The last Reclaim the Lanes in Sydney in February 2013 and last two decades of Sydney people getting together and organising amazing conscious events that transcend the mundane have inspired me to make this documentary film. There will be a premier of the 1-1.5 hour work at Tortuga studios around September 2014 before the film is released on youtube and entered into some documentary film festivals.
I'm also considering it a pilot project to attract funding and interest for further documentaries looking into Australia's colourful history of music and protest. This film is about grassroots community groupings choosing and assembling their own event culture rather than blindly following a culture imposed, Reclaim the lanes demonstrated this uncommercial motivation as it exploded out of the artistic and creative underground of Newtown. Underground, overground and wombling free, the events presented themselves in the lanes and streets and the local community met itself. The last lane reclaiming fiesta with its parade of renegade randomness made its way through the lanes of Newtown and made it's way to Sydney Park, Sydney's birthplace of free party culture. Reclaim the lanes is a powerful 'do it ourselves' cultural echo of 'Reclaim The Streets' that helped define the protest carnival experience in Sydney from the mid 90s with almost 20 memorable street reclaiming actions spanning over a decade. People were speaking out on top of an iron pulse rhythm of home made techno and hip hop against the mainstream on issues from public transport and indigenous rights to the nuclear industry and saving our dwindling forests and the war in the Middle East. Reclaim the streets was a landslide of community energy in the urban canyons of Sydney. When ambassadors of the RTS UK crew came to Australia to sow the seeds of these events in the early 90's they came across a free party scene that was bubbling at a high point of motivation and organisation. When the early doof and protest culture joined forces it seemed like anything was possible, amazing times were had from unstoppable inner city bush Doof and street party uprisings to Australia wide anti nuclear sound system convoys with Lab Rats, Ohms not Bombs, Mutoid Waste co and Earthdream. Peace bus outreach projects with the inner city mural covered Graffiti Hall of Fame helped build party bridges between alternative youth subculture and indigenous Australia. People were building their collective future with direct action and using parties to bring more people together. In the naughties Channel party Rave-o-lutions drew thousands to abandoned warehouses,
Do It Ourself culture spurned on by the quantum shift of the internet and social networking took on a new momentum. I felt like this culture and how to make it happen needed to be documented to inspire future generations to keep it going with a bit of business as unusual and fun and randomness. Do It Ourselves Culture is about 85% complete but theres a few holes in the story, I'll be calling out for photo’s and footage over the next couple of months.
