Academy Award winning production designer Colin Gibson has been the architect of the end of the world. George Miller’s go-to guy for two decades now, he’s credited for creating the look and feel of Mad Max: Fury Road and Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, as well as such iconic Australian films such as The Adventures of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, and Babe: Pig in the City. It’s undeniable that Gibson has it in him to make it epic. Join us for a dynamic conversation with Gibson as he takes us through his craft and the process of collaboration in creating these unforgettable worlds.
Presented by
Talks Supported by
 |
 |
Community Broadcast Partner
Book Tickets
Indigenous & Community Access
Indigenous Access Tickets Community Access Tickets Ticket Donation Requests
Colin Gibson
As a failing actor with two children to support and a hefty community service detention left to run, Colin took what he thought would be the easy option and joined the Art Department. Be careful what you wish for… too loud for props, too bad with crayon or calculator for art directing, he was eventually forced into production design when he became too old and grumpy to take orders from other elderly curmudgeons. Unless they were directors…
And it is largely directors we have to blame for his laughable “career”: lovely, otherwise talented people like Ray Lawrence, Gillian Armstrong, John Duigan, Stephan Elliott, Wim Wenders, Zhang Jimou and of course George Miller. All contributed to the delinquency in their own way, either through apathy, benign neglect or the sort of active amusement one might show a monkey on a bicycle.
Riding on the coat-tails of the talented has proven, if not lucrative, at least amusing and has been a hell of a way to kill time before he must face the reality of his wasted life; to the televisual wonderment of Love My Way, 9 Perfect Strangers and Operation Buffalo and feature films including Bliss and Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, Babe and The Great Wall, Until the End of the World and Fury Road and Furiosa (A Mad Max Saga).
Perhaps not entirely a wasted life, then?
— Colin
Missing VIFF? Check Out What's Playing at the VIFF Centre
American Doctor
One of the most powerful documentaries of the year, this puts us smack in the open wound that is Gaza, filtered through the eyes of three American surgeons (of Palestinian, Jewish and Zoroastrian backgrounds) compelled to do their utmost to alleviate harm.
The History of Concrete
After attending a workshop on pitching saccharine Hallmark movies, John Wilson tries to apply all the same best practices to his documentary about concrete. Frequently absurd and endlessly entertaining detours, asides, and digressions ensue.
La Bola Negra
A big, old-school historical melodrama gets a thrillingly modern, queer makeover from Spanish duo Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, who artfully juggle three gay protagonists across stories set in 1932, 1937, and 2017. Winner: Best Director, Cannes. Screening on 35mm.
A. Rimbaud
Patrick Wang (The Bread Factory) presents the life of French poet Arthur Rimbaud in this staggeringly adventurous and deeply considered movie, a three-hour, one-man show quite unlike anything we have seen before. "Poetic, audacious and singular."
The 39 Steps
In our new film studies series, FRAMEWORK, film scholar Michael van den Bos explores the work of Alfred Hitchcock, across four monochrome masterworks. This week: The 39 Steps (1935), a witty and fast-moving spy thriller from Hitchcock's English period.