Tim McGarry brilliant actor of ‘I AM JACK’ and I ‘coolly’ wandered down the red carpet spotting celebrities:-

One of my favourite actors – Hugo Weaving!

We took our place among invited guests of the film industry at the front and cheered at the awards for best films.

Then there was the film – TWENTY FEET FROM STARDOM!

The music, the gifts, the talent, the bitter sweet of these brilliant black ‘backing’ singers whose talents in many cases were greater than the ‘stars’ -

Merry Clayton, Darlene Love, Lisa Fischer – who were twenty feet from their own stardom.

They performed with everyone ….from Tina Turner to Ray Charles to Kylie Minogue to the Rolling Stones -and many of these stars ‘stole’ the voices of these backing singers in the songs we love.

It broke my heart.

However there were generous stars like – MICK JAGGER, STING, BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN – who recognised the gifts of these extraordinary black female singers and acknowledged them.

However the difference between the backing singers and their brilliance and achieving that iconic word STAR was luck and the key element

- the backing singers faced racism and lack of women’s rights. They also  didn’t have the ‘killer’ instinct. They loved the music and not themselves.

Congratulations Morgan Neville for a brilliant documentary – see it and celebrate astonishing women, voices and the heart of music.

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Inside story about Dead Poet’s Society – Peter Weir rejected the script initially even though it was beautifully written.

The reason:

“… carpe diem, seize the day boys, make your lives extraordinary.”

This is the driving force behind the teacher Mr Keating’s philosophy.

Originally Mr Keating had cancer.

Peter Weir’s view: Seize the Day because life must be lived to the full, just because it MUST.

Peter Weir was RIGHT!

There were long discussions between Peter Weir until the writer came on board and wrote his beautiful script.

The result – a brilliant film performed by the brilliant Robin Williams as Mr Keating, called Dead Poet’s Society!

“We read and write poetry  because we are members of the human race. And the human race is filled with passion. And medicine, law, business, engineering, these are noble pursuits and necessary to sustain life. But poetry, beauty, romance, love, these are what we stay alive for.”

Life must be about thinking, living, seeking the marrow.

Peter Weir has deeply influenced my thinking on my film script for ‘I AM JACK’.

Jack has to live his life with thought, ideas, exploration.

Jack comes onto the scenes wearing jeans and a t-shirt with the words splashed across it:-

‘We are all star stuff” Carl Sagan.

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The teenagers of Sefton High School in Sydney’s West, shared with me the journey of story to:-

understand the past, ourselves and move towards a better future.

I shared my refugee story of my parents  through ‘Ships in the Field’,  who made the perilous escape from Hungary to a refugee camp and finally freedom:

In return the students of Sefton returned my gift, with their stories.

Their stories brought me to tears:-

- the stories of Vietnam, Cambodia, Lebanon

- of family, and loss, and people they’d never know

And how we carry the past, as we move forward towards a positive future.

I just loved these beautiful young people who bring such hope to us all.

The post Emotional, Moving, Immigrant Story: Sefton High appeared first on Susanne Gervay's Blog.

Why -  The Sydney Film Festival .

Lots of people are in Sydney for it.

Ausfilm and David Whealy and Associates are hosting US producer Harry Ufland who worked bringing Blade Runner to the screen. He’s brought 20 talented young producers and script writers from Chapman University (LA) to see the Sydney Film Festival and the film industry.

They will also be at the reading of I AM JACK the movie by iconic Australian actor JACK Thompson at Fox Studios.

Simon Wellink is filming the US visitors, starting with their arrived at The Hughenden Hotel to Animal Logic to the fabulous cocktail party where :-

Jack Thompson, Harry Ufland and Gabrielle Upton Member of Parliament for Tertiary Education spoke about the Australian film industry and fostering relations with the US film industry.

www.sff.org.au

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Thankyou Dianne Wolfer for these delicious fruits – don’t know the name.

Came home running with a fabulous day at Sefton High School – brilliant young people who embrace books and ideas.

Today was a full day of editing the feature film script – I AM JACK – based on my 3 JACK books.

I’m in love with the script which makes me laugh and cry and love and feel and say

NO TO BULLYING!

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It’s exotic with a feast of street eating and yum chas and food, food, food, matched only by …. shopping and books.

Discover Singapore at the next Asian Festival of Children’s Content – so many writers and illustrators and film creators and multi platform opportunities.

I’ll be here next year.

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- thankyou to the beautiful teacher who was a refugee from Loas who shared her story with me – our story.

Thankyou for my Singapore experiece – hot with rain storms, filled with colour

- from the wet markets, to shrines in homes, to lush vegetation, high rise buildings, endless shopping.. and … more.

Thankyou to the Asian Festival of Children’s Content at the National Library for bringing me here to share story and culture.

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The Festival has been a special experience connecting with the growing Asian literature market.

I was proud when Nicholas Mark , Aussie kids’ author and film reviewer took out the digeridoo and entertained everyone on the SCBWI night.

Loved the media part where top film producers, TV companies and script writers shared their knowledge.

I got the pleasure of meeting Robert Greenberg AWGIE award winner and international script writer for TV series.

Talking to him about the feature film ‘I AM JACK’ gave me incredible insights into script writing and film making,

The festival ended with a breakfast with writers, illustrators and film producers.

Fantastic festival.

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When the designer of the cover of my Indonesian edition of ‘Butterflies’ Ria Radja Haba, holding my book, carrying it all the way from Jakarta, found me at the Asian Festival of Children’s Content, it was moving.

There were so many highlights:-

Wendy’s Orr’s talk about the development of ‘Nim’s Island’ with Jodie Foster

Author Ken Spillman’s important talk about books being embraced by Asia.

The Director of Southern Star Asia showing the wonderfully hilarious film clip of Bananas in Pyjamas speaking 14 languages -

- I have to admit the French version was my favourite.

Kathleen Ahrens author and head of SCBWI International bringing together leaders of SCBWI across the world

Sharing story with publishers from Singapore, Malaysia, India, Indonesia.

Meeting best selling authors such as Nury Vittachi, award winning screen writers such as Robert Greenberg, television film producers.

The emotional response by the audience to reading segments of  ‘I AM JACK’ the movie  was extraordinary -

tears to empowerment as we committed to NO TO BULLYING.

Thankyou to the National Book Development Council of Singapore, Mr R Ramachandran Executive Director of the Festival, Kenneth Quek Festival Director and everyone involved.

Come along next year – 31st May to 4 June 2014

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- flames, satays of all sorts, watermelon juice, ice mounds dripping in sweet flavours and very good company.

Fabulous launches of fabulous books -

The Western Australian contingent – James Foley, Samantha Hughes, Meg McKinlay, Normn Jorgenson -were out in full force

for Dianne Wolfer’s beautiful  book Lighthouse Boy portraying World War 1 through the eyes of a young soldier and his love of horses with stunning charcoal skeches by Brian Simmonds.

The stunning book ‘The Language Inside’ by Holly Thompson – verse novel about Japanese and American boundaries in the life of a girl.

There’s so much happening at the Asian Festival of Children’s Content in Singapore.

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