Richard Wolstencroft's Freedom Ride

Hi Richard.

I’ve recently learnt that you’re back in charge as director of the Melbourne Underground Film Festival, reversing last November’s resignation. I’m actually glad this has happened, because it gives us all an opportunity to address some issues surrounding your management of MUFF over the years.

In November a great many people publicly expressed dismay and disgust regarding not only your apparent homophobia, but also your neo-fascist political views, your filmmaking ability, and your personal character generally. A number also raised concerns that MUFF is poorly organised, and that your personal use of the festival’s resources may be excessive and inappropriate.

I would like to focus on these last two points, and would appreciate it if you could answer the following questions on the public record. I’m sure you would agree that free speech makes a more fruitful contribution to public discourse if it is well-informed on all sides.

Available information shows that MUFF is registered as a not-for-profit incorporated association. Is this information correct? If not, what is the organisational structure of MUFF?

Who are the other office holders in MUFF, and what positions do they hold?

How many fee-paying entries for the feature film (MUFF Neu) and short film (MiniMUFF) categories were submitted for the 2017 festival?

How many paying patrons attended MUFF in 2017?

How much money from MUFF’s revenue in 2016 and 2017 was used for running the 2017 festival? What is that as a percentage of revenue? Is this similar to previous years?

How much were you paid as director of MUFF in 2017? What was that as a percentage of MUFF’s revenue? Was this similar to the amount paid to you in previous years?

You have stated on a number of occasions that MUFF is also a film production entity. How much money from MUFF’s revenue in 2016 and 2017 has been used for film production purposes? What is that as a percentage of revenue? Is this similar to previous years?

Have any filmmakers other than yourself ever obtained funds from MUFF for filmmaking purposes?

Does MUFF have any outstanding creditors?

I’m sure you will have no difficulty answering these questions, and I look forward to your timely response. This letter also appears as a public post on my Facebook page, and on the blog Richard Wolstencroft’s Freedom Ride.

Regards,

Shane Lyons

The following screenshots from Richard Wolstencroft's Facebook account were taken in 2009 and 2010. They won't be a surprise to people with access to his Facebook now, in fact he's probably written much worse things since then. I'm putting them back up mainly for people with no Facebook access and who aren't already familiar with the dark, twisted & irritable bowels of this idiot's mind.

Up until this time Wolstencroft had avoided making explicit racist and antisemitic comments in his public writing. He considered Facebook to be at least semi-private, with around 1,300 "friends" at the time. On his blog, in the Melbourne Underground Film Festival program notes, and elsewhere he had been ranting for years about "transcendental fascism" and it was obvious to anyone looking below the surface that he wasn't just being a stirrer and a "cheeky" provocateur.

These are in no particular order.

(Note: the screenshots have been restored from the 2010/11 website. My intro and comments are new)

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On Customs and the Chinese

In Facebook's olden days lists of favourites would appear in whatever order you typed them out, which could potentially reveal the stream of consciousness you were suffering at the time: Alfred Rosenberg, Arthur De Gobineau, Houston Stewart Chamberlain