Bomb Harvest in Laos - interview with writer/director Kim Mordaunt
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Writer/director Kim Mordaunt completed his BA in Communications at UTS in 1991 and since then has tread many paths, including tutoring in drama and documentary at United Nations International School in Hanoi and working in different roles as a researcher, DOP (director of photography), producer, writer and director for various professional film productions.
Mordaunt's most recent work, Bomb Harvest (produced by Sylvia Wilczynski), premiered to a full-house audience at this year's Sydney Film Festival where it received a standing ovation. lt is a feature-length documentary about the impact of the US "Secret War" on Laos today. Described as a "truly inspiring film", Bomb Harvest is the latest feather in Kim Mordaunt's well-worn cap.
Bomb Harvest trailer (8.0mb)
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HSS: You've worked on a variety of productions, from advertisements for corporate clients to documentaries to more obscure stories, like "Mongrel's Ghost" (a love story set in a psychiatric hospital). As a writer and director, how do you choose which stories to tell, which projects to take on?
Kim: Some of them are my own personal projects that I've been writer or co-writer for and others are jobs that are offered to me, which are usually based on my experience so it's a mixture of the two. In terms of projects that I've co-written or written, usually they're things or issues that I care about or they might be about people who I've cared about in my life. Sometimes it could be just stories that I've heard that I think are particularly exciting and/or timely.
HSS: You've been at the fore of many different projects - documentaries such as "Speed City" (which explores the lives of Sydney bicycle couriers and aired as part of the SBS series "Australia by Numbers") to your most recent, "Bomb Harvest". I would think that productions such as the latter have a greater potential to be politically provocative. As a director/writer, is there a different sort of sensibility involved for you when you're working on a film that is potentially controversial/divisive, as opposed to say, an advertisement for a corporate client?
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Kim: They're different in different ways - when you're working for a client you still have a lot of responsibility to them and their product and I guess their beliefs which you have to handle with care - it's not your place to divert the politics of their product - and unless you have a rich uncle the reality of staying afloat as a film maker is that you have to find gigs that earn money between your baby projects and deliver good work. But if I think the product is immoral, I won't do the job - it would turn out like shite anyway if one hated it. With your own product you have a certain amount of freedom but you are also working with funders and broadcasters so there is a collaboration there which can sometimes be a good wrestle of opinions - there's nothing wrong with a healthy debate when nutting out a film. But good project officers generally want the best for the project and one has to respect their charters - that's part of the gig, too. But either way I'm not one for wanting to make films that are purely political essays - that seems a terrible waist of the medium that be political, cinematic and entertaining.
I don't really want to be making work for the 'already-converted'.
In my view, there's no point. I really want to be making work that entices a diverse audience. So what that means is I guess not really being too blatant about your political beliefs, constructing films in a way that entices an audiences into people's lives, the human side of the story. And if we care about the characters we are likely to care about their circumstances and the politics that have created that situation.
Being hit by a baseball bat of political agenda tends to repel and only communicates with a very academic few. There is no reason why a film can't say a great deal and be engaging, cinematic and even joyful - we have a wonderful medium at hand so why not use it.