Girls (and boys) on film

OK so as already mentioned, the Cycle 6 launch of Australia’s Next Top Model is tonight at 7.30pm on Fox 8. In what is shaping up to be a jam-packed model doco/film fortnight, 7.00pm tonight also sees a Sydney screening of the 2009 film Tiger, from the Sydney Beaufort collective that is (also as previously reported) headed up by Sydney actor/producer/comedian James McFay. Check the Facebook page for details - or watch this live stream, above. The film, a love story about two models in Tokyo, has had a number of screenings already, including one in LA, with a DVD launch in Sydney in March. This time it's being presented in collaboration with Anina Trepte’s 360 Fashion network. Then on the 23rd and 28th of July, the Melbourne International Film Festival will present two screenings of Picture Me (trailer below), made by model Sara Ziff and her partner Ole Schell.




Filmed on the road over five years, while Ziff was working the world’s runways, Picture Me takes a hard look at the modelling business – or as hard a look as you can without actually naming any names.

Launched last year - before the Terry Richardson controversy - the film recounts many troubling anecdotes about the modelling business.

Model Sena Cech reports that during one casting session she was asked by the photographer to undress and grab his genitals.

Another story, which was cut from the film prior to its release at the request of the model in question, concerns the alleged sexual assault of a 16 year-old by one of the world’s “top” photographers.

Check the Festival's website for details.

Eye of the Tiger: Melise Williams rocks Nicola Finetti's lookbook

Melise Williams is definitely on frockwriter’s Ones 2 Watch list. We first spotted her in November 2008 in a student fashion show in Sydney when she was just 15. Clocked her February 2010 cover of NZ’s Metro magazine. And bumped into her at last month's Rosemount Australian Fashion Week – noting that she recently jumped ship from the Platform agency to Chic Management. Sadly Williams only did three RAFW shows - Gary Bigeni, Camilla and Therese Rawsthorne. Nicola Finetti was not one of them, however she did just score Finetti’s Spring/Summer 2010/2011 lookbook. Click here to see frockwriter’s preview of the lookbook on Posterous. Sixteen year-old Williams was also included in a series of promotional video interviews that were recently shot in Sydney to coincide with the launch of a new film called Tiger, a fictional story about models working in Tokyo.

Here's the trailer:



The film was produced by the Beaufort collective – which is fronted by the enigmatic, multitasking Sydney actor/producer/comedian and erstwhile model James McFay.

Also known as James Maclurcan, he is apparently best-known for playing Mackenzie 'Mack' Hartford, the Red Ranger, in Power Rangers: Operation Overdrive and was once part of a comedy group called The Nice Guys.

What does Williams have to do with Tiger or McFay/Maclurcan?

Absolutely no idea. But here she is: