Films – Leo Berkeley

2024

Dark Matter

Dark Matter is a short diary film which explores the experience of living full-time in a wheelchair. Suffering from Multiple Sclerosis, I spend my days staring out the window of my apartment, my mind turning to topics from cigarette butts to quantum particles.

The interplay between frustration and control, between action and inaction, and between participation and observation is beautifully and economically explored.

- Robin Plunkett

The full video of Dark Matter will be available here once festival opportunities for the film have been explored.

Other Films

2016

Falling On Cement

I have multiple sclerosis and know a lot about falling over, due to dysfunctional legs and damaged balance. Falling inside and outside, forwards and backwards, falling on wood, bitumen and cement. This short personal documentary is my attempt to creatively explore the sensations, feelings and thoughts that are part of the experience of falling. The third in a trilogy of IPhone essay films, Falling On Cement showed at the 2016 MINA International Mobile Innovation Screenings (Swinburne University, Melbourne and Wellington, NZ)

2015

The Q

‘The Q’ is a short essay film about what we think about when we wait in lines. The film screened as part of the 2015 MINA International Mobile Innovation Screenings, an international, peer-reviewed series of exhibitions (Wellington, Melbourne, Strasbourg and Skopje). It also screened at Ethnografilm 2016 in Paris (ethnografilm.com), an international festival of academic films whose main purpose is ‘the systematic understanding of the social world’.

2013

The 57

‘The 57’ is a short essay film about a tram route in Melbourne, which was shot entirely with an IPhone. My specific interest in the 57 tram is the way it crosses physical, social and conceptual boundaries, providing a space where a diverse range of people spend time together as the tram moves through different parts of the city. It showed at the international documentary conference Visible Evidence in 2015, in a session that featured ‘the most innovative and creative mobile moving-image works which were screened during the last four years at the International Mobile Innovation Screenings.’

2008

How To Change The World

How To Change The World is a playful tapestry of stories woven around a decaying neighbourhood pub called The Junction Hotel. At the heart of the film is Max, the pub’s ageing owner, and his struggle to keep the Junction open for the sake of his loyal but diminishing band of regular customers.

2005

Ending With Andre

‘Ending With Andre’ is a machinima work, a media form which has been described as an example of the convergence occurring between computer games, films and the internet. It tells the story of a woman hiding out in a small town to get away from her violent ex-boyfriend. ‘Ending With Andre’ screened at the 2005 Machinima Film Festival in New York.

1999

Stargazers Part 1

Following the adventures of five idealistic strangers in suburban Melbourne, Stargazers, a micro-budget, fully improvised 5 hour drama, is available for the first time online as a 3 part series. A “totally unpretentious tale of individual destiny, full of endless subplots and intrigue, and it is a joy to watch.” Michelle Carey, former Artistic Director, Melbourne International Film Festival.

1999

Stargazers Part 2

In the film, each actor created and developed their own character, nothing was put on paper and neither the director nor the actors knew what would happen in each scene until it was actually shot.

1999

Stargazers Part 3

Stargazers was a deliberate attempt to challenge conventional notions of length and pacing in fictional screen narratives and allow the drama and the dialogue to unfold in its own time and with its own rhythm: a story where a talk at the pub or an anecdote in the kitchen are explored for their inherent dramatic richness as much as plot twists or action sequences.

1991

Holidays On The River Yarra

“Leo Berkeley has come up with an excellent debut feature…The film starts out as a seemingly typical study of teen unemployment, shifts gears into bizarre black comedy, and then takes yet another, sharper turn, providng an ending which is quite unnerving.” “Holidays on the River Yarra Review” by David Stratton, The Australian; October 12, 1991.

1989

Summer Was A Blur

When Stella’s feelings go out of control, she’s not sure of the reason. Is it the guy she’s just met, the atmosphere in the office tower where she works on the top floor or something to do with summer?

1986

Out Of The Frying Pan

Things can get pretty chaotic when your boyfriend is an armed robber and your neighbour is a drummer, but the rubbish still needs to get put out.

1984

The Bodyguard

A young bodyguard, hired to protect a wealthy businessman who has been receiving death threats, is struggling to keep his mind on the job. What happens when your boring work is a matter of life and death?