Credits
Produced and Directed by: Cherine Fahd
Starring: Phil Lombardo
Editing & technical assistance: Greg Lowe
Location assistance: Matthew Fahd & Todd Robinson
Thanks: Matraville Primary School
SBS Independent: Commissioning Editor: Glenys Rowe
ACMI: Executive Producer: Clare Stewart
ACMI: Production Manager: Philippa Campey
© Cherine Fahd
ARTV: produced with the assistance of ACMI and SBS Independent
Synopsis
Cherine Fahd's loving and gently funny video portrait of Phil Lombardo, a young man obsessed with Michael Jackson, continues her visual investigation into the politics of personal identity.
Biography - Cherine Fahd
Born 1974, lives and works in Sydney.
Fahd has a Master of Fine Arts from the University of New South Wales. Her primary practice is photography and she has been a recipient of the New Works Grant from the Australia Council's Visual Arts & Craft Board. She has held solo exhibitions at the Gitte Weiss Gallery in Sydney (A Woman Runs, 2003; Idea of Sphere, 2002) and selected group exhibitions including The Corniche Project for the Lebanese Association for the Plastic Arts in Beirut, Lebanon, 1999.
She is represented by the Gitte Weiss Gallery, Sydney.
Artist Statement - Cherine Fahd
'A 30-Second Portrait, Starring Phil Lombardo provides a brief occasion for an earnest 16-year-old to express something about himself, something he sees as being unique and idiosyncratic to him. He idolises Michael Jackson (aka MJ) and diligently practises MJ's dance moves, mannerisms, and style. For his portrait he performs parts of MJ's songs to the sound of his own beat. Like a short documentary, the project's interest lies in the recording of details that are central to Phil's experience of himself. This 30-second portrait gives Phil the opportunity to fulfil what is a human yearning - to have one's talents seen, recognised and celebrated.' | 
