The Campfire story rolls along quietly, slowly sometimes, but all the same, assuredly. I feel as excited today about it as I did when the concept first came into focus back in late 2006. So it seems fitting now to provide some kind of update on how things work and where they’re going. There are further plans for 2010, but let’s not get ahead of ourselves.

The Campfire concept

Our tag, “films on films, faiths on film” points to what we’re about.
Our mission is two-fold:

1. To encourage filmmakers to explore the spiritual in their art
2. To encourage people of all faiths to connect with each other (and their own faith) using short-films as a catalyst

We believe that faith and spirituality is important, not irrelevant,
and in an age of increasing tribalism, we can play a vital role in bringing together disparate faiths and ideologies using the language of film.

We exist for peace and love but acknowledge that in calling for honest opinions about faith and meaning, conflict is natural. Short films can offer an antidote to the negative effects of conflict, and provide a bridge to better understanding in the future.

The Campfire concept is best visualised as shown (right). 

Until now, the website www.campfire.org.au has been the central project of Campfire, but since 2007 we’ve seen many unique uses of the project appear:

• interfaith groups linked to our site for greater awareness and compassion for others (Parliament of the Worlds Religions, Arts & Exhibitions link)
• religious youth groups studying other faiths to better understand their own (Donvale Presbyterian Church)
• ‘emerging church’ retreats showing films for broad discussions (The Rusty Spring)
• teachers using films in schools (Waverley Christian College)
• religious outreach using films for values discussion ("The Rev")

We’d love to see a greater range of faiths making use of the site. So feel free to send us your ideas and questions about this might work.

Live screening – the inaugural Campfire Awards

At the heart of Campfire is the short film. We want to reward efforts of filmmakers who tackle issues of spirituality, faith and meaning. For this reason we have now locked in what we hope to be the first of many Campfire Award screenings at the ACMI cinemas at Melbourne’s Federation Square on Sunday November 29, 2009.

A panel of independent judges from various religious and ideological backgrounds are currently being chosen to make final selections. Awards will be sponsored and presented by an official from the Parliament of the Worlds Religions (PWR). The PWR is a week-long conference being held in Melbourne around the same time.

Campfire Awards mission:

The aim of the Campfire Awards is to encourage filmmakers to explore the spiritual in their art.

The deadline for all films to be considered for entry is August 31. All finalists to be screened at ACMI will be notified of the upcoming screening to ensure best quality viewing copy is available.

Online festivals for 2009

In the lead-up to our first Awards screening, the online festivals will be kept to a minimum.

So far this year we've had:

• our first themed festival (February)
• a regular 'open' festival (May)
• ...which looks like it might be our last online festival for the year as we pour most of our volunteer energy into making the LIVE screening at ACMI happen well.

As a prominent figure in the Arts in Australia, Robyn Archer, speaking recently in Canberra for the Manning Clarke lecture, said

So, if there is no economic or environmental certainty and no formal faith either for many, can I make a case for Art as a pathway for spiritual survival?

I’d like to support her case because I love the arts; but it’s too an all-too-easy ‘out’ for those who’ve given up on religion.

Art has always had a spiritual dimension, and a power to inspire the human heart to an awareness of being beyond the here-and-now.

Take Roy Ground’s famous Melbourne icon, the Arts Centre spire for example. It reaches upwards, to some place loftier than our present reality. In the words of the Centre’s own promotion,

As with a church steeple or spire, the purpose of the Arts Centre spire is symbolic, providing a visual feature and signpost for the entire complex.”

It has a church-like quality in drawing people together and pointing them to an aspirational ‘beyond’. However, the symbolism of the spire is artfully left un-stated. Any passing viewer can decide for themselves if this is something spiritual or not.

Not so in Robyn Archer’s lecture, where (in her fuller speech particularly) she describes the failure of present-day faith institutions to provide transcendent hope, and clearly suggests that Art should step in and take its place.

And on this, I think she crosses the line. Art is not a path of spiritual survival.

I love the deep and complex spirituality of art, but I don’t believe it should ever seen as a substitute for spirituality, faith and belief itself.

What about you?

Whether you’re looking inward or hiking outward, the goal is always psychological: to open your mind and to challenge old ways of thinking.

Films, for me, have allowed a kind of travel of the mind. My Peter-Tammer-inspired experience at VCA, including the “doco club” screenings every Tuesday night, opened my eyes to a world of ideas I could never have imagined.

Films have improved my understanding of others and how they see life. That can only be a good thing.

Films have both deepened my faith and brought me into places where I needed to go back and re-examine and question what I believed more deeply. Surely that must also be beneficial.

Decent films, as with all decent art, have the potential to be a vehicle for travel of the mind.

And what’s decent art? That’s the kind that becomes deeper and more revealing with each subsequent viewing; and long after viewing, continues to play on in one’s mind – asking, answering and enlightening…

… a little like a travel, really.

As the world financial crisis deepens, it's refreshing to remember that life is not about money, or the value of our earthly possessions.

Birds still sing in the morning,
trees continue to grow,
life emerges from places out of view.
The Source of life continues to pulse and provide spiritual and physical sustenance,
if we'd only stop to appreciate it.

Whatever financial challenges lie ahead for our struggling world, may it cause us to take stock of what really matters.
Instead of hunting for life in material gain, may we seek out life beneath the surface.

Campfire news

At Campfire, we continue to seek out short films that remind us of eternal things. While things might look a little quiet, we've been busy, and good things are beginning to emerge.

Along with our host -- the production company, Image Control -- we've just moved to Abbotsford from South Melbourne in Victoria, Australia. If you've ever been involved in a moving a business, you'll know what it's like to find yourself doing unexpected jobs like painting, running cables and fitting door handles.

We've also been exploring ways to take what we do in our online space, and extend it into offline, physical spaces. One meaningful place to exhibit short films may be The Rye Interfaith Festival.  This year we'll be there filming the event, and this may be the kind of festival where we can screen films in times ahead.

A quick reminder that our next online festival begins in December and the deadline for short film entries is October 31.

If you have any comments or queries about what we do, don't hesitate to get in touch. Anywhere that film and faith connects, we love to explore.

You know about fast food.
Perhaps you also know about slow food.

Well, along with slow food came slow travel, slow shopping, and slow design.

I wonder if it's time to consider slow FILM.

The whole slow movement has been quietly ticking away for a while now.

In 1999, Geir Berthelsen formalised the movement with The World Institute of Slowness.

Professor Guttorm Fløistad summarises the philosophy of the slow movement like this:

Fast shorts

Whether creating or viewing, we like our short films fast, or short, or both.

With faster tools to write, shoot and edit films, we naturally assume that producing quality films can happen faster.

The Campfire Film Festival features just 5 short films at a time, allowing 3 months for viewers to absorb the small selection along with the broad range of responses from our key reviewers.

OK OK, I’d be lying if I were to say that a slowness philosophy was the only reason for going slow. There's also the reality that we're limited by lack of time and resources. But the more I think about expansion and improvement of what we do, the more I see the value in investing time and exposure in just a small number of select films. We want to do more than simply grow in the number of films we present, and the number of buttons and features on our site. Albert Einstein said,

“Any intelligent fool can make things bigger, more complex, and more violent. It takes a touch of genius -- and a lot of courage -- to move in the opposite direction.”

The internet is a truly remarkable place, with so many exciting things happening everywhere around the world.

This is great news for filmmakers, and for those of us who believe that short films can make our world a better place. I’ve added links (see our links page for fuller description of each) to a few sites that I’ve come across just in the last week.
Pangea, Media that Matters, Slum-TV and One world TV

For anyone interested in how I came across each of these, Pangea was a ‘StumbleUpon’, Media that matters came up in Google search for short films, SlumTV I heard about on a report by ABC Radio National’s “Media Report” team who interviewed the key instigators. One world TV came from a Wikipedia entry that listed every video hosting site.

The sites supporting filmmakers are growing weekly, and the good things is, there’s a different perspective (or niche) for each. Campfire, for example, remains committed to quality short films of spiritual significance, with an emphasis on discussion and rigorous debate in a constructive environment.

We support all efforts to promote short films that aim higher than simply self-promotion or advertising a product to sell. So to the rising swell of fellow sites, we salute you - and the people you encourage.

Filmmakers of the world – GO!

Julie Rigg interviewed Nicole Kidman recently about her involvement in a new film, Margot at the Wedding. As they discussed the ‘smaller, riskier films’ that Nicole tends to do best at, I was struck by what she said:

“I’m drawn to directors that I consider to be philosophers. You can’t always make films like that (Dogville, Margot at the Wedding) because they don’t get the money… and there’s not very many scripts that are written with big ideas.”

For an actor of Kidman’s callibre, experience and Hollywood stripes, I found this refreshing. She sets a high benchmark for what filmmakers can and should aspire to be – modern philosophers – uniquely gifted to offer perspectives on life in a most eloquent way.

‘Philosophical directors’ Nicole Kidman has worked for (as listed by Rigg):
Alejandro Amenabar, The Others
Jonathan Glazer, Birth
Lars Von Trier, Dogville
Gus Van Sant, To Die For

Just a quick note to say that the films are in, our 'faith respondents' are busily writing their short reflections, and we hope to launch later this month.

Stay tuned!

Dear Tali,

It’s been a little while since I wrote. So sorry – life is getting so busy these days.
There are so many things to deal with I sometimes wonder where to start. I get overwhelmed. I heard a rumour that you were a bit, too.

In fact, it’s about being overwhelmed that I wanted to write to you about.
I’m sure there’ll be psychologists in years to come – if they’re not already doing so – who’ll have fancy names for what we experience when we go online: being google-eyed, web-weary or having you-tube fatigue (only I’m sure they’ll use latin names).

I’m especially thinking about creating for online.

I hate when you think you’ve created something original – a painting, a poem, a short film, a website – then you go online, and you find that tens, hundreds, maybe even THOUSANDS of people have already had similar ideas before you! It can be soooo depressing.

I came across this art book yesterday where the author, listing all the periods of art in the history of western civilisation, comes to something interesting about the period generally called “the twentieth century” and tries to sum it all up. I like what he says:

"Make it new" was the poet Ezra Pund's dictum, and the one constant in the arts of this turbulent and phenomenal century has been a seemingly inexhaustible quest for originality and freshness. (Dennis Spore, 'Introduction to the Arts in Western Civilisation', Prentice-Hall, 1990)

Widely touted as one of the wisest rulers on earth, king Solomon wrote these words: "there is nothing new under the sun" (Ecclesiastes 1:9) So if there’s nothing new, why do we create? Or how do we avoid becoming depressed when we create work that goes online?

Here’s five little ideas. It’s not a complete list, but you may find it useful – or maybe you could write back and add to it:

Your creation is unique

There are almost seven billion people on the planet. Almost every person has the same physical gear – a body, head and limbs – yet every single one of these people are unique and different. In the same way, your creative work is unique. This fact alone makes whatever you create different and special.

Popularity is no measure of success

Everyone online has ways of checking how successful your work is – hits to your website, friends on FaceBook, number of downloads, dollars earned – we’re obsessed with measuring everything. It’s like the world’s most savage popularity contest. But you know as I do that popularity isn’t everything. Only one person gets to be the ‘best’ or ‘most popular’; and even then, that kind of popularity doesn’t last. Jesus said that ‘he who is the least among you is the greatest’. He flips our whole centre of value and importance on its head. I find that pretty refreshing.

Being online gives some opportunity to connect

One response to web depression is to become a hermit. Just hide away and sulk. Please don’t do that. We are social creatures. We’re meant to live in community. Regardless of how popular your creative work is (or NOT), putting it online provides an opportunity for others to connect with it. Have you heard of Pareto’s principle or the 80-20 rule? In selling terms, it says that "80% of your sales comes from 20% of your clients." It’s the same with connecting your art to others. If five people see your work online, and only one stops to appreciate it, you have made a most valuable connection. Maybe you have lifted their spirits for a moment, challenged them to think, made them laugh, cry or engage in life more. You might get an email from them or even make a new friend. Above all, you have connected. And that is a precious thing.

Learn from the clouds

I’ve heard your mum complain that you’re a bit of a dreamer with your ‘head in the clouds’.
Well, while your head’s up there – study what you see! Every single day, God puts on the most amazing sky-show, but only some of us notice it. Sometimes I think the clouds actually look like a masterful painting, with the grand, sweeping strokes and surprising flourishes of colour. You’d think God would get tired of it – but no! Every day, no every minute, right throughout history, another unique masterpiece has been created for every single location on the planet. We are made in God’s image. We should do the same. Who cares if it gets seen or not!

If not now, maybe then

Sometimes things take time to grow. Maybe your early work has not been noticed or it seems much lower standard than everything else online. Don’t give up. There are the great stories like Einstein’s, who was a considered a poor student, yet ended up becoming the greatest scientific mind of the 20th century. Maybe your work will be discovered… next week, next year, next decade… maybe not even in your lifetime! Who (or what) can really measure the eternal worth of your handiwork? Surely not some crude little hits counter.
In the end, that’s not what matters.

Using the internet to put forward your creative work may be new,
but many others before you have felt as you have.

Take heart, dear Tali,
and know that you are not alone.

Rich