Directors Statement: Some of the most thoroughly enjoyable Australian films I’ve watched are coming of age Australian films from the 80s, and it’s great because there is many of them. One of my favourite films is The Big Steal, and as a film that was filmed in Melbourne, it really helped to drive my obsession with a media forms filming locations. One of the most noticeable filming locations that I was able to make sense of immediately was the location of the car park, though it took a bit of time, as the Coles in the shot is now a Vintage Cellars (still Coles Myer owned). I’d like to explore the change that has been occurring directly in this area and the other film locations if possible to see if there is a relationship between the forces connecting those that occupied this space in the past and in the present. There’s also something to be understood or considered about a space being immortalised in a film, now that this location at this point in time, in this case 1989, can be conceptualised and visualised now forever.

My conception of this documentary is really reliant on a few things, and I feel also at the moment it can be swayed in a variety of ways and directions depending on how I personally get directed, but I think the crux of it at the moment is that I myself have this peculiar fascination with a movies/tv shows’ filming locations, and a film I had this quite strongly with recently was the 1989 Nadia Tass directed film, The Big Steal. In the film, the one tangible film location that I’ve been able to over the past year indulge my understanding of after watching the film has been the Car Park where the three main characters work, located in Melbourne, in Chinatown called the Golden Circle Car Park, also with a Lonsdale St entrance.

Immediately after watching the film, I had to do double takes on my conception of the film and the car park and the current state of the car parks ground floor, as when walking past I could see this office on the left (which we know now to be the asian grocery store that has just recently opened), without seeing an office style building on the right side of the entrance, which had me confused as I had recalled the Car Park occupying the right side. While I know now that this was all the product of redevelopment and demolition, I felt it quite amusing how I tried to reconcile this all.

As such there are a few such factors I think that come into play for the interview situation here –

Past – trying to get in contact with those involved with the film, to see if they have any engagement with the space these days, maybe whether they know about the asian supermarket that has opened – I believe there needs to be something more here but at the moment I’m currently still trying to work it out.

Present – i guess the asian grocery does get involved here, but I’m thinking like a slightly past present wherein I am just indulging in my obsession, and the market has not yet open, this probably embodies a blank void – I think I want to capture my understanding of the place at the point in time that I first was trying to make sense of it, after watching the film for the first time, and prior to the existence of the super market.

Present/Future – I believe that in terms of this dilapitated car parking space, the bulk of this space’s future is envellopped in the existence of the grocery store, and I think it would be thoroughly interesting to hear from maybe the manager and/or maybe the person who works there, to gauge what their plans for the space in the future is whether there is any thought of expansion, or perhaps whether the space occupies the Mechanics Garage space that is portrayed in the film. Finally, it will be very interesting to try to ascertain whether, in a reverse way, anyone involved with the grocery store has any understanding of this cryptic 1989 film and this being a filming location for the film.

At the moment I think I would like the interviews to be showered with footage of the areas being covered, in the form of voiceovers. and I guess this bodes to an extent for the shooting style as well, as I want it to kind of be an exploration of this change and how change is to an extent unwavering and discordant with how we want things to stay. Not to say I don’t welcome the existence of this Asian Grocery, but I think that there are circumstances