Inside the Avalon Film Festival: Ben Welsh’s Diary of Chaos, Creativity, and Cinema #3
Renowned creative leader, author, and former DDB Australia CCO Ben Welsh takes us behind the scenes of the Avalon Film Festival in a candid and entertaining diary series exclusive to Campaign Brief. From navigating the chaos of last-minute preparations to celebrating cinematic gems that capture the soul of the Northern Beaches, Welsh documents the thrills, spills, and sausage-making realities of pulling together a film festival.
DAY MINUS 3: DCP vs MG
Palpitations have stopped.
I’ve entered the stage where it’s too late to do anything. Or is it?
The day ended at the RSL with a plug for the AFF in the shape of some free tickets to Beneath Hill 60, a First World War drama starring Brendan Cowell, directed by Jeremy Simms and produced by Bilgola resident Bill Leimbach. It’s a remarkable story, well told, with some unlikely heroes (sorry if I’m repeating myself but you might have missed yesterday’s entry). It deserves to be seen but isn’t proving that popular. Perhaps Avalon folk are pacifists at heart. We got talking to Paul, the RSL president about how much of the Australian film industry can be found in these parts and he started talking about his mate Pete (Peter Weir).
Prior to that we were busy blacking out the windows of the Avalon Beach SLSC in preparation for the screenings there. It’s a wonderful location if anyone is planning an event, and always stimulating to get the briny whiff of an Easterly wind blowing through. I am very much looking forward to Ben Player’s talk on Friday night. He’s an inspiring bloke with an incredibly low heart rate – no palpitations there.
Earlier in the day things were more frustrating. I’d ordered some printing from a large office stationery company and discovered it wasn’t ready. Nothing they could do – it’s all done centrally, and this highlights an issue with service – while the person I am talking to isn’t responsible for the problem they aren’t prepared to accept any responsibility so the company appears not to either. I think I swore. Then I thought about all those signs that say ‘please don’t get angry with our staff’ and it struck me that this is a cheap way of dealing with bad service – if your customers are getting angry with your staff, could it be that your training/recruitment/product is the thing that needs improving? After than we managed to get our sign up without removing the domestic violence message (please admire). Still annoyed with council though.
The highlight of the day was putting up the lettering for the AFF outside the cinema. I’ve always wanted to do that and now I have. Typographers please don’t judge the kerning. It was pretty special.
But perhaps the most special thing about the entire process is how often people volunteer their time to help. You can’t have a community film festival without a community. I will have many people to thank at the end of this, but while I’m here I’d like to acknowledge Jay Richards who prepared this mega-trailer for us. I wish we’d thought of it earlier!
