Here there, then home

I guess this is me taking a moment to reflect before leaving Heathrow bound for Tokyo. Either that or Hennie getting me to pose on the old school lounge chairs in the eerily quiet departure lounge.

It has been a busy few weeks. Japan was fantastic as usual, my heart sings there. I really love the way I can discover more and more with every trip. We are back in M Town now, have found a new house and moved in. We had a great time at Marcus and Mieko's Melbourne wedding and were lucky to see them in Tokyo over New Year too. This blog is always out of order anyhoo!


Kamakura trip with Marcus and Henrik. Oh for anyone plannning a trip to Japan DO IT!!!!! Winter is lovely, the sun shone daily, rain only once and the temp was around 10, very manageble post UK/Sweden chill.


In Tokyo enjoying ridiculously yummy drinks and my new favourite skirt.

Hennie Johansson at the Park Hyatt hotel. Gorgeous!

We saw Axe Riverboy live on our last night in Tokyo. He is so super, plus he loves my work and would like me to make a video for Tahiti 80 his band so, yeah, pretty thrilled by this! Tahiti 80 are French and rival artists like Justin Timberlake etc for top chart positions in Japan and Korea. I really love Xaviers voice. I always sing Tahiti 80 songs at karaoke so it was an apt place to see him live. The Japanese crowds are so different, so polite and quiet!

Here is Xavier looking Mario Bros-esque. He wrote me and told me he finds it hard to say my name in 'english' which is what the other Frenchies in France told me! They say 'Shen-fief.' One guy said to me, 'you know you say your name wrong.' Twas funny!

We enjoyed meeting lots of well dressed poochies in Tokyo, such as this little guy in overalls and a yellow tee. I am well obsessed with yellow these days! Minute later he flipped and nearly bit off my face. Good luck I have experience with lunging nose biters.


Back home, in the Edinburgh gardens appreciating the nature and weather!

God Jul!

I hope you had a lovely Christmas. I experienced my first Winter Christmas with the Nordstroms! Lots of warmth, and yummy food. We are packing right now, we leave for Tokyo tomorrow very very early! Happy New Year, hope you have a safe and happy time!

Bye Bye London!

My final week in London was cut short due to some hospital time, so unfortunately it wasn't filled with a few of the things I had hoped for, but hey... I did manage to say bye to a lot of nicies. I will miss friends more so than London as a city, because London isn't going anywhere anyhow...
Tomo !
Angela and I squeezed in a last minute date on my 2nd last day. She lives in Hampton just out of London, and she is very cute.
Clare P! We went to Primary School together! Fun to catch up with her.

This is Amy. Hoping that some day we live in the same city again, as we really really clicked, and I would like an extra large serving of Amy time. We met at BritDoc festival in Oxford in July, and shared a hotel room in Sheffield together at the Doc Fest. I am really glad I went to both these festivals, and Edinburgh. I met great filmmakers, saw great films.
I am clearly a dog person but Duncan was a pretty cool cat. We asked him about what films he had seen and he looked a bit confused... At film festivals everyone kinda asks people for their tips etc, so it was kinda weird he looked so confused... Before he could start rattling off ET and Titanic etc, I stopped to check to see if he knew where he was. Turns out he didn't know it was a film festival party, he was a local construction worker from Sheffield out for a good time. Quite funny really!I won't miss the British chips? For a Country known for their chips I didn't understand why they were so average? We didn't actually buy anything here I just wanted to photograph Amy!

She has been living in London for a few years, she is from Capetown South Africa so I like her voice, as it reminds me of Gavi and Alon! I really like her laugh, hence me trying to hear it a few more times before leaving!
Here are some photos from my flat in Stoke Newington.
HOW CUTE IS JO!???
Not happy about leaving this cutie behind, but I hope she will come to Melbourne soon!

My flatmate Janine!
I will miss the views, but I will NOT miss the weather!
Tomo and Bec! We went to a bar and they played Hippy Chick by Soho, haven't heard that one in years! It's got a good beat. Good luck work wise for both you little poppets! Bec and I worked out we both love the same Boston Terrier from Smith st Melbourne! I know that's a random comment, but for me, anything BT related is not random, but heart warming. Speaking of, I was so grateful that Bec and Tomo visited me in hospital on day 3 and brought me toothbrush, toothpaste, lip balm etc! VERY MUCH APPRECIATED!
Claire, who I will see in the sunshine in a few months!
Miss Annie amazed everyone with her amazing ability to budget in an expensive city like London. She should write a book and make some money explaining how she saves it in London!


It was pretty hard to say bye to Billy and his family. I have seen a lot of similarities between Billy and I, so we decided to see what he would look like with Gen locks. NB - Billy does not take his finger off the mouse as he constantly re-loads the cartoon he doesn't want me missing the first few seconds of while posing for the camera.Tina, Gary, Billy and Frankie!
With Billy I know we will keep in touch, because as he says 'Dude I'm on You Tube!' They are eagerly awaiting Meet Billy Pt 2, which I will upload to Youtube as soon as I can!


Billy had a lot of love to give, I got lots of hugs and kisses and I Will Mis Yous and I Love Yous, and lots of other things I won't write about here! I am really glad I met Billy and can't wait to share his charms with the world through Eleven! It is going to be a massive task, as I have footage of kids from all over the world over 2 years, and a lot is not in English! But I can't wait to get stuck in to it, and where better a place to edit than Melbourne.

Behind the 8 ball

SO... I am quite behind... and will catch up soon...

After blogging about Morocco I fell very ill, and spent my last week in London in hospital... Not recommended. I managed to pick up though, out of sheer desperation to get out of that hospital bed and shoot Billy! It was hard saying bye to Billy and his family. I've promised him I will post Meet Billy pt 2 on Youtube soon. I also wanted to farewell lots of my mates, so that was good to squeeze in at the end of the week. I am now in SWEDEN for Christmas! Will post some pics from London and here soon. God Jul, Merry Christmas, and keep healthy!

Out in Africa! Pt 1

MOROC pt 1

Hello from Moroc,

I have been having a good time here, and have many tales to tell:: But for now I must head back to the guesthouse pack and sleep. Tomorrow I head north to Marrakech in a taxi via the Tiz n Test pass which they say has hairpin roads through the mountains.

Given my car history, its fair to say I am a LITTLE bit scared as everyone refers to this track as v dangerous, but hey everyone says that about travelling alone as a women here and I have been fine really.

I am liking wearing traditional dress, even thought tonight I am in a mans jellabah. Guys were trying to talk to me and make conversation late one night. They were coming from behind and speaking english so I had NO IDEA how they knew I wasnt local... then someone back at the guesthouse pointed out, WELL, you are wearing a mans jellabah, and perhaps those trainers give you away. The ladies here dont wear nike waffles style shoes, but I wouldnt be caught dead without these babies. But thats another story.

Photos soon, back to London for a week from Wednesday. I only wish I had pics from the Hammam:: = pubic bath. That was ACE. I am super clean.

Almost in Morocco

Well the last couple of days have been stressful to say the least... but after many phone calls emails and much finger crossing I am off to Morocco in a few hours. I am going with Boris, a Spanish guy I have never met, but he will be at my flat at about 2am so I better start packing!
Stay tuned, this adventure has only just begun!

:) Ay ay ay.

We Are Together

I had a good time at Sheffield Doc Fest a couple of weeks ago. It was about a 2.5 hour train ride from London. The highlight was seeing We Are Together, am amazing film. Check out their website www.wearetogether.org
You can read about the film on the site.
http://cdbaby.com/cd/childrenofagape/from/simunyeproject
If you click here you can listen to my fave song from the film, sung by am amazing 7 year old, who is now approaching 11, if you get my drift! I now have my heart set on going to South Africa to meet Mbali. Her song is number 2, Pigogo, you can only hear a sample but her spirit comes blasting out of the speakers! I love it! Going to buy the CD now.

Happy Day is also very cool, but even more fun when you see the kids singing it in the studio. Such amazing faces and voices! I want a copy of the film to watch over and over. Now thats the sign of a great film! Its also extremely sad. It is such an important film, and I hope it gets released widely in Australia.

Theatrical Trailer

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Theatrical Trailer for Billy the Kid

Billy the Kid, one of my fave films of the year is being released theatrically in the US, which is a big deal for a doco so fingers crossed thousands of people flock to the cinemas! It really is an awesome film. Here are two trailers for it. Well done Chiemi, Jen and Billy!

BILLY THE KID - TRAILER

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It has been great to be based over here and see so many awesome films at festivals. Meeting the filmmakers and quizzing them about their processes has been really insightful indeed! I have learnt a lot about doco making, and hope to continue to put all these new skills in to practise.