Gonzo

Artist Gavin Ryan and I tell the story of a night out on the tiles for the toilet dwelling frogs of Magnetic Island, far north Queensland, Australia. An entry in the first ever Magnetic Island film festival (2nd place - we was robbed). A condition of entry was that a mango had to appear somewhere in the film (see if you can spot it). The film was selected by TRIPLE J for a national tour.

I discovered the soundtrack - an LP vinyl record called Songs of the Great Barrier Reef while doing research for my Minke whale film in the film-sound archives in Canberra. The distorted sound is me putting my thumb on the turntable in the viewing booth while recording the speaker with my video camera.

I have screened this film to various audiences over the years. Best reaction has always come from elder north queenslanders who have all shared their toilets with a frog or six at some stage.  The hermetically sealed, air con generation rarely get it.