WHO IS PETER MILLARD
Who is Peter Millard?
“Good question. A question that could make a person go mad. But i’ll try my best. He’s a English man that has floated around on the earth for 32 years often lost in his own thoughts and luckily found something that he has a huge passion for. He’s never really made any money doing said passion but continued doing it in any spare time he had whilst working other jobs because he really enjoyed it and in turn has sent him to some very interesting places over the last 12 years. To his surprise several people have wanted to show his work at film festivals, galleries and even weddings which he still struggles to comprehend but he’s very happy about it and grateful to the people that have shown his work. He likes to think he will continue doing said passion till the day he dies, this will probably not be in the same format as now but as long as he’s making stuff that puts a smile on his face and that he has enough money to live, life will be ok. Now I will stop writing about myself in third person as i’m now not sure what’s going on.”
What inspires/motivates you?
“A big motivation for me has always been seeing artists making work or doing things slightly differently that’s clearly very personal to them but is very playful at the same time, people like Bruce Bickford, Daniel Johnston, Mark Gonzales, William Hawkins. This list could go on forever. But yes these are generally people I find myself gravitating towards and like to remind myself of that give me that extra push and encouragement that I need sometimes to keep going.
As I said in the previous question much to my surprise some of my animated short films ended up being quite successful on the film festival circuits and gave me the chance to travel all over the world and feel part of a community of other filmmakers all making short films, makes you feel good that there are others doing a similar thing which helps you not feel so lonely in the world and that there is an audience for what your doing.”
In your film “cumcumcumcumcum everybody”, it seems that you have chosen to talk about hidden identities one might carry and be ashamed of. Why did you choose to talk about it in your work?
“I’m not sure ‘identities’ is the right word, but definitely things that people feel shameful to talk about when they shouldn’t. To put a huge broad umbrella over that initial statement though I think this is more a problem with the society we live in.
It’s something I get annoyed about the older I get. In terms of this film it was whilst I was living in Montreal I noticed a few adult cinemas around where predominantly guys would go, watch porn and masterbate together. It’s something I thought didn’t really exist anymore in the real world and was something that just happens online. I started thinking, when I’m older, very likely single and not getting much sexual joy...I’d be fully down for going to something like that. I started bringing it up to a few people and was surprised by the reactions of a few that I found very defensive, homophobic and aggressive, which reminded me of how kids are like when they are young teenagers when talking about this stuff. The topics would then broaden into things like what porn do you watch? What have you done with girls and guys? Have you done things with both at the same time? Etc etc etc and again the same reactions. So it’s actually a huge topic of a number of sexual things that is maybe too big for me to fully discuss with this question. But saying that I was surprised still by how so many people still don’t feel comfortable freely talk about this stuff.
Maybe it shouldn’t annoy me these reactions as much as they do as I realise people have very strong views when it comes to sex that stem from there upbringing, confidence or religion etc. But surely everyone realises that everyone has their kinks. Everyone gets horny. Why do so many people have to be so horrible/angry about people that want to explore fun sexual adventures? As long as there not hurting anyone or doing anything illegal what’s the problem? If your not into it fine, but surely you don’t need to be so aggressive about it and scared to talk about it incase someone might think your gay or weird or a SEX MANIAC. Again I realise it’s very complex but it’s something I’ve thought about a lot and really wanted to make a film based on these thoughts that was done in a playful way that could be enjoyed by all horny sex loving people.”