Frohe Ostern Happy Easter

Frohe Ostern!

(Happy Easter!)

a 26 minute documentary

The collaged history of a joyful Easter camping ritual celebrates German migrants becoming three generations of Australians.

Premiere broadcast on SBS Australia 7:30pm Friday 10th April 2009

Writer & Director Anna Jeffries
Producer Lacey Teh
Duration 26 minutes (26mins 13secs 14frames)
A large group of more than fifty family and friends have camped in the same spot on Australia’s Murray River every Easter for the last 40 years. Within the very Australian Easter tradition of camping holidays, their own German and unique rituals have evolved. They effortlessly carry out a fixed routine of activities: nest-making for the Easter Bunny’s Eggs, an enormous Erbsensuppe (Pea Soup), silly Sunday competitions, a decadent formal afternoon tea and a magical lantern walk on Sunday night.

Started by fourteen young German migrants in 1969, three generations have keenly kept these habits up and amidst a social climate of dying traditions; the youngest seem likely to maintain them. Time is gently explored and danced with through a goldmine of material that conveys traditions and people growing and a landscape changing over 4 decades. Frohe Ostern! (Happy Easter!) is a high spirited micro-history that celebrates migrants becoming Australians over 40 years and their growing families embracing the German heritage.

Director’s Biography
In 2001 Anna Jeffries graduated from the VCA School of Film and Television as Outstanding Overall Bachelor Third Year Student. Her graduating 26 minute drama China Face was critically acclaimed; recipient of the Film Victoria John Harrison Script Award, a Dendy Award Finalist at the Sydney Film Festival and nominated for Best Australian Short by the Film Critics Circle of Australia.

Now a freelance director based in Melbourne, Anna's work includes the Australian Broadcasting Corporation minidocumentary Conservation Conscious; short-listed for the prestigious International Documentary Filmfestival Amsterdam (IDFA 2005). Anna has also been commissioned to make documentaries for the Melbourne International Arts Festival, Venice Architecture Biennale and most recently the National Sports Museum. Anna is currently developing the 1-hour documentary Man Overboard and is expanding her career into television drama.

Director’s Statement Frohe Ostern! (Happy Easter!) represents the style of film I’ve always imagined and wanted to make. As a director I am interested in creating both fictional and documentary films where genre is transcended and true life is expressed via unconventional storytelling.

Frohe Ostern! has well and truly been the most satisfying filmmaking process for me to date. From the very first meetings with the campers through to the supportive and creative postproduction path, each step of the process has been an enjoyable collaboration and I’ve delighted in the learning and meeting people I never expected to.

Before Easter 2006 I coincidentally met a woman who had married a 2nd generation German camper and who had been attending the Easter camps for only 5 years. Upon hearing about the tradition, the idea of making a film about the campers’ Easter holidays captivated me due to the human spirit and visual imagery at its core. Other aspects that implanted themselves in my imagination were a landscape being the fixed scene of nearly 40 years of growing families and friendship and the natural development of colourful and magical traditions amidst diminishing rituals in modern Australian life.

Over the production period of getting to know the campers and their histories, poignant tales of migration rose to the surface. Encased in the story of their camping traditions every Easter since 1969, is the story of the gradual evolution of identity from German to Australian.

Although many tales of migration to Australia are characterised by hardship and struggle, Frohe Ostern! deliberately celebrates the positive aspects of migration to Australia’s multicultural society. With Frohe Ostern! I was compelled to make a film that is about time, place and above all, people.

Producer’s Biography
Lacey Teh started her film career working as a 3rd Assistant Director on Rachel Griffiths’ award winning short film Roundabout. With a passion for filmmaking and a sense of adventure Lacey then instigated her own projects. First were some short documentaries on the Victorian Polo Club. Then Lacey produced and starred in the short film; I only have eyes for you, teaming up with Director James Teh. Lacey and James have since worked on many projects such as Harsh Reality for the Transport Accident Comission and the Little Deaths short film I Like the Nightlife starring Magda Szubanski. Lacey has produced many music videos, the most recent being for bands Grinspoon and Kisschasy. Lacey has also been collaborating with award-winning Director Amanda Brotchie on short films The Girl in the Window and Fortune (in post-production). The Girl in the Window has been screened in film festivals in Melbourne, Kenya and Los Angeles. Frohe Ostern! is her first project with Anna Jeffries.