Mike Terry, a graduate of the M.A. Visual and Media Anthropology, has won an award at the 2022 Earth Futures Festival for his documentary “ROLA,” which he made together with geologist and paleontologist Dr. Marissa Betts. Terry developed the VMA course Space & Place and has been teaching it since 2014. We spoke to him about the good news and asked him what tips he would give to future VMA graduates for their own creative projects.
Earlier this year you shot the film “ROLA” in the New England region of New South Wales with Dr. Marissa Betts.
Now the film has been awarded Best Film in the Human Connection category at the Earth Futures Festival. It has been selected, along with 5 other films, for a special screening at the UNESCO headquarters in Paris, with further screenings in New York, Sydney and Rome.
First of all, congratulations! What was going through your mind when you received this happy news?
Working with director Dr. Marissa Betts and the protagonists of the documentary was a very positive and enriching experience. The shooting went relatively smoothly, which meant that I felt a little pressure to put the film into a form that represented and honored the knowledge gained. When we found out that we were among the finalists, I was very relieved!
How did the nomination for the festival come about? Did you apply for the competition yourself?
The film was directed by Dr. The film was initiated by Dr. Marissa Betts, who is not only a respected paleontologist and geologist, but is also very committed to science education and outreach. The connection between Indigenous knowledge and the earth sciences is a topic that Dr. Betts has wanted to incorporate into her own teaching and research for some time. When the Earth Futures Festival put out a call for film submissions, she approached me to help produce the film. The festival was a helpful catalyst for delving deeper into the topic through the production of a film.
What inspired you to make a film about the connection between geology, landscape and culture on Anēwan territory? How did you approach the topic and what was the biggest learning for you from this filming experience?
Dr. Betts summed it up very well during the interview in the film: “My vision for the future of geoscience is more than just what we can get from the Earth, it is a discipline that teaches people how complex and fascinating the Earth is, how old it is and how much it has changed over billions of years.”
Geoscience is essential for a sustainable future. Marissa wants her students to not only become excellent geoscientists, but also to understand the importance of rocks and landscapes in Aboriginal culture and to take these values with them into their careers in business, exploration, teaching or research.
As a visual anthropologist, I viewed the film through more of a cultural lens. In particular, the creation stories of landscape formations and the construction of images to represent those stories were more familiar to me than trying to visualize something like a basalt rock that indicates ancient volcanic activity.
What I find so fascinating, and what is really the strength of the film, is that cultural knowledge about the landscape is in turn enhanced by insights and connections from geoscience. This corresponds exactly to the themes we discuss in my course 'Space & Place' at the Media University.
Mike Terry
As someone new to this region and Australia, I am very grateful for the opportunity to learn more about this place I now call home, from both cultural and academic sources.
What advice do you have for VMA students who are looking to take their first steps in film production or are thinking about submitting their film project to a competition/festival?
Planning before production and considering what the film might be about and how it might be structured makes life much easier. Especially with documentaries, it is inevitable that things will change and evolve over time, but having a concrete idea, much like a clear research question, helps to give shape to the film as you develop it.
As for submitting to a film festival, it is advisable to attend festivals that have a special theme or program that matches the subject or method of the film. At these events, you will meet like-minded people with whom you can exchange ideas and collaborate in the future.
Mike Terry
Academic conferences, arts festivals etc. may give you more of the experience you are looking for than submitting your films to larger film festivals with much more extensive open categories first.
What are you currently working on? Can you tell us a little more about your future projects?
In addition to my commercial work, which is mainly in the agricultural sector here in Australia, I am working on another collaborative film with recorder player and music professor Dr Alana Blackburn. We are making an experimental film about resource management in the New England region of Australia. The images I film of the ranching, mining and built environment will be accompanied by a live music composition produced by Dr Blackburn using sounds recorded on location. This collaboration is part of a statewide arts project in New South Wales called Regional Futures.
Thank you so much for the insight into your work. All the best to you and good luck with your future projects.
