Philippe Mora

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Philippe Mora (born 1949) is a French-born Australian film director.

Mora is a member of one of Australia’s best known artistic families. His parents, Georges Mora and Mirka Mora, migrated to Australia from France in 1951 and settled in Melbourne, where they quickly became key figures on the Melbourne cultural scene. Georges, a wartime resistance fighter, became an influential art dealer, and in 1967 he founded one of the first commercial art galleries in Melbourne, Tolarno Galleries. Mirka Mora is one of Australia’s most renowned artists.

The Mora family also owned and operated three of Melbourne’s most famous cafés. The Mirka Café was opened in December 1954 at 183 Exhibition St and was the venue for the first major solo exhibition by Joy Hester. It was followed by the Café Balzac at 62 Wellington Pde, East Melbourne and then by the Tolarno in Fitzroy St, St Kilda, which opened in 1966. All three were focal points for Melbourne's bohemian subculture.

Georges and Mirka became close friends and colleagues of many leading names of Australian arts and letters. "Very few of this crowd had any money then," Philippe recalls, "and my parents literally fed artists at our home and in our restaurants." As a result, their three sons had what Philippe describes as "a culturally privileged childhood".

The Mora family's social circle included many Australian artists who subsequently became world-famous -- Ian Sime, Charles Blackman and Barbara Blackman, Fred Williams, John Perceval and Mary Perceval, Albert Tucker, Barrett Reid, Laurence Hope, Arthur Boyd, Sidney Nolan and Joy Hester. The Mora family were especially close friends with renowned art patrons John and Sunday Reed, and spent many weekends at their famous home and artists’ colony, "Heide" (now the Heide Museum of Modern Art) in the outer Melbourne suburb of Heidelberg, and at the Reed's beach house in Aspendale.

Philippe is now a film director of international repute; his younger brother William is a leading Melbourne gallery owner and art dealer (one of only three second-generation art dealers in Australia) and the youngest Mora brother, Tiriel Mora, is a prominent stage and screen actor, with credits including the ABC's classic TV current affairs satire [[Frontline (TV show)|Frontline (as cynical reporter Martin Di Stasio) and as the bumbling lawyer Dennis Denuto in the hit comedy film The Castle.

Philippe began making films while he was still a child. His first home movie (now preserved by The National Film and Sound Archive) was Back Alley, made in 1964 when he was 15. A parody of West Side Story, it was filmed in Flinder’s Lane, just behind his mother’s studio at 9 Collins Street, and it features Philippe, brother William and friends Peter Beilby and the late Sweeney Reed.

Sweeney Reed (1945-1979) was one of Philippe’s best friends. He was also a pivotal figure in the complex relationships between the members of the Heide circle. He was the son of artists Joy Hester and Albert Tucker but when he was two years old Hester was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s disease and was told she had only two years to live. She left Tucker, gave Sweeney up to be adopted by John and Sunday Reed, and moved to Sydney. Ironically, she survived another twelve years and had two more children. To complicate matters even further, author Janine Burke reported that Sweeney eventually discovered that Tucker was not his biological father -- it was probably jazz drummer Billy Hyde (founder of the well-known Melbourne music store, founded in 1962), with whom Hester had a brief affair.

Philippe’s next film, Dreams In A Grey Afternoon (1965) was made as a silent movie but was screened with music prepared by artist Asher Bilu. It was shot on 8 mm and blown up to 16 mm. The film features stop-motion animation of sculptures by the late Russian-Australian sculptor and painter Danila Vassilieff and includes rare footage of John and Sunday Reed.

His next project, Man In A Film (1966), was a pastiche of Federico Fellini's 8-1/2 and was also influenced by his recent viewing of The Beatles' A Hard Day's Night. Like its predecessor, it was also made as a silent movie, shot on 8 mm and blown up to 16 mm, and again screened with music prepared by Asher Bilu, starred Sweeney Reed and premiered film at Tolarno Galleries in early 1967.

Give It Up (1967) again featured Reed, plus Don Watson and Philippe’s younger brother Tiriel and was shot in Fitzroy Street, Melbourne. It symbolised Australians' response to the Vietnam War by depicting a man being repeatedly kicked and beaten in a busy street while onlookers do nothing.

Philippe moved to London in late 1967 to pursue painting and filmmaking. He was one of many important Australian artists, writers and others who moved to the UK in this period. He had met Sydney artist Martin Sharp in Melbourne and when he arrived in London, Sharp (who had travelled there in late 1966) invited him to move into The Pheasantry, the renowned artists’ colony in Kings Road, Chelsea.

This home was the origin of the name of his production company, Pheasantry Films. Living in or near The Pheasantry was a virtual Who's Who" of London’s underground 'glitterati', including Martin Sharp, Eric Clapton, Germaine Greer, artist Tim Whidborne, ‘prominent London identity’ David Litvinoff (production adviser on Nicolas Roeg's Performance), writer Anthony Haden-Guest (author of The Last Party: Studio 54, Disco and the Culture of the Night) and another friend from Melbourne, photographer Robert Whitaker, lensman of choice for many leading rock groups on the scene, including The Beatles and Cream.

During this time Mora contributed cartoons (as “Von Mora”) to Oz magazine and he assisted Sharp on the landmark "Magic Theatre" edition. He also made his next short film, Passion Play, which was shot in the Pheasantry ca. 1967-68 with Jenny Kee as Mary Magdalene, Michael Ramsden as Jesus, and Mora himself as the Devil.

Mora began painting immediately on arrival in London, and one of his first London exhibitions was at the gallery of Clytie Jessop, who was the sister of Hermia Boyd (Hermia Lloyd-Jones), wife of noted ceramic artist David Boyd. Jessop was also a well-known actress and director -- she played the sinister Miss Jessell in Jack Clayton's classic supernatural thriller The Innocents (1961), and later directed the film Emma's War (1988) starring Lee Remick and a young Miranda Otto.

Jessop invited Mora to exhibit at her gallery in the Kings Rd, and the show was a great success, garnering excellent reviews and numerous sales -- a situation Mora found rather incredible. By his own admission, he was so impoverished at the time that he had been forced to use house paint impregnated with insecticide for his paintings -- a nececssity he turned to his advantage by telling potential buyers that his paintings were "not only art, but they also kill flies".

More exhibitions at Clytie Jessop's gallery followed, with titles such as "Anti-Social Realism" and "Vomart". Eric Clapton bought one of the paintings from the latter exhibition, which depicted a shot-putter about to throw and simultaneously throwing up -- a style reminiscent of the hilariously provocative Dada art of Barry Humphries.

Mora gradually began to make a name for himself in London. He gained support from established figures such as Eduardo Paolozzi and the critic R.C. Kennedy, who championed him in Art International and included his work in a show called "Narrative Painting in Britain in the Twentieth Century" at the Camden Arts Centre in 1970. Artist Alan Aldridge also invited Philippe to contribute to his now-famous book "The Beatles Illustrated Lyrics", for which Philippe illustrated "I Am The Walrus" and "Good Morning, Good Morning".

His next show was at the Sigi Krauss gallery (where Martin Sharp also exhibited); it featured pictures all painted in black and white; the show also included a grey male rat which he had bought from Harrod's. When the rat turned out to be female and gave birth Mora tried (unsuccessfully) to sell the babies as a 'multiples' in a limited edition of eight. The rat show attracted the interest of German avant-garde artist Klaus Stacks, who commissioned Philippe to produce an edition of one hundred screen prints of the mother rat. In February 1971 Joseph Beuys and Erwin Heerich invited Philippe to sign a "Call To Action" manifesto demanding the freeing of the German art market.

His next show was an Easter Crucifixion exhibition at the Sigi Krauss gallery which featured a life-size sculpture of a sitting man, made entirely of meat and offal. (cf. Robert Whitaker's controversial "butcher" cover photos for the Beatles' Yesterday & Today LP in 1966). It was also at this exhibition that Mora screened his 8 mm 'film painting' Passion Play, which was projected behind a screen framed in gold leaf. Some of the other items from this exhibition (though none of Mora's) were purchased by Stanley Kubrick's art director and were used in the film A Clockwork Orange -- notably the giant white phallus and the chorus line of dancing Jesus sculptures.

Mora's provocative and highly symbolic offal exhibit caused a stir -- a brick was thrown through the gallery window, which led to it being featured on the cover on Time Out, and later, as the piece began to putrify, the police were called after Princess Margaret, who had been dining at the restaurant across the street, complanied about the stench. Detectives from Scotland Yard descended on the gallery and demanded that the sculpture be removed. but Krauss refused. The police claimed it was a health hazard and forced Krauss to move into the garden, where it gradually rotted away.

Philippe’s next project was his first feature-length film -- Trouble In Molopolis (1970). It was financed by the unlikely partnership of Arthur Boyd and Eric Clapton. It was shot in London and "ever Australian I knew was pulled into the picture" -- it was filmed in Robert Hughes' apartment and at the Pheasantry; Germaine Greer played a cabaret singer, Jenny Kee was 'Shanghai Lil', Martin Sharp played a mime and Richard Neville was a PR man; Tony Cahill from The Easybeats did the music with Jamie Boyd. The film premiered at the Paris Pullman cinema in Chelsea, as an Oz benefit, and it was introduced by George Melly. The star of the film, , John Ivor Greenwood, also made a memorable appearance at the premiere, defecating in the front row and then passing out in an alcoholic coma.

In 1973, Mora began an association with producer David Puttnam and Sandy Lieberson which resulted in two award-winning films, both of which featured innovative combinations of documentary and newsreel footage, home movies and fictional films. Swastika (1973) depicted Hitler’s rise to power, and Brother, Can You Spare A Dime? (1975) is an acclaimed documentary on the Depression, both of which he wrote and directed.

Mora returned to Australia in the mid-'70s. In January 1974 he and his old friend Peter Beilby launched the periodical Cinema Papers, which has been Australia’s premiere film magazine for nearly three decades.

In 1976 Mora wrote and directed the historical bushranger drama Mad Dog Morgan, starring Dennis Hopper and David Gulpilil. It was the first Australian film to receive a wide American release and was instrumental in bringing Philippe to the attention of American studio executives.

After co-writing the screenplay for Phillip Noyce’s acclaimed docu-drama Newsfront (1978), Mora became one of the first Australian directors to relocate to Los Angeles. Two years later he directed the horror film The Beast Within and many of his subsequent films have been in the horror or sci-fi genres.

His next project was the parodic superhero musical The Return Of Captain Invincible starring Alan Arkin, Christopher Lee and an all-star Australian cast, with songs by Rocky Horror Show creator Richard O'Brien. The film has long been regarded as a cult classic and recently became a minor hit in the US when it was re-released on DVD, due in part to its now-poignant final scene, in which Capt. Invincible flies past the World Trade Centre.

That was followed by A Breed Apart with Rutger Hauer and Kathleen Turner, The Howling II & The Howling III, and the political drama Death Of A Soldier, starring James Coburn, which was based on the infamous Melbourne wartime Eddie Leonski murder case.

Mora's next film was based on the best-selling book by an old friend from his days in London in the late 60s, artist, author and broadcaster Whitley Streiber. Communion (1989) starred Christopher Walken and was based on Strieber’s own alleged encounters with aliens.

Mora's 1990s film credits as director (and occasional writer and actor) included the horror spoof Pterodactyl Woman From Beverly Hills (1994) with Beverly D'Angelo, Barry Humphries (in three roles), Moon Unit Zappa and Philippe’s children Georges and Madeleine; Art Deco Detective (1994); Precious Find (1996) a sci-fi version of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, which reunited two actors from Ridley Scott's Bladerunner, Rutger Hauer and the late Brion James. For television, Mora directed Mercenary II: Thick & Thin (1997), and the films Back In Business (1997), Snide And Prejudice (1998), and Burning Down The House (1998).

Mora's most recent film project, When We Were Modern, draws in part on his own life and experience. It examines the tangled lives and loves of the Heide inner circle — Sidney Nolan, Joy Hester, Albert Tucker and John and Sunday Reed. Nolan will is played by young Australian actor Clayton Watson (The Matrix) and Sunday Reed will be played by leading Hollywood actress Jennifer Jason Leigh.

In the Forties, on the run after deserting from the army, Nolan lived at the Reed’s famous house "Heide", and it was here that he painted his first Ned Kelly series. While living there he conducted an open affair with Sunday Reed, but Sunday refused to leave her husband and marry Nolan, so he married John’s Reed’s sister, Cynthia Hansen. The marriage eventually broke up, and Cynthia committed suicide in 1976. Her death sparked off the famously bitter feud between Nolan and author Patrick White, who excoriated Nolan for abandoning his first wife (she and White were close friends) and remarrying (to Mary Perceval) very soon after Cynthia's death.

While researching the film, Philippe discovered previously unseen home movies of the Heide circle, including the only film of Joy Hester and the only film of the Mirka Café. The film is dedicated to Sweeney Reed, who committed suicide in March 1979, aged only 34. Reed will feature prominently as a character and as a tribute to him, Philippe is reportedly planning to screen some of the footage from Back Alley under the closing credits.

In recent times, as well as his film work, Mora has contributed to Art Monthly Australia including an article detailing his observations on Australians in London in the Sixties, and an essay on the relationships between film and Australian Modernist art.