Michael Lee
1949 (76 лет)He was a member of the founding board of the Melbourne filmmakers Co-operative and later served on the board of the Modern Image Makers Association.
He has produced over a dozen 16mm films. Apart from some shorter films concerned with formal structure and the parameters of the motion picture medium, my main thematic concern has been the search for meaning. My big efforts were The Mystical Rose (1976, 65 mins), which expresses the confused dissolute narcissism of my youth, Turnaround (1983, 60 mins), which illustrates the search for a centre or foundation, and A Contemplation of the Cross (1989, 27 mins), which communicates the acceptance of Christian faith
The Mystical Rose
Michael Lee
A disturbing cinematic opera from Melbourne film-maker, Michael Lee, presenting an intense emotional collage of film clips, original footage and complex object animation, structured loosely in the form of a Catholic Mass, to communicate the film-maker's traumatic Catholic experience. The film is intended in part as 'anti-imagery' in response to the iconography of Catholicism.
The Mystical Rose
Turnaround
Michael Lee
A spiritual journey, symbolized by the spiral, through images and sounds selected from the physical world over several years as the filmmaker moved between city and country and journeyed to the Center. Lee added some sounds and music to enhance the mood and sees the film as a mirror in which the image is distorted by his own consciousness.
Turnaround
A Contemplation of The Cross
Michael Lee
A meditation upon the redemptive power of Christ's crucifixion. The film employs a variety of styles including animation, newsreel footage, hand painted footage, live-action and optical effects. The soundtrack is composed of a wide variety of music including Gregorian chant, Kodaly, Liszt and electronic music.
A Contemplation of The Cross
Rock Heart Fire
Michael Lee
Shot mostly at Uluru, the rock in the heart of Australia. The extreme heat damaged the emulsion of the film which is subsequently incised by the filmmaker. A ceremonial death and rebirth. The soundtrack was made by the Orchestra of Skin and Bone comprising of Ollie Olsen and John Murphy. The aborigines were from Narwietooma Station. 16mm.
Rock Heart Fire
Meditation Upon Impermanence
Michael Lee
Filmed over a period of several years "for a variety of motives and no objective" from a window above a shop in Victoria St., North Melbourne where the filmmaker was living. When he edited the footage several years later the filmmaker re-found "the overwhelming nature of all phenomena" which he had felt as he sat at the window. - NFSA
Meditation Upon Impermanence
