council news
A Big Drumming Finale Looking back, looking forward Last issue we gave a brief report of the concert which concluded our Rhythm Exchange project. We feel that it is one of our most successful community projects so far. Emmanuel Photakis has worked with the Council to record both the rehearsals and the final concert, and has now produced a DVD which includes the show, and behind-the-scenes interviews and insights into how everything came together.
To be honest, I didn’t know a lot about hepatitis C before this. I’d really turned a blind eye to it, but since being involved in this project I’ve really regretted that. I think it’s really great that people have done these events, and given other people the opportunity to find out.
the people themselves who were involved in the project. It’s really raised their awareness, like with me. As Robert Petchel said, they don’t actually play any songs about hepatitis C. But it’s a disease, and we learned about it along the way, and [the musicians] were here to help fight it.
So how much do you think you’ve learned along the way?
Looking at the interviews, you see the smiles getting bigger, people getting more and more into it. The enthusiasm is amazing. You saw that developing as the project went along. Like, when we started, a lot of the Sudanese participants were really shy. But once we started the drumming, people were really getting into it. And that’s the thing I love about it—once they’re up on stage they’re completely different people.
A lot! One day when I went to film some interviews at the Hepatitis C Council there were photos of
I couldn’t believe how, after six weeks, everyone played together so well. And the way you educators got up on stage as well, that was great! What’s your background in media arts?
When did you first get involved in this project? A friend of mine, Luke, approached the whole class about this project he’d heard about— filming a concert and interviews with the people involved. It’s a documentary about hepatitis C, and about three different communities—Afghani, Sudanese and Vietnamese—who were performing at this concert. I put my hand up, and I became editor and director of the project. At that time how much did you know about hepatitis C? Hepatitis C Community News 16 • September 2008
people, and their descriptions of their hep C in their own words. Getting inside the minds of those people, seeing just how hard it really is, was so useful. And I’m just so glad that there is treatment available, because it would be terrible without it. Who knows what the world would be like? I used to think there was no treatment, but it’s really good to know I was wrong. What about the drumming project? I think it’s been very effective, especially with the sponsorship we got from the government and others. It’s been really good for
I’m 18, and at the moment I’m doing MAPS, media arts production skills, which is a film and TV course. A lot of the people doing this course have gone on to be camera operators, directors and producers, film-makers. I’ve worked on a show called Hellenic Presence on Channel 31, which is a Greek show. I’ve also worked at Glendi Greek Festival, doing the big video screen there, which was a really tough challenge. Don’t know how we got there in the end, actually. At the moment I’m making a documentary about the history of TV production in Adelaide. That’s really gone downhill in recent years. Personally, I’d like to get into TV and get some more local production going in Adelaide. Or maybe I’ll move interstate to work for one of the bigger networks. It’s a pity Big Brother got canned, actually, because that employed