David Perry (Australian filmmaker)

David Perry
Born1933 (1933)
Sydney, Australia
Died15 April 2015(2015-04-15) (aged 81–82)
Sydney, Australia
Known forExperimental film, video art, animation, underground film

David Perry (1933 – 15 April 2015) was a pioneering Australian experimental and underground filmmaker, video artist, and a founding member of Ubu Films (1965).[1] He also practised as a photographer, poster artist and painter.[2]

During work on the production of The Theatre of Cruelty in Sydney, July 1965, he joined Albie Thoms, Aggy Read and others in establishing Ubu Films—named after Alfred Jarry's play Ubu Roi—the precursor of the Sydney Filmmakers Co-operative.[3]: p40  This was Australia's first consciously avant-garde filmmaking group.[4]

16mm experimental films include Walking (1955),[5] The Tribulations of Mr Dupont Nomore (1967); Bolero (1967); A Sketch of Abigayl's Belly (1968); David Perry's Album (1970) and Adam (1975). Ubu Films 1965–70 a retrospective video compilation, was released in 1997. Refracting Glasses (1992) is a 109-minute feature film which "uses a range of techniques (actuality and staged footage, optical effects, animation) in an essay-like construction on the theme of the historical status of the artist invoking, amongst a diverse range of references, the Ern Malley hoax and the work of the Russian artist V. E. Tatlin.

  1. ^ Zuvela D. "Danni Zuvela talks to an experimental film pioneer". RealTime Arts Magazine, Sydney, December–January 2005
  2. ^ Scanlines: David Perry Archived 24 July 2018 at the Wayback Machine. Accessed 9 September 2017
  3. ^ Mudie, Peter "Albie Thoms–David Perry: Selected filmwork (1964–1992); Dialogues (1994)". Uniprint, Perth WA, 1994. (Catalogue to Albie Thoms–David Perry screen exhibition, 19–22 April 1994)
  4. ^ UBU Compilation 1967-70 Archived 2 July 2007 at the Wayback Machine at National Film and Sound Archive Catalog, p. 21)
  5. ^ Thornley, Jeni Walking by David Perry 31 January 2012