Meet the Director

DIRECTOR –
MARK HOUGHTON

Mark has spent a quarter of his life living and working overseas. Regardless of the job he is employed in, he will usually find a way to create a project to be filmed or photographed. His first major project was a documentary/road trip filmed while participating in a charity bike ride through Vietnam for ‘Cycle Against Poverty’ in 1995. The resulting documentary was screened as part of a touring art and cultural exhibition and

Mark’s involvement with tourism also provided ample opportunities to get behind a camera. A collection of travel related photography has appeared in a variety of brochures and magazines. For Intrepid Travel, Mark produced a series of promotional videos shot in Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Japan and once again found his footage broadcast, this time on Australian television.

Long-time friend and fellow travel enthusiast Di O’Rorke initiated the rhumline project. Di has been an enthusiastic supporter and assistant to Mark on many of his previous projects. It was only natural that this special working chemistry would bring the two together again to continue this successful travel/film collaboration.

Mark’s most recent production, rhumline, has been 6 years in the making. Like any project, the more challenging it is, the more rewarding the outcome. After years of tackling projects in foreign countries and dealing with bureaucracy in languages not understood, Mark has recently opted to dabble in what he thought was a much simpler endeavour – a short film festival in his home city, Melbourne and in his own language. However the conditions were that the film must be conceptualised, shot, edited and submitted all within a 15-hour time frame.

This proved to be just as challenging so Mark has now returned to the drawing board and to what he knows best and is now planning his next overseas project, once again in collaboration with Di, “Rhumline 2 - Source To Sea”. At this stage it will be a journey that follows the Mekong River from its source, high up on the Tibetan plateau down through China, Burma Thailand, Laos, Cambodia and out through Vietnam to the South China Sea.

FILMOGRAPHY

1995 CYCLE AGAINST POVERTY
Documentary - Producer/director/cinematography/editor
(Charity bike ride through Vietnam in association with Vietnam Women’s Union and UNICEF).

1999 Promotional videos for INTREPID TRAVEL
(Thailand, Laos, Vietnam and Japan).
Director/cinematography/editor

2005 MACBETH (student project)
Cinematography/editor

2006 HOME OFFICE (15/15 Film Festival)
Cinematography/editor

2006 RHUMLINE
Documentary/road trip
Producer/director/cinematography/editor