Peter Tammer

Peter Tammer
Born
Melbourne, Australia
NationalityAustralian
OccupationFilm director
Years active1964–present

Peter Julian Tammer is an Australian film director, and a former lecturer on film at Swinburne Film and Television School and later at its successor at the Victorian College of the Arts.

Career

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Peter Julian Tammer[citation needed] began working in the film industry when he was 19 years old, in 1962. He worked as a film editor for film companies such as Eltham Films, with Tim Burstall, and later for government organisations such as the Commonwealth Film Unit. He started creating his own independent short films in 1964, such as And He Shall Rise Again (1964, 15 mins) and Beethoven and all that Jazz (1964, 2 mins).[citation needed] Through the 1960s, he connected with other Melbourne independent filmmakers such as Nigel Buesst, Tom Cowan,[citation needed] and Paul Cox.[1]

Together with his wife Monique, Tammer put together a very early programme of independent short films called "A Breath of Fresh Air".[citation needed] In the early 1970s, Tammer was a founding member of the Melbourne Film-maker's Co-op, an important group for independent filmmakers in Melbourne at the time.[2] He was associated with other filmmakers such as Jim Wilson, Fred Harden, Bert Deling, James Clayden, many of whom were now showing films at the Piencotheca Gallery, a precursor to the Melbourne Film Co-op. He also had a productive association with Garry Patterson in the mid 1970s, for the films Here's To You, Mr. Robinson (1976, 52 mins) and How Willingly You Sing (1977, 90 mins, directed by Patterson, with cinematography by Tammer).[citation needed]

Tammer's teaching career began in 1973, when he was appointed a tutor in a film course at Melbourne State College in Carlton. In 1979,[citation needed] he was appointed lecturer in film at the Swinburne Film and Television School. Among his students were Paul Goldman, Chris Kennedy John Hillcoat, and Evan English, dubbed the "Gang of Four" by Nigel Buesst owing to their pranks, one of which involved "kidnapping a frozen chicken" from Tammer's fridge.[3]

In 1986, Tammer was appointed senior lecturer in Film, and in 1992 the Film and Television School transferred to the Victorian College of the Arts (VCA). At the VCA Tammer delivered the newly-created Graduate Diploma of Film and Television Documentary stream.[citation needed] Tammer was an inspirational teacher for many of the students,[4] and he retired from the VCA in 1998.[5]

Tammer continued making his own independent films all through this time, producing a series of award-winning films in the 1980s, including Mallacoota Stampede (1981, 60 mins), Journey to the End of Night (1982, 70 mins), and Hey Marcel ... (1984, 17 mins).[citation needed] A cherished project on the film scholar and actor John Flaus, entitled Flausfilm, was begun in 1988 and finally completed in 2009.[citation needed]

Filmography

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Titles directed by Peter Tammer:

  • And He Shall Rise Again (1964, 15 mins, 16mm, Narrative)
  • On The Ball (1964, 4 mins, 16mm, Experimental)
  • Beethoven and all that Jazz (1964, 2 mins, 16mm, Experimental)
  • Pisces Dying (1966, 15 mins, 16mm, Narrative)
  • Our Luke (1970, 10 mins, 16mm, Experimental)
  • Journey to a Broken Heart (1970, 50 mins, 16mm, Doco)
  • Flux (1970, 40 mins, 16mm, Experimental)
  • A Woman of our Time (1972, 26 mins, 16mm, Biog. Doco)
  • The Curse of Laradjongran (1972, 30 mins, 16mm, Doco)(Co-production With Monique Schwarz)
  • Struttin' the Mutton (1975, 17 mins, 16mm, Observational)
  • Here's To You, Mr. Robinson (1976, 52 mins, 16mm, Biog. Doco)(Co-Production With Garry Patterson)
  • Mallacoota Stampede (1981, 60 mins, 16mm, Narrative)
  • Journey to the End of Night (1982, 70 mins, 16mm, Biog. Doco)
  • My Belle (1983, 20 mins, 16mm, Portrait)
  • Hey Marcel... (1984, 17 mins, 16mm, Experimental)
  • Queen of the Night (1985, 20 mins, 35mm, Experimental.)

(note: these three above films are gathered as "Triptych")

  • Fear of the Dark (1985, 59 mins, 16mm, Doco/Narrative)
  • Hi Jim (1990, 20 mins, S/VHS)
  • Flausfilm (99 mins, video) Filmed between 1988 and 1991. Completed in 2009.
  • Just the Two of Us (1994, 60 mins, uncompleted)
  • Our World Trip (1950/51) (currently in post-production)

Awards

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References

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  1. ^ Cox, Paul, Reflections: An Autobiographical Journey, Currency Press, 1998
  2. ^ Hodsdon, J. Barrett, Straight roads and crossed lines: the quest for film culture in Australia from the 1960s? [editor: Peter Mudie], 2001
  3. ^ "Go-Go Gorilla: Another Time, Another Place: Making My Film at Swinburne". Senses of Cinema. July 2009. Retrieved 8 December 2024. MIFF Premiere Fund/Post-Punk Dossier, Special Dossiers, Issue 51
  4. ^ See former student Daryl Dellora's reflections in this VCA newsletter Archived 25 February 2011 at the Wayback Machine.
  5. ^ For more on the Film and Television School, including references to Tammer's teaching, see the book Paterson, Barbara, Renegades: Australia's first film school: from Swinburne to VCA, Helicon Press, 1996
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