LOVE BITE Directed By Craig Boreham

Indie Express: Tell us about your film?

Craig: Without saying too much, Love Bite is about coming out to your best mate.  It's a story that a lot of queer people can relate to in a way, being young and having a secret desire for your best friend and the moment you decide to tell them.

The thing that inspired me to write it was that feeling of being closeted and the fear of

How people will react if you do tell them who you really are, like inside you feel maybe you really are a monster. Although this is really the subtext and was more the jump off point for me as a writer, the completed film is much lighter and more fun.

IE: How did you come up with the idea for the film?

C:  I was definitely channeling some of my own experience when I was writing it. I had an insane crush on my best friend's older brother when I was a young guy and I can clearly remember this day when I was about 13 and we had taken off to smoke our parent's cigarettes in the bush near where I lived and we were just lying in the grass together and I wanted to kiss him so bad.  I can remember almost passing out from terror at how he might react but being so driven to do it at the same time.  I lived right out in the outskirts of Brisbane, in Australia, back then and I didn't even really know what "gay" was, and coming out for me was a pretty ugly time... but anyway yeah I did kiss him and it was great!

IE: How did you assemble your production team?

C:   My crew is really important to me.  Film is such a collaborative business and it makes your life so much easier if you are all on the same page creatively.  Love Bite had a small team and we had all worked together before.

IE: How did you find your cast? 

C:  I met both of the actors at an organization here in Sydney that helps out homeless gay and lesbian young people.  I had been called in to help write and direct a film called “Stray”, based on the young people’s experiences in Sydney.  Neither of them had done any film work before that but they really enjoyed the process and had a great presence on screen so I wanted to do something else with them.

IE: How long did the film take?  (From conception to final edit)

C:  It was a pretty quick turn around on this film.  We shot in a day and went into post-production straight away.  All up it took about two months.

IE: Tell us a little about your process of directing (writing) this film.

C:  The script actually came from a larger project I had been writing and was sort of a bit of writer therapy, where I just needed a break from the world I was writing in so I decided to mix it up a bit and throw in some crazy scenarios.  What came out of that was this fun little script and I decided to make it.  The actors I worked with in my film “Stray” were keen to do more acting so we got together and did some acting workshops for a couple of days and then just jumped right into it. 

IE: What was the most difficult part of the shoot for you?

C: Getting it all shot in a day!  We had a fair bit to get through as well as some effect shots that were a bit time consuming and we started very late because our location was a friends of mine’s apartment and unfortunately he went out the night before our shoot and met a boy and was missing in action when we arrived with all the crew and equipment.

IE: Any particular moments from filming that stand out for you?

C:  Again the long day!  Will, one of the main actors, was in the middle of his final High School exams so in between takes he was huddled in the corner studying while we were setting the lights.

IE: Tell us about the film’s festival experience so far?

C:  It has been doing the festival rounds.  Love Bite premiered here in Sydney at the Mardi Gras Film Festival, which is always a lot of fun.  It picked up the Independent Queer Filmmaker Award there.  I t then screened at Newfest in New York and the London Queer film Festival.  Since then it has been programmed in Berlin, Madrid, Bremen, Melbourne, Connecticut and now Philly!

IE: What are you most looking forward to at the festival?

C:  Unfortunately I am not going to be able to be there but I’m looking forward to hearing about how our film screening goes.

IE: What has been your most interesting Q&A so far?  What was your favorite question?  How was the dialogue afterwards?

C:  It would definitely be when I had a film in the Berlin Film Festival a couple of years ago.  My German is terrible and I had a translator and it was just really weird to have this delayed conversation with the audience while I waited for what I said to be translated.  I actually acted in that film and it was about the end of a gay relationship and had a pretty sad ending where my character loses in love and is left alone, and I must have done a convincing job because every audience just wanted to know if I was Ok now and did I have a new boyfriend!

IE: What films and filmmakers inspire you?

C:  That’s a hard one.  It changes every week, but I love filmmakers who take risks and find interesting ways to tell stories.  I love the work of Todd Solondz and Gus Van Sant.

IE: What made you decide to become a filmmaker?

C:  I think you are born a filmmaker.  The need to tell stories.  For me also there was the need to tell queer stories and have them seen.  This used to be a much harder thing to do but it is getting easier every year with the development of the queer festival circuit and also TV and DVD distributors realizing that there are actually a lot of s and we are worth investing in on a market level but also that we, as a community, have a lot of really interesting stories to tell!

 IE: What is next for you? 

C:  I have just received the green-light for production funding from the Australian Film Commission for a new short drama, which I am currently casting and I’m also in the middle of writing a feature film that I hope to get up in the next year.

IE: What is next for the film?

C:  There are some more festival screenings coming up and also a DVD release in on a compilation of queer shorts in Europe.  We are also negotiating a television broadcast sale in the United States as well.

IE: If asked to give one piece of advice to a new filmmaker making their first short film… What would it be?

C:  I think one of the best pieces of advice I have heard was from Australian cinematographer Christopher Doyle, and he said that you need to love all the key creatives on your crew.  I think there is a lot of truth in that, especially when you are starting out and building new relationships.  Find the people you work well with and develop a strong collaboration.  Your life is much easier if you have a team that understands your vision and can bring their experience and their own ideas to the project to make it better.

IE: What 5 films currently on the festival circuit are you fans of?

C:  Import/Export by Ulrich Seidl, Austria-France

Boy A by John Crowley, UK

Stop Loss by Kimberly Peirce, USA

Funny Games by Michael Haneke, USA, France

My Winnipeg by Guy Maddin, Canada

IE: Thanks so much for answering our questions!  Have a great festival!!