Originally, Jane Castle wanted to make a film about death.
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Over the many years the cinematographer's first directorial project took to develop, it turned from tackling this subject to one far more personal.
In When the Camera Stopped Rolling Castle tells the story of her mother, Lilias Fraser (1930-2004) who overcame blatant sexism and personal difficulties to make dozens of films from the 1950s to the 1990s. She became an inspiration for emerging female filmmakers.
Many of Castle's films were industrial documentaries but she also made more personal films, including the pioneering film about Indigenous land rights, This is Their Land (1970) and Women of the Iron Frontier (1990), exploring the lives of women in mining communities.
Castle's film, which she narrates, is also a story of family dysfunction and intergenerational trauma.
Fraser studied photography and filmmaking at the Guildford School of Art in Britain. In Australia, she shot her first film, The Beach (1957) herself and sold it to the ABC. But when she tried to get a filmmaking job, she was told she wouldn't be able to carry a camera and made a production assistant.
Fraser formed a production company with her husband, Norm Fraser, in which he was the "front man" making the deals - sexism again - and she made the films .
Her mother's frequent absences while filming on location took their toll on Castle and there were other problems.
"I was born in 1964 and Mum told me that was when things started to go bad," Castle says.
Underbidding to obtain commissions eventually led to the company going bankrupt. Her husband's abusiveness led to Fraser ending the marriage. But, now a single mother, she faced other challenges that led to a drinking problem.
"She couldn't get more film work without a front man and ended up on the dole queue and in odd jobs."
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Eventually, Fraser found a teaching job at the Sydney Filmmakers Co-operative.
"At the Co-op she came into contact with female filmmakers. They saw her as a mentor and she started to feel she had a new community."
Castle studied cinematography as a way to feel closer to her mother and her sister began directing music videos. They frequently worked together here and in the US, collaborating with Midnight Oil and Prince among others. Their mother offered advice on how to survive in what was still a man's world. Eventually the sisters went their separate ways. Castle worked as a cinematographer on low-budget films but began to feel disillusioned.
Fraser was diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease in her early 70s. Castle, who had long felt "unrequited love" in their relationship, found herself assuming the "parental" role and says it brought them closer than ever until her mother's death.
"The film was therapeutic," Castle says.
It helped Castle in her healing process, working through the family issues, but it affected her relationship with her sister.
"We have different perspectives."
When the Camera Stopped Rolling screened at festivals in Europe and the US before being shown at the Sydney Film Festival where "It got standing ovations at both screenings."
Despite the film's positive reception, Castle has embarked on a change of career. Having done a lot of work on herself, she wants to help people with their own traumas.
"I'm training to become a psychologist."
When the Camera Stopped Rolling with some of Lilias Fraser's short films and a Q&A will be on at Arc Cinema, National Film and Sound Archive on April 23 at 2pm. See: nfsa.gov.au.