TRASHARAMA CALL FOR ENTRIES!
2013 will long be remembered as the year two dark forces came together in one of the most obscene pairings in the history of humanity – it is the year when Trasharama met Monster Fest!
Monster Fest toyed with the short format last year but not with a great deal of structure – there was no shorts program so to speak of, just random screenings before some of the feature films – this year that all changes with Trasharama coming on board.
Today marks the the start of the official ‘call to arms’ for all you wannabe trash maestro’s to get cracking and show us your shit. To mark the occasion Monster Fest’s Neil Foley met up with Trasharama’s honcho Dick Dale to chew the rancid fat and to hopefully give you all some insight into how this unholy union came to be.
Australia’s King of Trash, Dick Dale with good friend, THE HUMAN CENTIPEDE 2 star, Laurence R. Harvey
Read on Monsterfreakers!
So Dick tell me about Trasharama? How long has it being going and how did it start?
Trasharama started as an excuse to screen my own sordid little disasterpieces with my production company ‘Cheesy Knob Productions.” It was in 1997 and I had just come second in a National film competition held by Foxtel’s Channel Arena. It was the Graveyard Shifty Short Film competition. The film I made was ‘The Beast from Bomb Beach.’ A bunch of beach blanket bingo babes are terrorised by a green paper mache headed monster and the day is saved by a nerd. It was the first film I produced with the old 500 dollar Social Security loan. I financed quite a few of my films this way afterwards. The first prize was a trip to the US to meet film making legend, Roger Corman. The theme of the comp was to make short films that defined ‘Schlock’. There seemed to be some debate down at the station bout which film should win. Anyway. I’m glad I didn’t because I didn’t even own a passport being just a scummy unemployed punk. They ended up creating a second prize and threw a thousand bucks my way. I’d doubled my money! I squandered this on a keg and barbie for the cast and crew and put some money on a video camera. This was all the encouragement I needed. After continually going to film Festivals I noticed there was generally one or two films that stood out for me – the schlocky ones and the backyard video nasties. I thought why not have a film Festival where it’s JUST those types of films. In my eyes, the good ones. So I set about contacting those film makers from the “good” films I’d seen. I also found out an old friend in Brisvegas, Andrew Leavold, was already screening such a program called ‘Eat My Schlock’. We both traded movies together improving the quality of both our programs. We did this for a few years until Andrew stopped doing his Festival. After a couple of years with my FestEVIL I contacted various businesses and turned it into a competition. I did this to encourage people to send me their filthy films. I also started touring it to the capitals then as well. Traveling to Hellbourne and Sindney armed with my bag of VHS’s on a coach. That’s the way it was then. Then eventually Jero Cocksmith joined up with me (after I rejected his shitty film) and we started getting grants. We then traveled around Oz in a campervan. We also added regional places to the tour. I drank, Jero drove and I drove him mad. I also nearly blew up the van trying to cook cheese toasties. One year I stopped the ‘Airport to Sydney’ railway service for an hour while on the run from Transit Police. The ‘tunnel’ I was running down turned out to be one that went from the Airport to Sydney, the longest in the Southern Hemisphere. They thought I was trying to kill myself. Welcome to the big smoke Dick! We had many adventures but eventually Jero decided to call it a day. Around this time I got a job booking bands and being the worst barman at the best rawk dive in Murder City, South Oz. The now defunct hotel was the infamous, Forresters and Squatters Arms hotel. This was a “full time” job and it so made it impossible to successfully run Trasharama with any degree of success.
So tell me about the union of Trasharama and Monster Fest, how did that come to be?
As you know I’d been following Monster Pictures since it started. I’d known you from kindly being part of Trasharama years earlier as a prize sponsor when you were with Beyond Home Entertainment. I heard about Monster Fest while taking a break from porn on the net one day. It looked fantastic and I wanted to go interstate to check it out. Unfortunately funds were a bit tight at the time as I was in the process of moving house. I then noticed Monster Fest was running a competition, “Shoot a short scene from a film on your ipod that you’d like screened at your funeral.” Because I’m not one for paying attention to the rules and my porn had downloaded, I read this as, “Make a film you want screened at your funeral.” I then went off and made a movie where half naked zombie girls rip me apart at a graveyard and get it on with my body parts to the tune of, ‘Take a little piece of my heart’. This was changed of course to, ‘Take a little piece of my Dick’. Well as the trash gods would have it, I won and headed over to Hellbourne for a week of movies and madness,. While there, I was asked what had happened to Trasharama. I explained I had been having problems with time because of my hotel commitments. So you, Neil suggested we team up and give it a red hot crack. So thanx to the encouragement and support it’s going ahead. The Hotel closed down a few weeks ago so now I’m now an unemployed scummy punk again which is perfect because now I’ve got plenty of time to concentrate on Trasharama and filmmaking. Lets Rawk!!
Blow your minds at Trasharama!
What kind of films are you looking for?
I’m looking for the most demented short films in Oz. The products of the most sick and twisted minds in the land. Give me bad taste comedy, schlock, horror, science fiction, back yard nasties, demented disaterpieces and films that defy genre. They can be twenty years old or twenty minutes old. Preferably under ten minutes – the shorter the better! I encourage filmmakers to create something for the Festival but it’s not a rule – if you can great, if not, then show us what you’ve got!. In the past I’ve screened films about Go-Go-dancing lesbian serial killers, flesh eating living turds, cask wine goon monsters, crackhouse whoring drug addled children’s characters and bikini vampire babes – just to give you an idea. This is people’s chance to make something crazy – the film that Tropfest would bin by just reading the title. In this program, highbrow is shit and lowbrow is Champagne.
Aaron McLoughlin’s CHRLOROPLASM a Trasharama hit of yesteryear.
Is there any particular criteria for the films? Do they need to be of a certain length, Or subject matter, or anything like that?
Invent your own genres. It’s pretty much as I described above, that’s what we’re looking for. You can send in romantic comedies, sentimental dramas, thought provoking political documentaries, a video of Grandma’s birthday and intelligent stories inviting debate and discussion on the problems facing society today. You can send them in but they wont be screened – instead we will use them to sodomise you as entertainment during the interval – we want your nasty trash kiddies – SEND US IN YOUR TRASH!! Around five minutes or less is ideal – ten at the very most and we’d expect that to be action packed and very entertaining. The shorter the better freaks. Keep it tight and to the point!
Is this just for Australian films or can international films also apply?
Anyone can enter – we don’t really care where you’re from just send in your films on time and if we like them we’ll screen them. JUST GET THEM IN!!
What is the application process Dick? How do filmmakers get their films to you?
Check out the Trasharama website and get your entry forms there.
There’s also a Frequently Asked Questions section on there. If you want to know anything else or feel the need to send photos of your naked sister, send to:
And what is the selection process? Is there a cut-off for films? And when do they then get notified that their film has been successful?
The films need to be submitted by Friday September 13th 2013, filmmakers will be notified by email in early October if their movie made the program.
What happens then?
We’ll liaise with the filmmakers to make sure that the films are delivered to us on an acceptable screening format, we’ll then get them off everyone, publicise the shit out of the whole sordid affair and then screen the motherfuckers to droves of bewildered and sickened citizens!
Will the successful filmmakers be invited to attend?
Yes, each successful filmmaker will be invited to the premiere and they will need to RSVP so we know who will be attending – there’ll be one seat per film.
On what format will the film need to be delivered to you?
DVD is preferred for a preview copy, or if that’s not possible we can also accept a link to clip on Youtube or Vimeo or whatever. If your movie is selected you will need to send in a higher quality copy later. Or we’ll convert it for you.
Are there any actual screening dates set yet?
Monster Fest Melbourne kicks off on November 21st so Trasharama will be some time between the 21st of November and the beginning of December. We will announce the final date when we announce the Melbourne program.
I hear rumors that you be at the Melbourne screening? Will you be hosting it? Will there be any other entertainment on the night?
Fuck yeah! I’ll be there to introduce the program and say a few bits and pieces here and there in my usual disruptive manner. I’ll probably get sent to the office by the end. I am planning on having some live entertainment to warm up proceedings too. You can guarantee that the screenings will be a hoot – keep an eye on this website and the Monster Fest site for updates about the final program details etc.
How about a prizes etc? Will there we an overall ‘best film’ prize? Any other categories?
Yeah, there will be a number of prizes. Firstly there will be an ‘Audience Award’ for most popular film as judged by the audience on the night – there’ll also be a runner up and a third place in this category. We will also be awarding the ‘Best New Oz Short’ as judged by our expert judges, but the Pièce de résistance will a special award given for the sickest, most repulsive film of the program as judged by our expert judges – we’re calling it the ‘Golden Lomax’ after my good mate, fellow sicko Laurence R Harvey from The Human Centipede 2 [Full Sequence]. In my eyes this is the most coveted award – what could be better than coming up with the most morally reprehensible film of the program?
What prizes will be on offer?
Well there’s going to be a shit load of stuff, from prize packs courtesy of Monster Pictures, Offal Eaters Memorabilia, Midnight Marquee Press, Transmog FX, Hooligan Streetwear and Zombie Glamour, and there’ll be a load more announced shortly. We’ve even got
A back to front centipede street sandwich with Dick Dale and Laurence R Harvey on the mean streets of Adelaide.
What advice to you have for filmmakers who want to make something for Trasharama?
Try and be original. Humour is popular. Bad taste is good. Blood, gutz and gore is sexy. Stories with unexpected twists are cool – be creative, be brilliant, be sick and be yourselves! Importantly, the shorter the better – keep it fast paced and tight. Stick to the point. It’s a short movie. Make something fucked up and unforgettable. I want to wake up screaming at four am every night because I just thought about that scene in your movie. Give us something that people will talk about forever, something that Christian groups will lineup up outside protesting about – give us something great! Put effort into the effects if you have them! Oh, HAVE FUN you sick freaks. Ok,now blow my mind!
Ok Trash fiends there you have it – Here is a SUMMARY of some of the main points.
- You must own the copyright of the film
- An application form must be submitted for each film entered – find it HERE.
- All films must be post marked on or before Friday September the 13th 2013 and sent to Trasharama Agogo – PO Box 19, Torrensville, SA, 5031
- All film links must be emailed to drzombie@trasharama.com no later than the 13th of September 2013 and accompanied by a completed application form: HERE.
Click here for FULL DETAILS AND CONDITIONS.
So there you have it Trash fiends – this could be your big break, your moment in the sun, so get your mates, get your camera and get fucking cracking!
See you in hell!
