The girl with the post punk tattoo
Donna McRae directing actors on the set of Johnny Ghost
The feature film Johnny Ghost, made as part of Monash University researcher Donna McRae's PhD project, has won the award for Best Editing at the Minneapolis Underground Film Festival.
Johnny Ghost made its international premiere at the festival, which is now in its fourth year. Ms McCrae, a PhD student in the Faculty of Art Design & Architecture, said that winning the award was an amazing honour.
“This award is really exciting, as the editing was a hard but intricate part of the process. All of those hours spent sitting in front of the computer paid off,” Ms McRae said.
“The premiere went very well; it was screened in a lovely theatre with great projection and sound facilities. I couldn’t be happier.”
Johnny Ghost forms the main part of Ms McRae’s PhD ‘Projecting Phantasy: The Spectre of Cinema’.
The 76 minute feature film, shot in black and white, explores guilt and regret within a post punk context, and stars AFI winning actor Anni Finsterer as Millicent, a musician and recovering alcoholic.
“I chose to shoot the film in long takes and black and white to give it an other-worldly, real time feel. I wanted to give the audience time to feel Millicent’s grief and also to experience unease,” Ms McRae said.
Millicent has an old commemorative tattoo on her shoulder that harks back to the days of her post punk youth when she had a carefree life.
But when she begins to think about having the tattoo removed, old ghosts come back to haunt her.
“This is a psychological drama, and the core of the film is based around cryptic incorporation. Cryptic incorporation occurs when grieving is incomplete and neither the mourner nor the mourned can move on,” Ms McRae said.
“In Millicent’s case, an incident from her past is still controlling her life and, until she confronts it, she won’t let anyone in.”
Ms McRae shot the feature film with the funds from her Australian Postgraduate Award Scholarship in just ten days for the cost of A$30,000.
For more information on Johnny Ghost, visit the film’s website or join the Facebook page. For more information on research from the Faculty of Art Design & Architecture visit their site.