2024 Monash Youth Film Festival Best Film – ‘Heavy Metal’

Published on 12 November 2024

The 2024 Monash Youth Film Festival was a great success.  This year, the winner of Best Film was Jack Morrow from Mount Waverley, who won with his poignant and visually stunning documentary, ‘Heavy Metal’. This film is a portrait of metal sculptor artist Tim Read and tells a personal story of his mental health journey through his most meaningful sculpture he has ever created.   

Knowing that men’s mental health is often overlooked, Jack shared a few thoughts with the broader community about the importance of promoting help-seeking for men and boys. If you are also inspired by his film, you can follow Jack’s Instagram @jackmorrowau or check his website.

Congratulations on your win! How does it feel to receive the Best Film Award at the Monash Youth Film Festival?

Thank you so much! It was a fantastic night attending the Monash Film Festival to network, watch and celebrate the films created by amazing young local filmmakers. It was quite surreal seeing our film ‘Heavy Metal’ up on the big screen and it was an exciting night to have friends and family there. Walking away with the Best Film Award was very humbling and the team and I were ecstatic. The most rewarding part of the evening was when an audience member came up to me and told me how Tim’s mental health journey and the depiction of mental health resonated with them. When people resonate with the stories you tell, that is the biggest compliment as a filmmaker.

Can you tell us a bit about the inspiration behind your film? What motivated you to create this story?

When I first connected with Tim and visited his Sanctuary in the Bend of Islands, it’s not hard to be blown away by his incredible metal sculptures. Tim uses reclaimed steel to create pieces of artwork inspired by nature and the scrap metal he finds. These range from giant insects and bird baths to sky gardens. Whilst his artwork is incredible, creating a documentary on Tim hadn’t crossed my mind at this point.

After a conversation with Tim, I learnt that he had been on a significant mental health journey to get to where he is. Years ago, Tim found himself at a point where he was suffering from depression and suicidal thoughts. On the surface, you would think he had it all, with his close and supportive family and a successful business. Whilst going through many treatment phases, Tim started welding pieces of metal together and created little pieces of artwork. He found that creating art really helped with his mental health. He left his other business behind and started a new business initiative and continues to create pieces of art to this day.

Being a man, I understand how hard it can be to speak up when things aren’t going right. Having people close to me that live with depression and anxiety, I know having something as simple as a conversation can change someone's life. I began to feel that I not only wanted to tell Tim’s story, but there was also a responsibility to tell his story.
 
How did you assemble your team, and what was it like working with them? (We are particularly interested in how you got Tim Read on board to share his story)

Having been inspired by his emotional story and artwork, Tim and I discussed the idea of creating the documentary and we agreed that the best way to tell it was for him to create a piece of artwork that reflects the mental health journey he continues to be on. This is the piece we follow Tim creating throughout the film.

I recently invested in new camera equipment, and I wanted to have a shot at creating a documentary on my own. With only a camera, microphone and tripod, I set out a big task to create this documentary to tell Tim’s story. We shot the film over two and a half days at his property with the help of his family to assist with some scenes.

Going into shooting the film I had a contrast I wanted to capture. Every time we were in the workshop I wanted to utilize handheld and busy camera work with the visuals and sound of metal crunching, sparks flying and the roughness of the workshop, to imply the harsh treatments that Tim went through. Once we step out of the workshop, we contrast this with steady camera work to amplify the beauty and calm that is the Bend of Islands and how connected Tim is with nature.

What message or themes do you hope audiences take away from your film?

I was really fascinated by the process that Tim went through to create his artwork. From seeing a piece of scrap metal lying on the ground, he can give it a whole new life. This is true for both metal and people. This has been Tim’s philosophy from the beginning of starting Tread Sculptures; “something or someone’s past doesn’t define their or its future.”  It was clear from the start that Tim and I wanted to talk about the tough themes surrounding mental health and that the goal of the film is to just start the conversation, it could change someone's life.  

When talking with Tim and understanding his journey, it’s evident that it is easy to feel alone when you’re in a negative space and that you can forget that people want to help you. That is why we put this message at the end of the film; “For anyone struggling, there is help all around you. Talk to family, friends, colleagues, mental health professionals. People want to help you.”

That’s why it’s important that for this International Men’s Day it’s important to check in on your mates and ask if they are okay. You could also consider sharing the film ’Heavy Metal’ and it may help start that conversation too.