'GRANDMOTHER MINSKI - Journey to Babushka' documents a filmmakers life in
prospect as he explores the life story of his grandmother told in retrospect.
The journey takes him form suburban country Australia to the heart of White
Russia and through several cultures and countries in between. While this
story is symbolic of the Australian multicultural ethos it focuses on principles
of lives in context and in many ways is a film about humanity as much as
it is anything else. Inspired by the work of filmmakers such as Jonas Mekas,
Dziga Vertov, Ross McElwee and Orsen Wells 'Grandmother Minski' uses a reflexive
mode of filmmaking to provide a unique audio visual experience.
Kristefan Mitchell studied communications at The University of Newcastle, Australia
majoring in the stream of audio-visual media production. During his time as
a student his works achieved a number of awards including final selections
in The Australian National Student Film Competition, Sydney Reellife Festival,
Melbourne Underground Film Festival and the Newcastle Film Festival. Extra
curricular to his study he founded Vital Focus, a non-for profit filmmaker’s
network that has produced several selective videos through sponsorship and
fundraising including the acclaimed open source documentary ‘Dancing
to Architecture’. Other prize-winning works include fictional short films ‘The
Premature Burial’ and ‘First Milk’. Currently he works for
the news-department of NBN, Australia.
Theresa Schubert studied media art and design at the Bauhaus-University Weimar,
Germany, majoring in the stream of video and radio art. Given the experimental
tradition of the Bauhaus University she has extensive knowledge and applied practice
in alternative media production. Her working experiences include the ZKM, Center
for Art and Media Technology in Karlsruhe and the BR2, department ‘Hörspiel
und Medienkunst’. Her exhibitions and audio/visual installations have achieved
accolades and awards both locally and internationally. Currently she lives and
works in Australia.
