Down Time Jaz

A film about a functional family.

A delightful and infectious animated dance film, Down Time Jaz is a ferris wheel ride through family life from the point of view of the second child who must save the rest of her family from itself.

Webpage: http://www.physicaltv.com.au/DownTimeJazthePhysicalTvCompanyRichardJamesAllenAndKarenPearlman_499_1079_3_0.html


Director’s Statement by Karen Pearlman:

“Down Time Jaz is a physical-digital dance which uses real bodies and digital media to choreograph the impossible. This digitally generated liberation is led by a dancer, who, like digital technology itself, is in her infancy. Down Time Jaz may look like a whimsical fantasy animation, a bouquet of sweet things and adventures, but scratch the surface and it is also a highly political film about reclaiming ‘family’ as a subject from the far right. This physical family doesn’t fit Australian Prime Minister John Howard’s or U.S. President George W. Bush’s model for family values, instead it is a creative, challenging, exuberant experience of the roller coaster ride of relationships.

“For me personally, it’s a fantasy of being a perfect person in a world that has room for someone to be both a mother and an artist but not have a vacuum cleaner or a marginalized practice. Making Down Time Jaz was about finding a way to bring creativity involved in having children into play with the creativity of making a short film. In it I tried to draw on the fantasies each member of the family has about themselves, and the underlying truths behind these fantasies, to weave together a dance of the family dynamic. It’s a cross media work in the sense of involving three creative endeavours: dance, film and family.”


The Physical TV Company Statement:

The Physical TV Company makes stories told by the body. Its charter, to make Dance and Physical Theatre for the Screen, makes it Australia’s only purpose built company working in this area, and has lead it to develop and articulate special techniques and processes for creating a fully integrated blend of the crafts of cinema and of dance. This latest work, with its focus on dance and digital effects, offers viewers the chance to consider the impact of new technology on both forms, and a range of new possibilities for dance on the screen.

Down Time Jaz is the third in the popular Physical Family series by Karen Pearlman and Richard James Allen, which includes What To Name Your Baby and Sam in a Pram. Currently in post production, the fourth in the series.


List of Screenings, Broadcasts and Awards:

• Down Time Jaz has screened at over twenty international film festivals and was broadcast on KMTV to over 2 million people in China. It was a preselection finalist for an ATOM Award in the Best General Experimental Category.


Key Cast and Crew List:

The Family Jaz Allen, Sam Allen, Richard James Allen,
and Karen Pearlman

Director Karen Pearlman
Producer Richard James Allen
Writers, Choreographers Richard James Allen and Karen Pearlman
Director of Photography Dominika Ferenz
Production Designer Kate E. Wills
Costume Designer Matthew Aberline
Editor/Visual Effects Karen Pearlman
Sound Serge Stanley
Composer Amanda Brown
Mixer Phil Judd, PhilmSound
Production Company The Physical TV Company
Executive Producers Richard James Allen and Karen Pearlman

Distribution:

Down Time Jaz is distributed:

• In the US by ArtWorks Video
as part of AW-32 “The Physical TV Company”
http://www.adfvideo.com/awv.html

• In Australia and New Zealand by Marcom Projects
as part of “3 Physical Digital Videos”
http://www.marcom.com.au/


Copyright © 2003 The Physical TV Company Pty Ltd