Thursday 20 June 2013

Short cuts 1 - We Are Hollywood (Or, How I learn to quit bitching and love the machine)

On the 7th of June 2013, The Yeah Sessions guest curated Short Cuts 1 - five talks delivered by film buffs at the Sydney Film Festival Hub theatrette. 

Our fifth and final speaker was Lee Launay. Lee took us through his musings on how we engage with modern cinema, including his thoughts on the surprising roots of the Hollywood, and where have to go from here. Don't miss his excellent summary of the standard Hollywood three-act-structure at 21:41

Click here to view the video on youtube, or cast your gaze to the embedded video below. 




Lee Launay is a Production Designer, Music Video Director, and above all, flirty nuisance on set, polishing Magda Szubanski's breastplates in 'Goddess, sharpening Hugh Jackman's claws in "The Wolverine" (in cinemas next month!), and drinking tea and touching things on the set of Careless Love, Wild Boys, and X-Factor.

Wednesday 19 June 2013

Short Cuts 1 - Storytelling: Why do we do it?

On the 7th of June 2013, The Yeah Sessions guest curated Short Cuts 1 - five talks delivered by film buffs at the Sydney Film Festival Hub theatrette. 

Our second speaker was Wyatt Moss-Wellington, who took the audience on a fast-paced journey through the varied reasons that story-telling occurs in modern cinema. From the daily problems of ancient humans dealing with bad berries to the happy concoction of simulated threats in order to 'feel alive', Wyatt packs into 19 minutes a broad array of brilliantly delivered reasons why we tell stories in cinema. 

Click here to watch the video on youtube, or cast your gaze to to the embedded video below...



Wyatt Moss-Wellington is a Sydney-based writer, musician and film industry PR consultant. He publishes social criticism at journalisnt.net, has released two albums of progressive folk music, plays mandolin in newgrass outfit The Lunch Mothers and recently completed a masters thesis on humanism in the cinema of John Sayles at the University of Sydney.

Here's a full list of the films Wyatt uses in his talk:

Teenage Paparazzo
Under Fire
Outsourced
Land and Freedom
The Discreet Charm of the Bourgeoisie
Casa de los Babys
The White Masai
O Lucky Man
Klute
An American Werewolf in London
Pontypool
The Fall
Galaxy Quest
The Brothers Grimm
The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus
Chungking Express
The Room



Monday 17 June 2013

Short Cuts 1 - Vertigo: The Greatest Film Ever Made?

On the 7th of June 2013, The Yeah Sessions guest curated Short Cuts 1 - five talks delivered by film buffs at the Sydney Film Festival Hub theatrette. 

Our third speaker was Dr Bruce Isaacs, talking about the recent Sight and Sound poll that saw Vertigo pushed into the top spot as the 'greatest film of all time'. Bruce discusses his love for the film, and explores the features of Vertigo he feels make it worthy of being called 'The greatest film of all time'. 

Click here to watch the video on youtube. 


Bruce Isaacs is a lecturer in Film Studies at the University of Sydney. He has published work on film history and theory, with a particular interest in film style and technology in the era of Hollywood. His most recent work, 'The Orientation of Future Cinema: Technology, Aesthetics, Spectacle' (Bloomsbury) was published in March 2013. He adores all things Hitchcock, but Vertigo has a very special place in his heart

Sunday 16 June 2013

Short Cuts 1 - Re-Queering Australian Cinema

On the 7th of June 2013, The Yeah Sessions guest curated Short Cuts 1 - five talks delivered by film buffs at the Sydney Film Festival Hub theatrette. 

Our second speaker was Sophia Davidson Gluyas. She talked about 'Moving the pictures': Reading Buffy's queer tendencies, queer interpretations of Peter Weir's 'Picnic at Hanging Rock', and the direction she hopes Australian cinema might turn in how we read, counter-read and watch Australian film.

Click here to watch the video on youtube, or cast your eyes to the video below:


She completed her Arts degree at the University of Sydney in the Art History and Theory department in 2006. In 2010, Sophia retired young from her budding career as a theatrical agent to return to her studies and write an honours project on 1970s Australian cinema. Sophia is currently very cold in Melbourne writing her PhD on lesbian visibility in 90s Australian cinema at Deakin University in the School of Communication and Creative Arts. Sophia is one fifth the team who launched the Melbourne cell of Filmonik (aka Kino) last month. Sophia likes Dr Who, David Bowie, and is afraid of Clowns.


Thursday 13 June 2013

The Yeah Sessions on the wireless

Ladies and gents,

Yeah Sessions co-founders/co-curators Kim Wilkins and Ketan Joshi were interviewed last night on Eastside 89.7 FM's Drive program as part of Yeah Science - have a listen!


The night was a huge success, and we want to thank our speakers, who generously donated their time, and to all the people who came along for a yarn. We learnt a lot about rubber duckies, sex, London taxi drivers, holographic trapping and fatigue responses times!

Wednesday 12 June 2013

Short Cuts 1 - The Glorious Role of Product Placement in Films

On the 7th of June 2013, The Yeah Sessions guest curated Short Cuts 1 - five talks delivered by film buffs at the Sydney Film Festival Hub theatrette.

Our first speaker was Kim Wilkins, who talked about the glorious and varied role of product placement in films. From James Bond to Repo Man to Gossip Girl, Kim takes us through the odd and fascinating trends in product placement that we're barely aware of when we're seated in the cinema.

Click here to watch the video on youtube, or cast your gaze below to the embedded video.



Kim is currently writing her PhD at the University of Sydney in contemporary American film and has given numerous presentations on this topic. In her spare time, she is co-editor of the journal Philament, and is co-founder and co-curator of The Yeah Sessions. She looks like a child but drinks like a fish.