A message from Melbourne from James Fair on Vimeo.
A couple come to Melbourne for their second honeymoon and, after losing their luggage and hotel reservation, are forced to stay at a hostel and adventure around the city. On the surface, The Ballad of Des and Mo, “a film about love, luggage and living on the edge,” sounds like your run of the mill rom-com. It’s the way the thing’s being put together, though, that makes us sit up and take note.
British writer/director James Fair and his team of loyal helpers have spent the past year planning every detail of the production, which will take place in just 72 hours on the streets of a city which, not long ago, was totally foreign to him. “I’ve been in Melbourne a month,” James told us earlier today, “I spent my first three weeks couch-surfing and staying in hostels. I worked during the day and spent my nights meeting people and getting accustomed to the city…There were so many things that were attractive about coming to Melbourne. From things people had told me about the city and how cultural it is…it was a big draw for me.”
It was while screening Waiting and Watching – James' last 72 Hour Film Project in Berlin last year – that he was invited to re-create the experience for this year’s Melbourne International Film Festival. Since then, James has been raising funds for the project and making sure he got the script’s local specifics just right. “I was sending drafts to a script-writer in Berlin and one in Melbourne, keeping in mind the festival audience and also the Melbourne audience.”
The city’s creative types have come out en masse to offer their services to the production via the 72 Hour Film Project Facebook page. “This has been kind of a big social media adventure for me,” James says, “It’s been great- so many people are coming forward offering up music and offering costume design…85% of the crew are from Melbourne and probably about 90% of the cast. They’re all volunteers who were just excited about the project and willing to help us out…Practically every area of film-making we’ve covered with their help.”
While shooting, editing and screening a feature-length film of broadcast quality in just three days will undoubtedly be a trying exercise, James is quietly confident of his crew’s ability to pull it off. “We don’t have shadows or understudies, we won’t be changing exterior shots to interior ones on account of the weather. We’ve planned all that we can and will be surviving on adrenaline and three or four hours' sleep until we get smashed after the screening.”
That screening will be taking place at ACMI on Sunday, August 8- just three days after James calls, “Action!” Book your tickets here.
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