The Brisbane Carnival Cinema Gathering- Mike’s reflection
Each time we stage another Carnival Cinema Gathering we learn something new. We’ve only held three so far, but we realised very quickly that as long as there’s room to chat, something to drink, and the music isn’t too loud, then this community is very happy to get together. Unashamedly inspired by late-night sessions at Tony’s Be-Bop-A-Blue Bar in Tassie, the night becomes a combination of a welcome induction for the emerging, a recharge for those that are swimming, and a reunion for the submerging or ‘retired’. Does anyone really ‘retire’ from circus? A little one-night teleported re-incarnation of a Circus Festival bar.
The community breathes out, meets in real life, shares air and a bevvie. The more diversity in the room, with a mix of old and new faces, the more positive energy is created. Showing the films gives focus to the night, it’s a moment for the whole room to be united in a series of experiences. Showing films means no-one has to warm up their creaky Monday-night muscles and put their body on the line to unite the crowd.
This latest Gathering had some deeply poignant moments as we watched previously unseen footage of Derek Ives talk about his philosophy, his art, even his own mortality. The films are the reason for gathering, but they are only one part of the meaning. Watching a film on a big screen in a dark room surrounded by a transfixed crowd is so fundamentally different from staring into a tiny handheld phone, alone, in isolation. The meaning of the night becomes Community, Connection and Culture. As usual that happens when people share space, in person. In some ways Hamish’s documentation over the years has been a series of these in-person moments. Interview conversations, fly-on-the-wall observations, backstage glimpses that he took the time to point his camera at. The films serve as reminders to each of us to savour the moments as they arrive.
We’ve realised that it’s not crucial that a Gathering night is tightly stage managed, or non-stop, or slick, or perfect. The choice of venue is important, but not for the same reasons you might pick a show venue or a commercial event. It just needs to feel warm and welcoming, with seats, a pop-up screen, nicely lit, and some kind of bar. Our community will find the venue, whether it’s hidden inside a construction site, or behind an old door in a beautifully wabi-sabi aged old Bowlo, or in a working youth arts centre. The notion of Perfection is defined completely differently from how any of us would go about making a show. No-one is being particularly performative. No-one is selling their soul. No-one is humble bragging about their audience numbers. Just hard-working physical art-makers, lovely humans, taking a moment to step off the treadmill, to connect, recharge, and experience a secular communion. To acknowledge partnerships, celebrate births, mark deaths. To be vulnerable.
Can’t wait for the next one.
Watch this space.
– Mike Finch
Carnival Cinema’s
Creative Producer, Connector, Strategist
*All pix by our bro Lachy Shelley
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