Eileen’s latest short film was released in November 2021, just in time for her 107th birthday. Inspired by a monumental Moreton Bay Fig in Glebe, Sydney, ‘The God Tree’ is a meditation on nature and art, conceived by Eileen and realised with the help of long-time collaborator Sue Healey, with glorious cinematography by Richard Corfield and music by the legendary Mike Nock.
Read about the making of the film
Eileen writes:
“At the beginning, my vision was of art and nature. An image I had seen, of a painting, quite large, hanging from a tree in a forest in Japan, had inspired me, and brought about the desire to make the film.
“Setting to work with this in mind, I had begun by making drawings of faces. I liked what I had done but went further, cutting the drawings out and backing them with a small stick so they could be held in front of my own face as a kind of mask. The effect of this – the black and white drawings, and a human body wearing a white caftan – was so startling to me that more and more images had appeared – a procession of masks and shapes and figures, against the backdrop of the god tree herself.”
Read more:
Watch the film
Credits
The God Tree
A film by Eileen Kramer and Sue Healey
From the imagination of Eileen Kramer
Performed by Eileen Kramer
with
Shane Carroll
Renata Commisso
Julia Cotton
Anca Frankenhaeuser
Lucy Gold
Allie Graham
Patrick Harding-Irmer
Kei Ikeda
Maria Mercedes
Geoff Weston
Music: Mike Nock
Cinematography: Richard Corfield
Editor: Sue Healey
Masks and costumes: Eileen Kramer
Portrait painting: Juliet Holden
Special thanks: Tobi Wilkinson
Eileen Kramer 