Anthony J. Langford: Born in a Storm

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Newly discovered - Behind the scenes - Born in a Storm.

Joanna Hanley as Christine

Short film

Born in a Storm - 1994

I recently showed this film to a young friend. She found it a little confronting but thought it was good. (Trigger warning for sexual abuse-self harm).

This is the 2017 re-edit (only slight changes), with some different music/audio that is superior to the original. I was never happy with the original but the new edit and some distance has made me feel better about it.

You can watch it HERE along with some of my other short films.

Original VHS cover

Reflections - Behind the scenes

I had not seen this video for more than twenty years. Surviving copies are only on VHS. I found the original Betacam SP Master and had it transferred. The full video is 20mins but have decided to only make this 5 minute section public.

Still a good insight into the making of the film.

Hope you enjoy it. The film itself is further below.

Watch

My old car 'converted' for this scene by Ron Sidebottom

Original film below.

https://vimeo.com/262698687

My YouTube Channel 

Vimeo Showcase with most of my Short Films HERE

Born in a Storm

2018

2004 (re-edit 2011)

Reality Unfastened 1992

Wilderworld 1988

See you next week?

I hope so.

Peace

Anthony

Sore butt - A life lesson

Hi,

Hope you are well in the moment you read this.

This is based on a real person. It occurred after I completed my short film, Born in a Storm.

(This poem written in 2012)

Put your head between your knees, brace for impact

I was making video transfers

For a living

Fairly standard stuff

On the fringes of Film and Television

Yet I wanted in

To the Real Thing.

I made a short film

That took many months

Work, money and heart

The latter, being the most important

Yet had few avenues

To pursue at the finish.

It was harder to make your way then

I was unconnected

And a little guileless.

He was a salesman

In our company

Who said he had contacts

I knew he was slippery

Yet gave it up

Like a broke whore.

I looked after him

And his clients

Above all others

Lost in hope

And smoke

Of the dream.

In short

I raised my ass

To be pounded

Again and again.

My belief and self esteem

Diminished each time

Yet my doubt grew

His excuses for the delays

Are probably referenced

In the Salesman’s Handbook

And finally

As the truth settled on my corpse

I knew

I had to let it go.

Nothing ever came of the film

But I had learnt some important lessons

Like a Hollywood cliché.

Yet there was no subsequent

Punishment for him

Or enlightenment for me.

I grew to respect caution

As I avoided

A further pounding

Down the line

In other forms

With a justified disdain

For salesmen.

I wished death upon that motherfucker

Though I’m long over it

And went onto make other short films

Better ones

And wrote stories and novels

And poetry

About assholes like him.

And yet

Occasionally

It still hurts to sit.

Speaking of assholes, I'm sure you've known a few too.
Have a story to share?

More Poetry

Lockdown Special on Lone Wolf World available for approximately a month. It will end soon.

May you have a good week. A good day. A good hour. Something.

Cheers

Anthony

Direct Insight - A voice from April, 1994

Direct Insight - A voice from 1994

I came across an old diary recently and am typing it up. I haven't read it since I wrote it. How strange to be communicating with yourself 25 years on.

You might find this interesting. I had just turned 26.

22/4/94 2.30 am

Paranoia. Surely one person's struggle for individuality. Setting oneself away from all the rest.

The artistic battle. The method of exploring the mind and it's limits.

The art of self expression.

I write this with no influence, a clear head.

The film (Born in a Storm*), is in its preliminary online stages and I'm beginning to accept that I've done everything I possibly can to make it work. Ultimately, I'm the one that has to be satisfied with it, but it's nice to receive praise for the hard work.

My sister returns home from New Zealand on the 29th. She is exploring herself in her own way.

My brother appears too young still to contemplate this struggle, but the confusion is there. I hope he finds himself.

Issues of the day.

The lead singer of Nirvana commits suicide. The unofficially appointed representative of teenage angst. Generation X, they call us. Everything has to be labelled. There is no grey areas. According to Them.

(This next part from a few months later;

Same day. Different perspective.

Life has changed.

Current culture affects the youth.

I should not forget.

Kurt Cobain

Was the inspiration behind

The death of two teenagers

Only age 12 and 15

Don't lead us down this path

Give us some hope.)

Back to the original entry;

Bosnia rages on.

Wars, famine, crime. Same old shit, different year.

The self destructive cycle continues, spiralling inwards. So advanced, yet still, unable to get along.

Pink Floyd releases The Division Bell.

Rumours of a Beatles reunion continue.

Another murder.

Another lost cry.

Someone pockets a dollar.

Most fight to just get by.

Some Green movements received small victories. There remains hope.

For me and I guess for all of us, the weeks go by and we continue on. Working to live, trying to find something to do, to make our lives worthwhile. If only we could avoid fucking each other over. Yet society or just us, seems to have this trait inbred. The classical Do-or-Die approach seems to have relevance, perhaps too much so.

----

Early Melbourne (approx early 1840's) My forefather moved there in 1839

(This next part I've updated to provide the fuller story, that I did not know in 1994, but it was the year I changed my name)

I've changed my name, back to Langford. My convict ancestor lied when arrested in Cheshire for stealing a watch and used his mother's maiden name, Sidebottom in 1825. No I.D. in those days. He had to stick to the lie and eventually, after 7 years served he started afresh. He did well for himself in very early Melbourne, when it was a mere town of 300 (making him one of the original pioneers).

He had business dealings with both John Batman and John Fawkner, the two men who established Bearbrass as it was known then (Batman infamously signing a treaty for 900,000 acres of land with local Aborigines) and later paid for the voyages of his brothers to join him from England, as long as they changed their name to Sidebottom too.

Fascinating story. (I will do a more comprehensive post on this in future)

William not long before his death, aged 48

----

* Born in a Storm - the finished film.

I found it an interesting insight into the times, myself as a young person and as a creative.

I hope you found it interesting too. The Beatles did reform, producing the Anthology series. The Bosnian War ended at the end of 1995. Has much else changed? We are still labelled and divided it seems.

Did you write in a diary when you were young?

Anthony J. Langford Books | Australian writer

Born in a Storm - Short Film

Her life, under a cloud.

Her journey, troubled.

It seems that she was ... Born in a Storm.

Finally available to the public.
Been under lock and key all of these years (1994).

This is a slight re-edit with additional music and sound effects.
The original version was an all original soundtrack.

I hope you find it interesting.