From the Venice Biennale to rural Braidwood - two female filmmakers are breaking new ground.

Photo credits: Colour by CHRISTOPHER MORRIS and B&W by KELLY STURGISS

Award-winning filmmakers and media professionals, Clare Young and Rose Ricketson, have spent 3 years collaborating with volunteer-run rural radio station, Braidwood FM, to produce an original six-part podcast series HEART OF THE STORM.

The series documents true stories of courage and resilience from over 200 interviews with local residents, who were on the frontline of disaster through the Black Summer, in an attempt to transform grief into hope. Released over summer 2022-23 on Braidwood FM, the stories have received outstanding feedback from their local community.

Clare Young was completing her short film LOVE FOREVER alongside producer Rose Ricketson, when bushfires hit the region. Their film was shelved as priorities shifted to maintaining a level of normalcy through the crisis, and protecting their small children, through what felt like parenting through an “apocalypse”. They poured their energy into this podcast project.

Gordon Waters, Braidwood FM Station Manager and narrator of the series, says: “I am very proud of what has been achieved through this important contribution to the living history of our region. I hope the legacy of this series is that next time we are better prepared.” The final episode in the series BRAIDWOOD 2040 was released on March 4th 2023 and expresses visions for the future.

Young and Ricketson feel that “This project has had a profound effect on the community through the soft-power of storytelling - and acknowledges the enormous efforts of both the individual and the collective - to stay hopeful and inspired in the face of an uncertain future”.

Young and Ricketson’s film eventually premiered at the Venice Biennale 2022, in the Orrizonti short film competition showcasing the latest aesthetic and expressive trends in cinema. 

You can listen to HEART OF THE STORM on Spotify and Apple Podcasts.

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