Richard Wolstencroft
Encyclopedia
Richard Wolstencroft is an Australia
n filmmaker, film festival director, former nightclub promoter, writer, cinema critic, cultural and political commentator. He runs the Melbourne Underground Film Festival now in its 12th year.
.
Wolstencroft began making short films at age 11 in 1980 starting with clay and action figure animation. He got a home video camera around 1982 and started shooting many lo fi shorts. Many of his early works are collaborations with childhood friends Mark Horponitch and Jamie White
and are either horror spoofs and/or imitations or outright offensive comedies. He met mentor Mark Savage
at a Super 8
film group around 1984 and together they made the low budget zombie short "Undead" with Savage directing and Wolstencroft starring. He then co-produced and acted in Mark Savage
's Marauders in 1986, one of the first video features ever made in Australia.
He co-directed his first feature Bloodlust with collaborator Jon Hewitt in 1990 which went onto to become a cult hit and has recently been featured in Michael Adams book "Showgirls, Teen Wolves and Astro Zombies". Adams points out that Bloodlust had many of the same obsessions as the oeuvre of Quentin Tarantino
and he notes it was released 2 years before Reservoir Dogs
. Adams acted in the film as "Stoned Hippie."
In 1992 Wolstencroft founded the Hellfire Club
, a BDSM
-themed nightclub which operated in Melbourne, Sydney
, Brisbane
and other states for many years. In 1996 he began work on his second feature film Pearls Before Swine
, a project which would take him three years to complete starring Boyd Rice
. In 2000, the film was submitted to the Melbourne International Film Festival
, but was not selected. In response, Wolstencroft founded the Melbourne Underground Film Festival
, which, as of 2010, has remained an annual event.
Wolstencroft has acted in several films. He appears as actor and producer in Mark Savage
's Marauders and acts in Savage's Defenceless and in many of his early shorts. He also appears in Andrew Leavold's Lesbo A Go Go, Nicolas Debot's Extremism Breaks my Balls and Stuart Simpson's El Monstro Del Mar.
Wolstencroft's writings have appeared in a variety of publications, including Filmnet
and Fangoria Magazine (issue 162).
His fourth feature is The Beautiful and Damned
based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald
. The film is a modern adaptation, the first ever attempted of any of Fitzgerald's work and stars Ross Ditcham, Kristen Condon, Norman Yemm
, John Brumpton
, and Frank Howson
amongst others. The film was sneak previewed at the 10th Melbourne Underground Film Festival
and played at The Australian Film Festival in early 2010.
The Beautiful and Damned
had its US Premiere at the 10th F. Scott Fitzgerald Festival in Baltimore
in October 2009. It is to be released in Australia by distribution company The Pack in 2011.
He also keeps a blog Idea Fix running since early 2008.
He shot a low budget documentary in Uganda
in July 2009 called "Heart of Lightness" with Ebony Butler. In October 2009 he shot a documentary on Michael Tierney and the contemporary LA adult film scene to be called "The Last Days of Joe Blow". Both documentaries will be ready to play festivals sometime in 2011.
His latest narrative feature screen project is an adaptation of the famous William Butler Yeats poem The Second Coming
. The film is a portmanteau film made up of seven stories. Shooting began in Thailand in October 2010 with Michael Tierney and will continue in Melbourne into early 2011.
Wolstencroft founded a new film festival, Bloodfest Fantastique, dedicated to Horror and Science fiction cinema. The festival opens at a venue in St Kilda on the 10th of June of 2011.
's films in the 80's at Super 8 film groups. He is interested in many progressive and controversial ideas some of which are a new vision of a genre driven Australian cinema and what to do in reaction to the ongoing Australian cinema crisis, his interest in right wing politics (that he calls "transcendental fascism"), his interest in Free Speech (an example of which are: the attempted screening of a David Irving
doco, at MUFF in 2003; a screening of Larry Clark
film Ken Park
; and his championing of gay and straight adult erotic cinema, again, at MUFF, his successful public disobedience screening of LA Zombie in 2010, etc.), his writings on politics, art and society on his blog.
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
n filmmaker, film festival director, former nightclub promoter, writer, cinema critic, cultural and political commentator. He runs the Melbourne Underground Film Festival now in its 12th year.
Biography
Son of David William Wolstencroft he grew up in Lower Templestowe, a middle-class suburb of Melbourne, attending Templestowe Heights Primary School and later Ivanhoe Grammar SchoolIvanhoe Grammar School
Ivanhoe Grammar School is an independent, co-educational, day school, located in Ivanhoe and Mernda , both located in the north-eastern suburbs of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia....
.
Wolstencroft began making short films at age 11 in 1980 starting with clay and action figure animation. He got a home video camera around 1982 and started shooting many lo fi shorts. Many of his early works are collaborations with childhood friends Mark Horponitch and Jamie White
Jamie White
Jamie White is an American radio personality and actress who is most notable for having hosted mornings on KYSR Star 98.7 in Los Angeles for nearly nine years...
and are either horror spoofs and/or imitations or outright offensive comedies. He met mentor Mark Savage
Mark Savage
Mark Savage is an Australian film and television screenwriter and film director, specializing in independent horror, cult, action and exploitation-themed films. He is influenced by European and Asian genre cinema, and has written critical reviews and articles for the Herald Sun, Asian Cult...
at a Super 8
Super 8 mm film
Super 8 mm film is a motion picture film format released in 1965 by Eastman Kodak as an improvement of the older "Double" or "Regular" 8 mm home movie format....
film group around 1984 and together they made the low budget zombie short "Undead" with Savage directing and Wolstencroft starring. He then co-produced and acted in Mark Savage
Mark Savage
Mark Savage is an Australian film and television screenwriter and film director, specializing in independent horror, cult, action and exploitation-themed films. He is influenced by European and Asian genre cinema, and has written critical reviews and articles for the Herald Sun, Asian Cult...
's Marauders in 1986, one of the first video features ever made in Australia.
He co-directed his first feature Bloodlust with collaborator Jon Hewitt in 1990 which went onto to become a cult hit and has recently been featured in Michael Adams book "Showgirls, Teen Wolves and Astro Zombies". Adams points out that Bloodlust had many of the same obsessions as the oeuvre of Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Tarantino
Quentin Jerome Tarantino is an American film director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and actor. In the early 1990s, he began his career as an independent filmmaker with films employing nonlinear storylines and the aestheticization of violence...
and he notes it was released 2 years before Reservoir Dogs
Reservoir Dogs
Reservoir Dogs is an American crime film marking debut of director and writer Quentin Tarantino. It depicts the events before and after a botched diamond heist, but not the heist itself. Reservoir Dogs stars an ensemble cast: Harvey Keitel, Steve Buscemi, Tim Roth, Michael Madsen, Chris Penn, and...
. Adams acted in the film as "Stoned Hippie."
In 1992 Wolstencroft founded the Hellfire Club
Hellfire Club
The Hellfire Club was a name for several exclusive clubs for high society rakes established in Britain and Ireland in the 18th century, and was more formally or cautiously known as the "Order of the Friars of St. Francis of Wycombe"...
, a BDSM
BDSM
BDSM is an erotic preference and a form of sexual expression involving the consensual use of restraint, intense sensory stimulation, and fantasy power role-play. The compound acronym BDSM is derived from the terms bondage and discipline , dominance and submission , and sadism and masochism...
-themed nightclub which operated in Melbourne, Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
and other states for many years. In 1996 he began work on his second feature film Pearls Before Swine
Pearls Before Swine (film)
Pearls Before Swine is a 1999 film by Australian director Richard Wolstencroft that premiered at the Stockholm International Film Festival in November 1999. The film portrays the life of a hitman with an interest in such things as fascism, S&M, collecting erotic literature, Doctor Who, and...
, a project which would take him three years to complete starring Boyd Rice
Boyd Rice
Boyd Blake Rice is an American experimental sound/noise musician using the name of NON since the mid-1970s, archivist, actor, photographer, author, member of the Partridge Family Temple religious group, co-founder of the UNPOP art movement and current staff writer for Modern Drunkard...
. In 2000, the film was submitted to the Melbourne International Film Festival
Melbourne International Film Festival
The Melbourne International Film Festival is an acclaimed annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1951, making it one of the oldest in the World....
, but was not selected. In response, Wolstencroft founded the Melbourne Underground Film Festival
Melbourne Underground Film Festival
The Melbourne Underground Film Festival was formed out of disagreements over the content and running of the Melbourne International Film Festival...
, which, as of 2010, has remained an annual event.
Wolstencroft has acted in several films. He appears as actor and producer in Mark Savage
Mark Savage
Mark Savage is an Australian film and television screenwriter and film director, specializing in independent horror, cult, action and exploitation-themed films. He is influenced by European and Asian genre cinema, and has written critical reviews and articles for the Herald Sun, Asian Cult...
's Marauders and acts in Savage's Defenceless and in many of his early shorts. He also appears in Andrew Leavold's Lesbo A Go Go, Nicolas Debot's Extremism Breaks my Balls and Stuart Simpson's El Monstro Del Mar.
Wolstencroft's writings have appeared in a variety of publications, including Filmnet
Filmnet
Nova Cinema is a premium television service available in Greece that broadcasts blockbuster movies and hit series. It is the only 24/7 Movie service in Greece and it launched in 1994. It is owned by Forthnet, who own and operate Nova a DTH satellite service and Nova Sports—a sports channel.Nova...
and Fangoria Magazine (issue 162).
His fourth feature is The Beautiful and Damned
The Beautiful and Damned
The Beautiful and Damned, first published by Scribner's in 1922, is F. Scott Fitzgerald's second novel. The novel provides a portrait of the Eastern elite during the Jazz Age, exploring New York Café Society. As with his other novels, Fitzgerald's characters are complex, especially in their...
based on the novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald was an American author of novels and short stories, whose works are the paradigm writings of the Jazz Age, a term he coined himself. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest American writers of the 20th century. Fitzgerald is considered a member of the "Lost...
. The film is a modern adaptation, the first ever attempted of any of Fitzgerald's work and stars Ross Ditcham, Kristen Condon, Norman Yemm
Norman Yemm
Norman Yemm is an Australian actor who is probably best known for his long-running role as Norm Baker in the television drama The Sullivans....
, John Brumpton
John Brumpton
John Brumpton is an Australian actor who has appeared in a large number of local productions.-Writing career:He co-wrote the feature film Life and he won the International Critics Prize at the Toronto International Film Festival.-Theatre:...
, and Frank Howson
Frank Howson
Frank Howson has had a career in entertainment. He directed Flynn on the early life of Errol Flynn and Hunting...
amongst others. The film was sneak previewed at the 10th Melbourne Underground Film Festival
Melbourne Underground Film Festival
The Melbourne Underground Film Festival was formed out of disagreements over the content and running of the Melbourne International Film Festival...
and played at The Australian Film Festival in early 2010.
The Beautiful and Damned
The Beautiful and Damned (film)
The Beautiful and Damned is a 1922 silent film directed by William A. Seiter and released by Warner Brothers in their early years. This film, based on the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel published in the same year, starred Kenneth Harlan and Marie Prevost. It is 70 minutes long.There are no known...
had its US Premiere at the 10th F. Scott Fitzgerald Festival in Baltimore
Baltimore
Baltimore is the largest independent city in the United States and the largest city and cultural center of the US state of Maryland. The city is located in central Maryland along the tidal portion of the Patapsco River, an arm of the Chesapeake Bay. Baltimore is sometimes referred to as Baltimore...
in October 2009. It is to be released in Australia by distribution company The Pack in 2011.
He also keeps a blog Idea Fix running since early 2008.
He shot a low budget documentary in Uganda
Uganda
Uganda , officially the Republic of Uganda, is a landlocked country in East Africa. Uganda is also known as the "Pearl of Africa". It is bordered on the east by Kenya, on the north by South Sudan, on the west by the Democratic Republic of the Congo, on the southwest by Rwanda, and on the south by...
in July 2009 called "Heart of Lightness" with Ebony Butler. In October 2009 he shot a documentary on Michael Tierney and the contemporary LA adult film scene to be called "The Last Days of Joe Blow". Both documentaries will be ready to play festivals sometime in 2011.
His latest narrative feature screen project is an adaptation of the famous William Butler Yeats poem The Second Coming
The Second Coming (poem)
"The Second Coming" is a poem composed by Irish poet William Butler Yeats in 1919 and first printed in The Dial and afterwards included in his 1921 collection of verses titled Michael Robartes and the Dancer. The poem uses Christian imagery regarding the Apocalypse and second coming as allegory to...
. The film is a portmanteau film made up of seven stories. Shooting began in Thailand in October 2010 with Michael Tierney and will continue in Melbourne into early 2011.
Wolstencroft founded a new film festival, Bloodfest Fantastique, dedicated to Horror and Science fiction cinema. The festival opens at a venue in St Kilda on the 10th of June of 2011.
Controversy
Wolstencroft is known for his controversial opinions, writings and events that date back to theme nights during the early days of his Hellfire Club and even screenings of his and Mark SavageMark Savage
Mark Savage is an Australian film and television screenwriter and film director, specializing in independent horror, cult, action and exploitation-themed films. He is influenced by European and Asian genre cinema, and has written critical reviews and articles for the Herald Sun, Asian Cult...
's films in the 80's at Super 8 film groups. He is interested in many progressive and controversial ideas some of which are a new vision of a genre driven Australian cinema and what to do in reaction to the ongoing Australian cinema crisis, his interest in right wing politics (that he calls "transcendental fascism"), his interest in Free Speech (an example of which are: the attempted screening of a David Irving
David Irving
David John Cawdell Irving is an English writer,best known for his denial of the Holocaust, who specialises in the military and political history of World War II, with a focus on Nazi Germany...
doco, at MUFF in 2003; a screening of Larry Clark
Larry Clark
Lawrence Donald "Larry" Clark is an American film director, photographer, writer and film producer who is best known for the movie Kids and his photography book Tulsa...
film Ken Park
Ken Park
Ken Park is a 2002 drama film. The screenplay was written by Harmony Korine, who based it on Larry Clark's journals and stories. The film was directed by Larry Clark and Ed Lachman....
; and his championing of gay and straight adult erotic cinema, again, at MUFF, his successful public disobedience screening of LA Zombie in 2010, etc.), his writings on politics, art and society on his blog.
External links
- Indie Film Nation Video Interview with Richard Wolstencroft on MUFF and The Beautiful and Damned
- Richard Wolstencroft at the Melbourne independent filmmakers website.
- Bad reputation, 26 June 2004 article in The AgeThe AgeThe Age is a daily broadsheet newspaper, which has been published in Melbourne, Australia since 1854. Owned and published by Fairfax Media, The Age primarily serves Victoria, but is also available for purchase in Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and border regions of South Australia and...
on Wolstencroft and the MUFF. - The 1st MUFF Manifesto written by Wolstencroft in May/June 2005
- Last Days of Joe Blow directed by Richard Wolstencroft