Stella Smith
My films have always been sparked from within my immediate community.
I am usually inspired by stories from the underdog within our communities - issues and stories that are least likely to be told by mainstream media. The first ever film I made was at the tail end of Art School at Melbourne University in 1993. Titled “Stop the Silence on Police Violence”, the film was based on a public protest of 300 strong through the city streets of Melbourne, empowering individuals and community groups to speak about their experiences on the hidden culture of violence perpetrated by police.
This film and the hands on activism experience was the beginning of a long experimental career in a diverse range of media, incorporating arts and activism. A second film “Stripsearch is rape by the state”, followed in 1994. This film focused on the powers of police and prison officers to strip search people ‘on the street' and within custody.
The subjects of my films have become more sedate since then.
I spent some time in Perth where my involvement in a local radical film group “Collectiva Inc”, gave me a holistic approach to production and set in place a life long habit of telling stories through film.
The spirit of adventure took me to Humpty Doo outside of Darwin, the beginning of a thirteen year residence in the Northern Territory.
In 1996 I moved into a ‘share house' of East Timor activists, crashed my motorbike and met the Fish Camp mob who's gift of sharing and resilience to persecution remain with me forever. (Fish Camp mob are an extended family group from the Arnhem Land region of Maningrida, who have been camping out in Darwin for generations.) Over the next 10 years I made many films about Longgrass people (mainly indigenous family groups camping out in the Darwin city area).
During this time I began work as receptionist at the Darwin Community Legal Service where legal avenues where tested on human rights issues for indigenous families camping out in Darwin.
Throughout this time my filmmaking was supported by access to equipment and editing facilities provided by Bill Fletcher of Darwin Pro Video, the most generous gift in the development of my filmmaking.
In 2004 myself and visual artist Penny Campton undertook the biggest film project to date “Letters to the Editor”, This was a 65 minute film about prominent long term letter writers to The NT News, Northern Territory's only daily newspaper, owned by Murdoch News Corp,
The Letters film was premiered in mid 2005 at the local Deckchair Outdoor Cinema in Darwin when my first baby was 6 months old.
In Mid 2006 our small family of 3 left Darwin for Western Australia where we spent some time in the Pilbara. I continued production on a film about the remaining residences at the old asbestos mining town of Wittenoom. Unable to secure adequate housing in Tom Price we arrived in Beaufort, Victoria in late 2006 where my second baby was born, neighborhood BBQ's were shared and a new film, PAYBACK TIME was inspired.
To date PAYBACK TIME has been the only film that I have made a conscious effort to promote and distribute. Self promotion has been my greatest stumbling block. In the past generally on completion of one film another presents itself and away I go. With the advent of the Simmering Productions website and actually making contact with film distributors and the film education market - with positive results, a new era in the development of my filmmaking has begun.