Stoking the fire

My name is Richard Leigh. I’m a film-loving teacher, and an education-loving filmmaker who founded the
Campfire Film Foundation. Campfire started as a hobby in 2006, and in 2011 it became a public not-for-profit company. There’s more about Campfire on the site, and how that got started in a 4-part blog post.

“STOKING THE FIRE”

…is actually the result of the official Campfire blog splitting in two. I really wanted to combine all the posts of our blog into one, but after much thought, I’ve settled on running two blogs separately - one for FILMMAKERS and one for TEACHERS.

Although I’m a documentary filmmaking graduate of the Victorian College of the Arts, I’m by no means a veteran documentary filmmaker. However, I often get feedback that many of my ideas are useful. I hope they are for you too.

I’m one of those “life-long learners” who believes that education and insight into any area of expertise can come from anywhere. I collect interesting bits and pieces in seagull-like fashion, and draw on life experiences like

• my Grad.Dip.FIlm&TV from VCA and subsequent freelance work on ABC and SBS docos
• my 8 years as the Senior Producer at VEA,
• 4 years as the Editor / Producer at Image Control
• my qualification and work as a secondary teacher of science and media
• a year of slow solo travel through S.E.Asia,
• love of photography,
• having kids, and now
• spending much of my week meeting teachers, heads of departments, Vice Principals and Principals in secondary schools, not mention
• keeping good company in the film & TV industry, and of course
• the supportive exchanges with Campfire’s Tracy Bell, the Campfire board, partners & mentors and my wonderful family.

I’m always ready to be corrected or better-informed, and if not, please let me know!

The Campfire Film Foundation is here to help, and behind the glossy website, we hope you’ll find this blog an informative, relaxed place to share ideas about connecting with educational audiences.

I hope you’ll discover that finding places to engage and inspire young audiences with your art is one of the most exciting place to be. 

We’d love to hear from you. Feel free to get in touch direct: richard [at] campfire.org.au or use our contact form which ends up at the same place anyway :)