I'm back. Kind-of. Just for a little bit. Just long enough to harass my former stomping ground of AICN to promote my new show. Former stomping ground, you ask? Yes! It is I, Latauro, who can now reveal my true identity... I am Mark Felt. (It's okay, I know most of you have never heard of Latauro, and many probably don't know who Mark Felt is. But it's a cutting-edge, timely reference that would have killed back in 2005.)
The basics: I used to write the AICN-Downunder column (the 2003-2011 years), and stopped back in March mostly because my TV show, The Bazura Project, had been picked up and was on a collision course with legitimacy. Of course, it was all hush-hush back then, so I couldn't announce it. But now, obviously, I can.
The Bazura Project started life back in 2006, airing for three seasons on community television until late 2008. It was a comedic show about movies, with re-enactments, feature stories, news items, interviews and reviews packed into a tight half-hour. After doing forty odd episodes, we decided that doing the show amidst full-time employment and then paying for the honour was getting a bit much, and it was time to hang up our spurs. Then, of course, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation jumped out of a cake and told us we'd been on their radar and they really liked our stuff and hey, wanna make a show?
The new show is in the same style as the original, but the structure is completely mixed up. Also, we had a budget, so that helped. It's a six-part series subtitled the Guide To Sinema, in which we explore six different sins as depicted in cinema: Violence, Sex, Money, Profanity, Drugs and Fame. We'll take you through the history of film, give you a DIY guide on how to make your own sinful movie, check out how cinematic sins will be depicted in the future, and unearth some gems that time has (often rightfully) long-forgotten.There's a lot more, but we don't want to spoil it.
But really, the show was an excuse to work with many of the people we've long admired. You'll see cameos from the likes of Shaun Micallef, David Stratton, Kat Stewart, Tony Martin, Francis Greenslade, John Safran, Julia Zemiro, Bryan Dawe, Michael Ward, Stephanie Bendixsen, and a few others we've managed to keep secret. (Non-Australian readers: these people are big deals, and insanely talented. What they're doing on our show is anyone's guess.)
No idea if there will be overseas sales yet, so right now it's just for Australian viewers, who should go out of their way to watch us live this Thursday night, then watch us again on ABC's iView, then talk about how much you love the show when you're being surveyed. And not just surveyed about your viewing habits, either. Preferred Prime Minister, religious habits, electricity usage, anything. If Mormons come to your door, they should leave your house converted to the wonders of The Bazura Project. Go nuts! But if all that's a bit much, so feel free just to tune in and enjoy.
I'm the one in the beard.
Video-wise, we have...
The trailer for the show:
Our big opening title sequence:
The ABC is putting out six exclusively-online videos to promote the show, in which we cover the key points in cinema history. The first two have been uploaded, and the next four will be out over the next few weeks.
Lesson 1 - Cinema Begins:
Lesson 2 - The Introduction of Sound:
What's the press been saying?
"Any film lover who seriously expects deep insights, intelligence, worthwhile commentary or startling revelations from this cinema-themed comedy show should brace themselves for a shock: The Bazura Project actually has all that. ... The blending of humour with analysis hits a peak with their typology of movie violence, presented as a how-to guide for staging a violent scene. As for the gratuitous inclusion of the famous exploding head scene from Scanners, it just makes you proud that taxpayer money went into this." -- The Age
"It helps that the pair are gifted physical comedians. While the banter between Zachariah and Marinko is as insightful as it is tittersome, the biggest laugh in the first episode still comes from a moment of sheer slapstick. Clever, informative and wonderfully daft, The Bazura Project should appeal equally to snobbish cinephiles and fans of people falling over." -- The Weekly Review
"The greatest show I've seen all year." -- Boxcutters
"I dunno. I just didn't get it." -- TV Central
The Bazura Project
9pm Thursdays on ABC2
www.bazuraproject.com
www.facebook.com/BazuraProject
www.twitter.com/BazuraProject
