Ten Questions with Amy ...

Brent decided to ask Amy ten questions about her motivation and inspiration when it came to making "Scatter Joy" and movie making in general... Let's blame the beer.

1. What are your inspirations as a film maker??

Beauty, abstract art, shadows, France, India, French cinema, Alejandro Gonzalez Innaritu, light.

2. When did you first start having aspirations as a film maker and visual storyteller?

As a teenager developing black and white photos in the small dark room set up in my parents garage .... later it was writing and journalism .... filmmaking was a natural marriage of the two ..... 

3. Can you summarise in twenty words or less what you want to communicate as a film maker?

Simple reminders of the joy of being human, with all that that entails.

4. What first attracted you to the idea of making a doco about Brent?

It is challenging for any artist to try and make a living out of any artistic practice.  It takes a certain strength and courage to persist.  On top of having a 'disability', Brent managed to still create a living out of his art, something that every artist or aspiring artist can only hope to do.

5. And yet it was you that was always buying Brent coffees throughout the nearly nine months of shooting. As an independent film maker, who has completely (and tirelessly) worked on this doco for nearly a year now (without any funding or outside assistance), what has spurred you on, inspired you and kept you "persisting" with this project...?

The idea that this film can be made and get out there in such a way that reminds us all that we don't necessarily need money to make art and that anyone can create what they want to create and what they feel the world needs to see!

6. Where would you like to see "Scatter Joy" going over the next twelve months?

I would love to see it travelling around the world, scattering a bit of joy everywhere it goes.  At the end of the day anywhere that it is playing before an audience who is willing and open to receive it.

7. What parts of the film are you most proud of?

It's hard to say, I'm proud of all of it, but there are two parts I love the most, one is the visuals when Brent is talking about his time in Melbourne, the other is when Brent is talking about 'Scatter Joy'.

8. After this project is all over (and hopefully being picked up and distributed for some festivals overseas), what is next for you as a doco / film maker?

To make a feature length documentary, hopefully this time someone will be funding it to the extent that I can at least pay someone else to edit it!!!!!???????

9. If you could advise budding film or doco makers (in ten words or less) what they need to do to be successful in this field, what would that advice be?

Be honest to yourself, make stuff that you believe in.

10.  You are just about to dub off a huge pile of dvds of the "finished product" and start entering it in festivals, both here and overseas... If you could choose three places you would love to see this film shown, where would they be, and why?

Byron Bay International Film Festival - because I was an intern there, the people who work there are run it are like family and because it's one of the most beautiful places on the planet.

New York - any festival really, just because I have never been, think it would be amazing and think 'Scatter Joy' would be well received.

France - because the majority of my filmmaking influence is from French Cinema.  Like New York, I feel like 'Scatter Joy' would be well received there, it has that nice simplicity and naivety that many French films also possess.