Joshua Long is an australian director whose last film is featured on our website. We met him to have a quick chat about his career and his projects to come.
Is your film “The Wheels On The Bus” your first one ?
The Wheels On The Bus was my first film as part of my masters degree. I had made many short horror films before this. This was my first film outside of the horror genre and the first in a foreign language.
What was the first film you made about ?
My very first film was a fake commercial for a product called ‘Human In A Can’. It was designed as zombie food. We made it in 2001 and it starred two zombies. It was awful.
How did you become a director ?
I always wanted to tell stories but I am dyslexic so my entire exposure to storytelling came from cinema. I never read books but watched a movie every day. So I always wanted to become a director. It’s so hard to become a film director in Australia so I had to work my ass off to get here. It’s not something many people just fall into. It was a calling for me. I had to do it.
What do you think about independent cinema ? Do you think it’s an easy field ?
Independent cinema is where all the free thinking happens. I adore it. It’s an easy field to be in creatively. But it is super hard to earn a living from it. To make something stand out you need to take huge risks. Being independent lets you do that. It has a hand made feel and a soul to it that can’t be faked.
Are you planning to make any other film ?
The film we made after this one was a short horror film called ‘Post Mortem Mary’. It was very successful and won SITGES film festival. I’m currently writing the feature version of that.
Say something about EuroIFC :
To have a platform for The Wheels On The Bus is so amazing. Thank you for showing it. I adore this film and am very proud of it warts and all.
