By JOHN VAN KLAVEREN
FOR SOMEONE wrapped up in the high-flying international world of the film industry, Kelly Dolen loves the grounding that living in Geelong West affords him.
The Melbourne-born director of controversial new film John Doe: Vigilante and his Warrnambool partner found Geelong a happy medium.
“We love living in Geelong because the sense of community is magnificent. It’s a bit of old school Australia that’s been lost elsewhere,” Dolen enthused.
His passion for the region and his chosen profession collide as he outlines hopes of basing a future film project locally.
“I’d love to make a Geelong born-and-bred film for the international market. There are a lot of talented actors in Geelong, fantastic locations, and it’s all so accessible.
“It would be great to bring the film industry down here through the support of the local community, help put Geelong on the map.
“It’s a long-term journey and there are lots of baby steps along the way.”
Although already scoping his next project, Dolen is busy promoting John Doe: Vigilante, in a limited national cinema release next week.
The film garnered a 20- screen American release earlier this year, a “huge accomplishment” considering the difficulty Australian films having cracking the US market.
The independently-financed feature stars Battlestar Galactica’s Jamie Bamber and AACTA winner Lachy Hulme of Power Games, Offspring and Killer Elite fame.
Critiqued as the best Australian film since Romper Stomper, it broaches the “prickly” subject of taking the law into one’s own hands.
“The original concept started bubbling around in my mind after the Port Arthur massacre as I saw the reaction to this ordinary guy who became a mass killer,” Dolen said.
“The film is the result of what happens when you take all emotion out and are left with nothing but logic.”
The polarising film tells the story of John Doe, a man accused of being a brutal vigilante serial killer – but only of repeat offenders who “deserved to die”.
As his trial verdict approaches, an investigative journalist probes the accused to discover the motive and reasoning behind his actions as a vigilante group called Speak for the Dead emerges in support of John Doe’s cause.
The film chronicles the intense social debate about justice versus vengeance.
Away from the set, though, Dolen stays locally involved in film as an acting teacher at Moore Grace Studios and as a movie reviewer for Bay FM.
