Rayon’s Garnet Mae said he has always been something of an anarchist when it comes to making films.
The Belvoir Street director pioneered his own brand of “guerilla filmmaking” back in the 1990s to circumvent red tape and planning laws, and make filming more affordable.
In 2005 he achieved notoriety with his film Australian Pie, in which comedian and Nova radio host Ed Kavalee first lost his genitals in an encounter with a kitchen appliance, and then received a transplant from a porn star.
Kavalee claimed at the time that Australian Pie was “financed by a slumlord and the proceeds of a Mr Whippy (ice cream) van,” in reference to Mae’s “no-budget” approach.
Now in the 2010s, Mae is hoping to harness the power of social media and “crowd sourcing” to drive his latest venture, the 60 Films Experiment (relaunched).
Rayon Films wants to find 60 directors around the world to produce their own feature film within a single year.
In contrast to Mae’s “no-budget” origins, each film maker would be given US$1 million to bring their screenplay to life.
“I was telling this journo about the 60 Film Experiment and he said, ‘Are you an anarchist?'”
“I said no but I’m leaning that way these days.'”
Mae said his plan was to have 10 films chosen in each continent with centres in Sydney, Tokyo, London, Lagos, New York and Rio de Janeiro.
He said he hoped to raise the US$60 million required for the experiment through micro donations and crowd funding, a new funding approach that has already seen projects like Franny Armstrong’s The Age of Stupid raise over $1 million for their films.
“This is a people powered studio,” he said.
“People are tired of seeing the same old chop coming out of Hollywood, so now people will be able to decide which films they want to watch and be involved in the film making process from the start.”
The website www.60fex.com allows film makers from around the world to submit screenplays.
The public has direct access to these screenplays and can read them at their leisure.
They will then be able to provide the film makers with valuable feedback.
The site also allows the public to directly donate to individual film makers, regardless of whether their film is selected for the experiment.
