FILMS
After The Flood https://youtu.be/uM5ANZMK2MY
After the flood in 2022 I went to the Northern Rivers. I listened to the land and people. This is my creative response to those stories - a collaboration with Leigh Carriage and Jade Lee, and the people of Mullumbimby.
Brave New World https://youtu.be/G4rXPEySqCY
Written during the pandemic of 2021, this film is inspired by humanity and is a call to rise now into our bravery by going beyond divisions.
Winner Best Music Video Venice Shorts 2021, Finalist Montreal Independent Film Festival, Nominated 2022 ARFF Paris International Awards, Official Selection LA Indies, WRPN Women’s International Film Festival, LA Independent Women Film Awards, Cannes International Cinema Festival, Berlin International Art Film Festival, New York Independent Cinema Awards
Have We Paid Our Dues? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9iHjJPeDw8
Created during lockdown. Homage to our great earth and people. Featuring Benjamyn Frazer MacKenzie.
Winner WRPN Women’s International Film Festival, New Wave Short Film Festival, Accolade Global Film Competition, LA Independent Film Channel Festival, Finalist Tokyo international Short Film Festival, Montreal Independent Film Festival, Semi- finalist Tokyo Shorts, Nominee WSXA Paris International Awards 2022, Honourable Mention Toronto Indie Film makers Festival, Official Selection Cannes International Cinema Festival, California Indies, Flickfair Film Festival, Berlin International Art Film Festival, Toronto International Women Film Festival
Way Down Below https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wMqARL7Dr24
This was written during the pandemic as a lament to these sad times. A lament is defined as “a passionate expression of grief or sorrow”. This song is my lament for our times. 2020 came and the pandemic lurched across our globe…so I stayed at home - and composed, recorded, filmed and collaborated. It was a strange yet transformative time. Challenging to the core.
Winner Toronto International Women Film Festival 2021, Independent Shorts Awards 2020, Accolade Global Film Competition 2020, Independent Shorts Awards 2020, LGBTQ Unbordered International Film Festival 2020, Latitude Film Awards 2020, Finalist Tokyo International Short Film Festival 2021, New Wave Short Film Festival, Nominee Indie Short Fest 2021, Indie X Film Fest, 2020, Official Selection New York Independent Cinema Awards, Berlin International Art Film Festival, Amsterdam Short Film Festival, New York Tri State International Film Festival, Ethnografilm Paris, Montreal Independent Film Festival, New York Lift Off Film Festival
Faith in The Underworld https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1E_7eeshwTI&t=420s
I composed this piece in order to give voice to the challenging times that I went through in my life with my divorce, doctorate, my mother’s dementia and her subsequent death – in short to allow an expression of grief through the portal of art.
Through all these events - It felt that I was going through the Underworld, and now in 2022, I am only just beginning to emerge, as lockdiown and the global plague set me deeper into a world of isolation, creativity and spirituality.
The title of Faith in the Underworld is both literal and metaphoric. My mother’s name was Faith. I researched the 7 gateways of the Sumerian Myth of Inanna and her journey through the underworld as symbolic signposts to the establishment of the creative arc of the music and film.
The Underworld in this perspective, is taken as a dimension of reality that we all become subject to when going through the realms of suffering that human life inevitably dishes up to us – like it or not. It’s where the shadows lie and can be a potent place of discovery.
I composed and recorded this music while I was on a composer residency at the Banff, Centre for Arts and Creativity in Canada. It was a freezing cold winter and the majesty of the icy mountains was all around me. It was a profound time of reckoning and creating.
Winner LA Independent Film Channel Festival 2021, WSXA Barcelona International Awards, Official Selection Amsterdam Short Film Festival 2022, Cannes International Cinema Festival 2022, New York Independent Cinema Awards 2021, Toronto International Women Film Festival 2021, Berlin International Art Film Festival 2021
Deerabin https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QDb2PUjSrMQ
Composed on the Hawkesbury River, NSW Australia. Deerabin means deep river in First Nations Darkinyung language. I composed this piece on a boat house on this river that to my delight has a piano. It contains additional Darkinyung language – Ngaliya meaning we together. I love the way water can wrap me around as it sooths the nervous system and softens our edges.
Storm https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2IgP7QaTYks
In 2022 the communities of the east coast of Australia experienced unprecedented storms and flooding. This is dedicated to their bravery and resilience. It features Kita Kerford on vocals.
Winner Best Composer LA Independent Women Film Awards, Semi Finalist 2022 ARFF Paris//International Awards, Official Selection LA Indies, Toronto Indie Shorts 2022
Rise Now https://youtu.be/DClzMbDZCWo
Created during the global pandemic in 2021 at Cape Three Points Creative Studios. Rise Now - a song for humanity calling us to Rise to be our better selves, beyond religion, dogma, and political stance.
I believe it is in these challenging times that we are being asked to activate the highest point of value for authentic meaning in life and our connection with our broader local and global community. I ask the question - what is it? To truly Rise Now to the honour of this fragile and yet powerful gift of life and how to use it for the benefit of all beings.
This song features Billie Muchmore. Billie and I sang and played our instruments around the spring solstice fire that we had created in our lockdown backyard at Cape Three Points. We all live here and are our covid bubble. Imogen Liljestrom filmed us . It was a magic night as you can see in the footage. As we lit the fire at sunset and started filming -The three of us felt to be a part of an ancient lineage of women who gather around the fire on evenings that correlate with the seasonal changes, marked by the solstice and equinox - the times when the light is changing. On another occasion, Irene Traucki danced around the fire we had created for the bird dance film shoot. Irene beautifully captures the energy of the mythical phoenix, symbol of transformation, Rising Now.
We are going through an unprecedented time in our history, everything is changing very fast. Music is always at the heart of my world and this song rose up out of an improvisation when I was reflecting on my place in this changing world. I am blessed that I can be around a fire at my home on the central coast of New South Wales, Australia and sing the songs from my heart and send them out to the world. Rise UP.
Winner California Indies 2021, Stockholm Short Festival, Toronto International Women Film Festival, Official Selection New York Independent Cinema Awards, Berlin International Art Film Festival, Berlin Short Film Festival 2022
Keep the Faith https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mLXZMssIxOE
This piece is dedicated to my mother, Faith. I wrote it during the global pandemic, when we were unable to perform and collaborated with these wonderful artists - Carmella Bayney, Paul Chenard, and Konrad Ball.
No Religion https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RUKE2TVG620
FROM THE BUDDHIST MUSICAL, FULL MOON IN MAY Dedicated to Faith Taken from the perspective of the masked female witness, the silent being moving through the space, between the veils and through the worlds. Watching and listening, moving slowly, going through the journey of life - questioning religion. The international stories of the Afghanistan women and the Covid Pandemic are all part of our cultural narrative at the moment. They affect me deeply. I believe that as artists we are antennas of the universe, and it is our job to tell our story in a way that may be heard through a new perspective - entering in through the power of music, Image and word.
Produced at Cape Three Points Creative Studios, Avoca Beach NSW Australia during Lockdown 2021 A CREATIVE COLLABORATION BETWEEN THE UK, CANARY ISLANDS, CALIFORNIA AND AUSTRALIA. Music and film by Yantra de Vilder, Lyrics by Peter O’Donnell featuring Johnny Amobi on vocals, Marty Hailey on guitar, .Yantra de Vilder on music, vocals and film production, performance and visuals. Additional Camera Andrew Worboys. The witness - Yantra de Vilder. Flying spirit Kathryn Puie. Special appearance from Faith (my mother)
Winner Tokyo Shorts, Toronto Film and Script Awards 2021, Official Selection LA Independent Film Channel Festival, Venice Shorts, Berlin International Art Film Festival, New York Independent Cinema Awards.
Walk With Me https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN3HNu00jWw&t=91s
This film was created during the 2020 Covid pandemic when we were unable to go ahead with the 5 Lands Walk. It is my creative expression as Artistic Director for the 5 Lands Walk in collaboration with our 5 Lands community. As we keep the faith to uphold our mantra of connecting people to people and people to place, we move forward into a shared future together, bound by culture and spirituality, led by our Indigenous and multi-cultural collaborators. I am honoured to be on the ancestral lands of the Darkinyung people. I acknowledge the First Australians as the traditional custodians of the continent, whose culture is among the oldest living cultures in human history. I pay respect to the Elders of the community and extend my recognition to their descendants. I recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and community.
Winner Roma Short Film Festival, Independent Shorts Awards, Nature Without Borders International Film Festival 2021, Finalist Toronto Indie Film makers Festival, Tokyo International Short Film Festival, New Wave Short Film Festival 2021, Semi-finalist Stockholm Short Festival, Tokyo Shorts, WSXA Barcelona International Awards 2021, Nominee WSXA Paris International Awards 2022, Indie Short Fest 2021, Official Selection Accolade Global Film Competition, ARFF Amsterdam International Awards, Venice Shorts 20
In Search of The Artistic Moment https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iF33vyIFb5w&t=1s
I believe that connecting and integrating interdisciplinary arts practices can take an event, (be it live or recorded) far beyond the limited strength of the individual components. The notion of the artistic moment and its associated numinous qualities of timelessness are at the heart of my research. My particular interest is the point of intersection – and as such I am exploring and interpreting collaboration and the artistic moment within the nexus of inter-disciplinary and cross cultural arts practices.
The elusive artistic moment is explored from the point of view of inside the composer’s creative process. It is my own story told using material from journaling, diary recollections, and reflections on the creative process, filming and recording.
Winner LGBTQ Unbordered International Film Festival, Latitude Film Awards 2020, Finalist Tokyo International Short Film Festival 2020, Semi finalist ARFF Amsterdam International Awards, WSXA Barcelona International Awards 2021, Honourable mention New York Tri-state Film Festival 2021, Official Selection New York Independent Cinema Awards, Toronto International Women Film Festival, Accolade Global Film Competition 2020
Home A Place of Belonging https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLWMt8UMqa0&t=3173s
The Opening Ceremony of the 5 Lands Walk- a living example of reconciliation and community featuring a 50 piece community choir and music ensemble, multi-cultural dancers and musicians, and our local indigenous community .
Winner Tokyo International Short Film Festival, Accolade Global Film Competition, LGBTQ Unbordered International Film Festival, Latitude Film Awards, American Filmatic Art Awards 2021, Semi- finalist Indie X Film Festival LA, ARFF Barcelona International Awards, 2021, Honourable Mention ARFF Berlin International Globe Award, Official Selection New York Independent Cinema Awards, Berlin International Art Film Festival 2022, New York Tri State Film Festival 2021, Montreal Independent Film Festival, Silicon Beach Film Festival, Golden State Film Festival , Paris Lift Off festival, Rietiand Sabina Film Festival, Tokyo Lift Off Festival 2021