Grandma’s story makes Tropfest final
A documentary about an Aussie grandmother’s life has been selected as a finalist for this year’s Tropfest short film festival, being held on February 17.
A SHORT documentary about a 92-year-old grandmother made by Sydney director Dean Ginsburg will screen as one of the finalists in this year’s Tropfest festival being held on the weekend.
Much of the heart-warming short film features original footage taken by the grandmother, Shirley Affleck, during the 1950s and 1960s, which was discovered gathering dust in her garage.
Ginsburg, 31, said: “It was such an amazing find – trawling through hours of home movie footage was like a nostalgic time-capsule of the Australian way of life back then.”
It was in January that Ginsburg, the son of well-known jazz musician and North Shore Temple Emanuel stalwart Mark Ginsburg, travelled to Perth with his girlfriend Jessica to visit her grandmother Shirley with the plan to make a short documentary about her life.
The film would be a personal story of love, life and the lessons learned along the way.
Shirley was born in 1926 and grew up on a wheat farm in Western Australia. She met her husband John in Perth towards the end of World War II.
He was serving in the Army, which meant postings around Australia. When their children went to school they remained in Canberra and later retired to a farm in Tumut. Then they moved to Perth to be closer to their three children and five grandchildren. In 2015 her husband John died.
Shirley, who is not Jewish, enjoys an active life and is an eloquent storyteller.
“Over summer I visited her in Perth and took along my Super 8 camera to film her and record some interviews about her life – she had been married for 67 years,” explained Ginsburg.
“I was looking for some old photos in her garage. She said there may be some old films that she took in the ’50s and ’60s with a movie camera. I found a projector and a box with about eight rolls of black-and-white movie film.”
Ginsburg said the discovery changed the direction of the film.
“I could look at her life in a more personal and authentic way.”
Ginsburg scanned the home movies in Perth and returned to Sydney to edit and produce the four-minute 46-second documentary titled The Life I’ve Seen.
The film was entered into Tropfest and was recently announced as one of 16 finalists in what is billed as the world’s largest short film festival.
“It’s really exciting to be in such an important festival,” said Ginsburg, who also had a film shortlisted in last year’s festival although it did not make the finals.
Ginsburg attended Killara High School and then studied film production at Macquarie University. He freelanced as a director and cinematographer before teaming up with producer James Carr to establish Symmetry Media in 2015 as a production company for commercial projects.
Over the years Ginsburg has enjoyed success with his short films.
In 2010 Jodie won best foreign short film at the Mountain Film Festival in the United States; in 2015 Alone received an award at the Canada International Film Festival; and in 2016 he was a finalist in the ScreenACT Accelerator Lab.
Symmetry Media is currently developing various short films, feature films and documentaries.
The Tropfest finalists’ films will be screened before thousands of movie fans at Parramatta Park, Sydney on Saturday, February 17 from 8pm.
The films will be judged by a panel of movie industry leaders including Academy Award-winning actress Susan Sarandon. Prizes include $10,000 cash, a Holden car, a film immersion course and meetings in Los Angeles with agents and studio executives.
The Tropfest finalists’ films will be broadcast live on February 17 on ABC Comedy channel from 8pm and live-streamed online on YouTube. For more information: www.tropfest.org.au
REPORT by Danny Gocs
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