| Overview
Bill Mousoulis
was born in 1963, in Melbourne. A self-taught film-maker,
he began making Super-8
shorts in 1982, quickly establishing himself
as the leading and most prolific player of the Melbourne
Super-8 scene of the 1980s. He was one of the co-founders
of the Melbourne Super-8 Film Group in 1985, and was its
Administrator until 1991. The Group disbanded in 2001 -
it was one of Melbourne's most active film organisations for co-operative
and alternative film practice.
With such
Super-8 shorts as Dreams Never
End (1983, 9 mins), Back to Nature
(1985, 13 mins), Physical World
(1986, 10 mins) and Faith (1987,
27 mins), amongst others, Mousoulis began developing his unique
style, with its transcendental vision of the world.
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Dreams Never End (1983)
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Using
understatement and subtlety as effective tools, Mousoulis managed
to capture ordinary people's lives, dreams, failures, in the process
drawing a compelling portrait of the human soul. This work
continued in the two 16mm. shorts, After
School (1988, 20 mins) and Between
Us (1989, 37 mins).
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In the 1990s,
whilst continuing to make the occasional short, Mousoulis expanded
his canvas to the feature film format. Several low-budget
features emerged: Open City
(1993, 80 mins, Super-8), Ladykiller
(1994, 80 mins, Super-8), My
Blessings (1997, 78 mins, 16mm) and Desire
(1999, 77 mins, 16mm). With these films, Mousoulis continued
his exploration of the human psyche in his distinctively subtle
style, but with a greater variety and depth. Thus, Open
City is a relationship study with the Bosnian conflict as
a backdrop; Ladykiller is a de-sensationalised portrait
of a serial killer, using the thriller genre; My Blessings
is an intimate, penetrating look at the life of a solitary
woman, using the diary form; and Desire is a highly
formal meditation on the many vicissitudes of love and sexuality.
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Desire (1999)
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In 2002, Mousoulis
completed another feature film, shot on Super 16, Lovesick,
a love story with a dark twist to it.
In recent years,
there has been a trilogy of DV features - Spring
Rhapsody (2004), Blue Notes
(2006), and A Nocturne
(2007).
Overall, Mousoulis'
work is realist, humanist and
formalist. In his films, he approaches the everyday
world with both sincerity and experimentation,
which has caused critics to compare
the films to the films of directors such as
Rohmer, Bresson, Rossellini. Ever
the dedicated cineaste, Mousoulis continues to churn out his films at
an impressive rate, quite oblivious to the film fashions around
him, or the agendas of the funding bodies, etc.
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