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Link to original content: https://web.archive.org/web/20130513110555/http://www.innersense.com.au/mif/lowenstein.html
Richard Lowenstein
The Wayback Machine - https://web.archive.org/web/20130513110555/http://www.innersense.com.au/mif/lowenstein.html
Steven Ball
Marie Craven
Solrun Hoaas
Daryl Dellora

Melbourne independent filmmakers

Leo Berkeley
Giorgio Mangiamele
Michael Buckley
Moira Joseph
 
     


Richard Lowenstein
b. March 1, 1959, Melbourne, Australia.

BIOGRAPHY:   Richard Lowenstein is a graduate of Melbourne's Swinburne Film and Television school. He has written and directed the feature films, Strikebound, Dogs in Space, Say a Little Prayer, He Died with a Felafel in His Hand, and the telemovie Ghost Story, as well as numerous award-winning music-videos, concert films and commercials, including one for the 1990 election campaign of the Sandinista Government of Nicaragua.

Most recently, he has Executive-Produced the ten-part satirical music series 'John Safran's Music Jamboree' and 'John Safran vs. God' for SBS Independent. He is currently a partner in the Melbourne-based production company, GHOST, as well as a partner in the feature film production company, Fandango Australia Pty Ltd, with Italian Producer - Domenico Procacci, Producer - Sue Murray, Lawyer - Bryce Menzies and Director - Rolf de Heer.

 

 



 
 
He Died with a Felafel in His Hand

CRITICAL OVERVIEW:   The dumbing down of the art of filmmaking to merely that of efficient "storytelling" surely has to be one of the most depressing things about the current state of mainstream cinema. Would we say to a composer, painter, writer or designer they they were merely "storytellers"? Yet, this seems to be the main expectation that we as a society have of cinema. The history of the artform has proved that it is much more than that, yet when it comes to cinema language, history seems to be going backwards...

- Richard Lowenstein, June 2004.

"Lowenstein's approach effectively brings to the screen a beautiful, brooding character study that's one part dirty realist comedy, one part existential allegory, but more than anything, a maturation of Lowenstein's own directorial style, as evidenced in his last cult hit, Dogs in Space. This film's fine performances, allegorical dialogue, philosophical themes, use of music and sense of muted melodrama also stands up well alongside the fine tradition of American independent filmmaking propounded by directors such as Hal Hartley and Jim Jarmusch."

- Vanessa Long on He Died with a Felafel in His Hand, 2002 (see link below, in Bibliography).


FILMOGRAPHY:

 
 
Strikebound

Evictions (1979, 30 mins, 16mm)

Strikebound (1984, 101 mins, 35mm)

White City (1985, 58 mins, 35mm)

Dogs in Space (1986, 108 mins, 35mm)

Say a Little Prayer (1993, 98 mins, 35mm)

Ghost Story (1995, 55 mins, Super 16mm, telemovie)

He Died with a Felafel in His Hand (2001, 108 mins, 35mm)


FESTIVALS/AWARDS:

 
 
Dogs in Space

Evictions
Winner "Best Australian Short Film" - Melbourne Film Festival 1980
Official entrant - Oberhausen Short Film Festival 1980
Kodak Award - Best Australian Cinematography Short Film 1980

Strikebound
Winner "Jury Prize" Karlovy Vary Film Festival 1985
Nominated 9 AFI Awards, Winner Best Production Design 1985
Official Selection - 'Critics' Week' Venice Film Festival 1985
Official Selection - Edinburgh, Tokyo, Taormina, New York, London, Montreal Film Festivals 1985

White City
Winner MTV "Best Longform Video" 1986

Dogs in Space
Official Selection Berlin, Taormina, London, Edinburgh, New York Film Festivals

Say a Little Prayer
Official Selection - Berlin, Giffoni & Bellizona Film Festivals

Ghost Story
Winner 'Special Jury Prize' - Cinema Tout Ecran Switzerland 1997


 
 
Ghost Story

SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY:

Harlan Kennedy, "The New Wizards of Oz", Film Comment, September-October 1989, pp. 73-77

Brian McFarlane and Geoff Mayer, New Australian Cinema, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1992

Tom O'Regan, Australian National Cinema, Routledge, London, 1996

Richard Lowenstein in Raffaele Caputo and Geoff Burton (eds.), Second Take: Australian Film-Makers Talk, Allen and Unwin, Sydney, 1999, pp. 273-304

Geoff Andrew and Helen Hawkins, in John Pym (ed.), Time Out Film Guide, Eleventh Edition 2003, Penguin Books, London, pp. 321, 1054, 1158


WEB ARTICLES / RESOURCES:

Vanessa Long, "Great Directors: Richard Lowenstein", Senses of Cinema

 
 
He Died with a Felafel in His Hand

Richard Lowenstein and Vanessa Long, An Interview with Richard Lowenstein, 15 October 2002

Gabrielle Coslovich, "Italian Producer sets up local production", The Age, March 5, 2002

Andrew L. Urban, "Taylor, Noah; He Died With A Felafel In His Hand", Urban Cinefile

Vanessa Long, He Died with a Felafel in His Hand

Jasmine Berry, A Word with Richard Lowenstein.

SCREEN GRAB: Richard Lowenstein

Interview on SBS Movie Show

He Dies With A Felafel In His Hands

John Safran's Music Jamboree


© Richard Lowenstein, June 2004
 

Contact Richard Lowenstein

GHOST Pictures Pty Ltd
221-239 Ferrars St
South Melbourne, VIC 3205
tel +61 3 9645 9500
fax +61 3 9645 7800

Ghost Pictures website

The RML Movie Page

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Melbourne independent filmmakers is compiled by Bill Mousoulis