Revolving Door started life more than 15 years ago, initially as a conventional, linear narrative video documentary, still on the subject of the 'Revolving Door' syndrome. We first started shooting on the streets of St Kilda (on analogue Beta-Sp with sound recorded independently on a 1/4 inch tape reel-to-reel crystal-synced Nagra, for the geeks out there) in the hot and cicada-filled summer of 1989.

For a variety of reasons, we decided to animate the project - mainly to protect the identities of the participants, as we didn't want to have to 'pixelise' faces or shoot subjects in silhouette to protect their anonymity. Unfortunately, the technology of the day meant such an undertaking would be both hugely expensive and require some serious bits of technology that we didn't have easy or affordable access to.

We continued to shoot material for the next several years (for the geeks once more - this time on DVCAM and miniDV digital formats!), and in 2000 we managed to do a short protoype of the animation approach that we ended up using for the finished product that is now 'Revolving Door', the animated documentary. After having 'Revolving Door' short listed, then ultimately rejected by an Australian Film Commission / ABC Television 'Documentries Online' intitiative, we received a small amount of funding from the Australian Film Commission's 'Strand X' Experimental Digital Production Fund in 2001 that allowed us to cover the cost of most of the materials required for the animation process.

Four years, many litres of ink and more than 14,000 frames later, 'Revolving Door' had its world premiere at CPH:DOX 2006, the Copenhagen International Documentary Film Festival, Denmark, where it was screened in competition for the 'New Visions Award'.

Almost one year later, 'Revolving Door' has screened at over 20 festivals worldwide, including an
Australian national broadcast on SBS Television on March 23, 2008.

'Revolving Door' was awarded the 'Contemporary Investigations Acquisition Prize' at the 16th Videobrasil International Electronic Art Festival in Sao Paulo, Brasil (October 2007)
and the 'HRAFF Jury Prize' at the International Human Rights Arts & Film Festival,
Melbourne, Australia (December 2007)