WA talent in frame
He's worked alongside film royalty including Baz Luhrmann and Nicole Kidman, and now Joondanna photographer Justin Griffiths is about to find a huge audience of his own.
Well regarded locally for his collaborations with designers and models, Griffiths will be thrust into the national spotlight thanks to the Virgin Australia Melbourne Fashion Festival.
Two of the 37-year-old's short films - Wild West and Convict - will be seen by millions on screens in Melbourne and across the country this month as part of the festival's Fashion Film Series.
Griffiths, who is represented by Vivien's Creative, told AAA Weekend he was "stoked" to have been given such a great opportunity.
"For any creative the ultimate goal is to get your work out there and, especially these days, it's hard to have a big voice and be seen because there's so much content out there," he explained.
"It's great to find a much larger audience than what you could normally get."
After cutting his teeth on the east coast working on films including The Great Gatsby and Australia, Griffiths returned to Perth, where he fell in love with WA's creative talent.
This comes to the fore in Wild West, which features Vivien's models and ballerinas Simone Kerr and Bridget Flint, who can be seen leaping gracefully towards the blue sky above Lancelin's sand dunes, wearing designs by Aurelio Costarella, Morrison and Flannel.
"Everything in Wild West is WA-based, from the models to the designers who were featured," Griffiths said.
"Those girls (Simone and Bridget) are beautiful models alone but to have them both be accomplished ballet dancers is an amazing skill. I couldn't have done the film without them because there was no rehearsal; I just had to hope they could do something on the day."
