Actress (Vanessa de Largie), Melbourne Underground Film Festival,
2007
Best Editing (Bill Mousoulis), Melbourne Underground Film Festival,
2007
Wild and Precious
Nostimon Imar Award, Cyprus International Film Festival, 2012.
SCRIPTS written, but unproduced:
all feature-length,
and 1st Draft, unless otherwise noted
29
(aka Love Affairs) (1990-92) (3 drafts) Everybody (1991, part of feature Private Lives)
(30 mins) (2 drafts) The Magician (1991) Saint (1992) Making a Killing (aka Mercy for the Devil) (1993)
(2 drafts) The Mark of Love (1994) Bloody Lovely (1995) The Birth of the World (1995) So Real (1996) Green Again (1996) Voyage to Greece (1998) (2 drafts) diary.com (1999, for SBS' "Hybrid Life") (30 mins) (2 drafts) Experience (2001) Star Guitar (2002) Run For Your Life (2002) (30 mins) Happy Hour (2003) (15 mins) A Couple of Rules (2003) Tender Passage (2004) Dream-Crossed (2006) Girl World (2007)
(some of these scripts financed by AFC and SBS)
Also these treatments / outlines:
Forty Circles (2005) The Twisting of Our Hearts (2006) Louder Than Words (2019)
FILMS half-shot, but uncompleted:
My Life Goes to the Football (1986) (Super 8 short) This is Today, on Super 8 (1986) (Super 8 short) Heaven-Sent Machines (1988) (Super 8 short)
SELECT
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
"5th
Sydney Super-8 Film Festival" by Andrew Preston, Filmnews,
Feb 1985.
