Kirsty Stark...Film Producer
Posted on Jun 14, 2016
Our (Hawthorn Rotary’s) regular lunch time meeting on June 14 was one of the highlights of the year.
Firstly, it was exciting as it invoked the use of internet technology (Skype) to connect a speaker live in Adelaide with the audience in suburban Hawthorn, Melbourne.
Our techno team headed by friend Robert Ball and members Noel Halford and Jill Weeks had been preparing for the event for some time. It all went smoothly. {Perhaps it was a waste to have a pre-recorded version on hand just in case the telecommunications world had another black-out ?}.
Second, for this event there could not have been a better nor more appropriate speaker than Kirsty Stark, an absolute Rotary stalwart starting from when she was 6 years when her father together with the family undertook a Rotary Group Study tour to Japan. Kirsty’s CV re Rotary and participation in it is prolific and continuous, first as an exchange student at 15, subsequent exchange/study stints to Colorado, and Sweden, to member of the McGill-Sunrise Rotary Club in Adelaide. A Flinders University graduate (in Film Production) in 2007 this young woman will be President of the club in 2016/17.
Kirsty’s topic was the story of her progress and passion towards her present and most recent high in the art of cinema photography and film production, namely as producer for the currently circulating Australian movie “ A Month of Sundays”. Here is a link to its trailer:-
We heard how this journey started by making amateur films as a 15 year old, and later opportunity in film making classes at a USA high school, then persistent immersion as a volunteer into various film festivals, university study, and a first real paying job as a production assistant on the set in “Beautiful Kate” an Australian movie with Rachael Ward and Bryan Brown. She followed that with like roles in later and other South Australian based films including “Snowtown”. It was fascinating to hear how a 4 week production of one given feature was based on generating 7 minutes of material each day.
Then a step change, in which with a colleague she a set up a film company (first as the silent investors too) and a year or so later tackling the onerous role of procuring finance from external sources including government (State and Federal) film institutes. This culminated in recent times with “A Month of Sundays” now successfully showing at many theatres around Australia.
There was some prompt feedback from Kirsty re the Skype experience and her pleasure in being involved and of course details about showings of “Sundays”.
Thanks so much for having me to your meeting today! It was great to speak to everyone, and I enjoyed seeing a glimpse of the room and having so many questions to answer.
I have included a link below to the list of cinemas that are currently playing A Month of Sundays.
Kirsty
Kirsty's talent and persistence will be invaluable to the Australian film industry although one must wonder how long before the lure of an overseas production role takes hold.