What's going on?!

Last week I was ejected from the 72hourmovie Facebook page and blocked from viewing it by the other admins. Naturally I'm gutted because I feel as if I played a big part in developing the group in the first place, and to be ejected is petulant.

A disagreement has arisen between the team over the documentary for the 72 project, "I've Got This Idea For A Film". This disagreement led to the film being pulled from the Galway Film Fleadh in July 2011 despite being selected in the programme. This was a huge disappointment, especially as we were so desperate to get films into festivals 3 years earlier that we were willing to make them in three days!

As far as I'm aware, the disagreement surrounds the fact that James Arneman and Katie Mitchell's documentary doesn't include all of the crew in Melbourne and therefore isn't a fair representation of the 72 process. The documentary isn't by any means negative of the process or by any means derogatory towards what was achieved in Melbourne. Personally I believe it shows us under an incredible amount of stress and emotional pressure and I think it is a fairly objective view of the production, but everyone is welcome to their own opinion.

It is because everyone is welcome to their own opinion that I cannot stand the decision to eject me from the Facebook group and delete evidence of the documentary. For a project which prided itself on transparency it is a shameful low to censor the project in any way. Besides, I continue to promote the films in festivals, including last week in Raindance, and ejecting me is simply denying all those who worked on the project to hear about the project's progress.

I've decided to distance myself from this latest debacle by establishing a website that collates many details about the 72 in one accessible place, and where all details about the project will continue to promoted. It's at www.the72project.org

Hopefully see you there...

James