Putting it together
As a kid I used to go to the cinema regularly with my parents, but I was never that mad keen about it. But after I left school something just clicked and I realised what I wanted to do in life was be a film editor. There was something about it that fascinated me.
I am not from a film background at all. I was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and my parents moved here in the 1950s when I was 11. My dad opened a grocery store and I went to school in Mosman.
I wanted to work for Cinesound, who made the old newsreels. I initially applied for a job as an editor and then in despatch, but when a job came up as a sound assistant I didn’t have a clue what that was about, but I was so keen I took it.
At Cinesound we made newsreels and we also did the Channel 9 news. After about 18 months there I realised TV was beginning to move and so I joined Channel 10, which was just opening up at that time. After another 18 months I moved to the ABC and that’s where I finally got my job in editing. Editing is a job most people don’t know about, but I liked it, as it is when everyone else has done their job -“ the film, the sound, the script and the presenter -“ and then it is up to the editor to shape it all together.
At the ABC I worked on the news and This Day Tonight. I remember cutting together my first news story. It was only 30 seconds long but it took me hours and gave me a migraine. It got easier from there but there were many times when I would race to edit a story together and it would be on air seconds after I finished it.
I worked my way though such shows as A Big Country, Four Corners and Chequerboard. I didn’t work on the special which featured the two gay men but I remember that time very well. There was a big protest of support outside a church in Mosman where one of the guys was fired from his job, and I took part in the protest. It was a big turning point in gay life.
After I finished at the ABC I went freelance and had taken a mortgage at the same time. It was a brave move, but the work came my way. One of the first films I worked on was David Bradbury’s Frontline in 1979. It was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Documentary and, after that, people began to take notice.
It was exciting to be nominated but it was even more exciting to go to the Oscars, which we did when we were nominated for the next film, Chile -“ Hasta Cuando? Being on the Oscars red carpet is unlike any other experience I have ever had.
At the same time, I directed my only film, a documentary called Don’t Call Me Girlie, about the women pioneers of the Australian film industry. It was an interesting topic and people still talk about it, so it has lasted the distance.
When you are editing a film, you don’t really think about what effect the film will have. You are actually just more focused on the job at the time. But when I was working on The President Versus David Hicks I knew it would create comment. The story about Terry Hicks and his passion to get his son home is just fantastic, as is the whole case for the fight for justice.
All up I have been nominated for nine AFI Awards for Best Documentary Editing, and won four for Nicaragua -“ No Pasaran, Rocking The Foundations, Year Of The Dogs, and most recently for Raul The Terrible, which screens on SBS in February. The film is about a modern-day Robin Hood in Argentina who is against the government and conducts sit-ins to demand food for people who can’t afford it.
Awards are not that important to me now as I feel my career is starting to wind down. I am 63 now and slowing down a bit, and can’t do those long nights any more. But I still enjoy doing this, so I doubt I will ever give up completely. It is in my blood.
What I am enjoying at the moment is helping director Walter McIntosh with making a film about Stephen Cummins, a gay activist filmmaker in the 1980s. It is all about how Stephen attempted to blaze a trail for gay and lesbian characters in film and on TV, but he died of AIDS and his time was cut short too quickly.
It is interesting looking back at that time. It brings back so many sad memories, as I lost my entire circle of friends to AIDS. It was incredible. Working on this film, it brings back all the devastation of that time. But I feel this is an important story to tell.
Most of the work I have done has been political and that is just the way it has happened. They have just fallen into my lap and I became a magnet for these strong topics. Just telling the different stories has kept me inspired and, best of all, kept me learning about everything that is happening. That’s why documentaries are important. They are about life.
info
Raul The Terrible screens Thursday 8 February on SBS.
Interview by John Burfitt
