Aussie expats plan Mad Max marathon for wildfire relief at Vancouver's Rio Theatre
Credit to Author: Harrison Mooney| Date: Fri, 10 Jan 2020 00:58:17 +0000
A group of Aussie expats are throwing a Mad Max marathon at the Rio Theatre to help fight the fires back home.
The day-long event at east Vancouver’s historic indie cinema, planned for later this month, will screen all four films in George Miller’s beloved and bizarre action franchise, in addition to other entertainment, raffles and special guest appearances.
The benefit, which aims to raise $20,000 to send Down Under, is organized by actors Rhona Rees and Pauline Egan and event planner Tee Haynes — three Australians living and working in Vancouver.
“Although most of my friends and family are safe and out of the direct line of fire, so to speak, it’s a strange sense of despair and helplessness that comes with being an ex-pat and reading about your home country from afar,” said Rees.
“It’s really strange. So I decided to try and direct that hopeless energy into something positive and made some inquiries at the Rio Theatre about putting on a movie marathon.”
It turned out she wasn’t alone.
“To my delight, a gentleman named Tee Haynes had already reached out to get the ball rolling,” she said. “We have joined forces. We’ve got a little army of Aussie expats helping us, running around and getting donations and spreading the word.”
Haynes was a step ahead. He had already arranged with Warner Bros. to get the movies at a discounted price, allowing the Rio to raise funds through ticket sales rather than simply trying to recoup screening costs.
A still from Mad Max: Fury Road.
Rees and Egan, meanwhile, are drawing on their film-industry connections to plan some fun surprises for guests.
“I’ve got my people back in Oz,” she said. “I’ve got some of the original cast members of Mad Max sending us video messages, which is going to be really fun.”
Why Mad Max? The dystopian franchise is thoroughly Australian, with each of the four films written and directed by Australian George Miller and filmed around the continent. There’s no denying its appeal — the most recent entry was one of the best movies of the last decade — and there’s no denying the sudden relevance of its bleak, arid, post-apocalyptic vision.
“A lot of people love Mad Max,” said Rees. “And in a kind of sad way, it echoes where we could be going with the climate change and the scale of devastation that these fires are causing.”
“Australia is a land that is used to fire. We have entire species of trees that need fire in order to regenerate,” she said. “Usually when you read the news it’s that a bushfire will be contained when it reaches this road, or once it reaches a mountain ridge, it’ll stop. But these fires cannot be stopped and it is just so terrifying.”
If they can’t fight the fires, Rees explained, they can at least fight the homesickness and helplessness Australians in Vancouver are feeling as they watch the devastation from afar.
“We’re planning a really big, fun, high-energy day, because, again, when these disasters happen, the tendency is to despair,” said Rees. “So if we can raise funds, not just by clicking on a link and giving our credit card but by bringing people together and celebrating, and doing something positive and fun, then we’re succeeding, in my opinion.”
The Mad Max-athon for Australian Fire Relief goes Saturday, Jan. 25, at the Rio Theatre.
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