Perth Voice Interactive

A SHORT film about awkward situations in a disabled toilet has seen two filmmakers selected for the Revelations Film festival.

Miley Tunnecliffe and Jess Black lead a female-strong crew Red Milestone Productions in an industry where it’s still rare to see women working on the technical or directing side of things. With a decade between them they’ve had different experiences.

Ms Black, the younger at 22, says she doesn’t see a lot of overt sexism (apart from the ever-annoying blokey blokes always falling over themselves to insist a woman shouldn’t carry anything heavy), but a look around the average film set shows very few women outside the acting or producing roles.

With a focus on logistics and management, women seem to have fallen into the role of producer rather than directing, or more technical roles like editing or cinematography.

Ms Tunnecliffe says the pair hasn’t set out on any concerted plan to only work with women: instead, their number one rule for people they work with is “you can’t be an arsehole” followed by “be talented,”. If there are women who fit both those and just need some encouragement or experience to get going they’ll gladly take them on board.

Their film Love in a Disabled Toilet, which beat out 14 other filmmaking teams for a $10,000 grant from the Film and Television Institute, recently had its first screening at the FTI.

Ms Tunnecliffe, who does the writing and directing while Ms Black does the producing and editing, says it’s a nervous experience watching so much work (including months of editing in Ms Black’s bedroom edit suite) in front of so many people. “I was watching the audience, not the film,” Ms Tunnecliffe says.

Their work’s just been accepted into the Revelation Film Festival for the shorts screening, and they’re putting in applications here and abroad for a slew of other festivals. “We want to get known here, but we want to be known internationally as well, and we’d love to hit America,” Ms Black says.

Revelations film festival runs at Luna cinema’s various joints as well as at West Perth’s new Backlot Studio, and the screening schedule and info on where you can catch the film is announced June 6.

by DAVID BELL