Richard Tuohy (Australia)

Richard Tuohy (b. 1969, Melbourne, Aus.) began making works on super 8 in the late nineteen eighties. After a brief hiatus from cinema (including formal study in philosophy for seven years) he returned to film-making in 2004. Initially working exclusively in Super 8, the next five years saw an extremely productive period with dozens of experiments and works finished in the small gauge.

In 2006 he, along with his partner Dianna Barrie, launched nanolab, a super 8 film processing laboratory based at their home in Daylesford Victoria. The establishment of this lab afforded the opportunity to set up darkrooms and install 16mm film processing and most importantly printing and sound recording equipment.

Since 2009 he has been an active and vocal member of the international artist run film lab scene.

In 2011 Richard and Dianna started the Artist Film Workshop which in 2012 became a membership based artist-run film lab, itself also part of the international labs network. AFW has become the center of experimental film practice on film in Australia, being the focus for regular experimental film screenings, touring artists programs, workshops and supporting numerous artists in their personal film practice. As of the end of 2019, AFW has held more than 150 screening events among other activities. Tuohy's own works are firmly in the 'hand-made' film tradition.

An advocate for the possibilities of hand made cinema, Tuohy has devoted much time and effort in sharing his knowledge through workshops and classes both in his native Australia and internationally (last count was 70 international workshops).His films and film based performances have screened at venues including the Melbourne IFF, EMAF (Osnabruck), Rotterdam IFF, New York FF, Ann Arbor, Recontres Internationales (Louvre) and Media City and he has repeatedly toured Europe, North America, South America and Asia presenting solo programs of his work and conducting experimental film-making workshops.

He is the instigator of the AFW magazine Film Is and, along with Dianna Barrie and Sue K, was also a co-founder of the AIEFF experimental film festival in Melbourne.