Where do I begin. My friend, my co-creator, my partner in crime, has gone. I still can’t believe it. I have gone through so many emotions - shock, disbelief, denial, sadness, rage and now have finally arrived at a kind of grudging acceptance. But I will never get over it. Peter was one of my best friends, and he was also the co-parent of our film, Stolen Life. I feel like a widow left holding the child who no longer has a father.
The only comfort in all of this loss is the realisation of how much Peter was loved and respected. He himself would have been amazed by the beautiful tributes that have come from far and wide. I wish he could read them all - it would have meant so much to him. In so much of his life he felt misunderstood and unappreciated. But he wasn’t, not at all. He has left us all a great legacy.
For those who couldn’t attend the funeral - here is the speech I gave. I hope it helps those who weren’t there get a sense of the day - it was a simple but heartfelt service, and our wonderful composer, Phillip Johnston, played the music from Stolen Life and it was so beautiful and so very moving.
“My name is Jackie Turnure and I’m really pleased to have the opportunity to say a few words. I met Peter in 1998 when Rob Connelly invited me along to a regular Wed night Peter ran at the Beach Road Hotel in Bondi. Sometimes it was a large group, more often 3 or 4 but Peter was always there, and him and I hit it off right away. We talked about films but also other things - philosophy, sci-fi, gaming, new technology, what Phillip Adams talked about on his radio show, pretty much anything that was interesting to us at the time.
We soon began working on each other’s projects - script editing each other’s work, getting together to swap ideas and whine about funding bodies. Frustrated with constantly being knocked back and wanting to as he said “get on with it”, Peter started experimenting with computer game engines, creating 3D animations in a process called machinima.
Peter initially asked me to script edit “Stolen Life” but after I read it I fell in love with not just the story but what Peter was trying to do. It was the start of a 3 year journey - with many highs and lows but ultimately the satisfaction of knowing we had done it. In interviews since then Peter and I often joked about how we had developed one brain - we would finish each others’ sentences. I would think it and he would say it, and vice versa.
Making “Stolen Life” with Peter was honestly the best creative collaboration I have ever had. And it went beyond the film - Peter and I had so many long conversations where one of us was feeling down, losing faith or confidence and we would pep each other up.
But let’s be honest here - Peter was not a saint. He could be bloody stubborn and prickly at times - he drank way too much coffee and had a weakness for a good red. He also had a blind spot - and I use the pun intentionally. As many of you know, Peter had a degenerative eye disease and only had his peripheral vision. He was adament that only a few people knew - he didn’t want pity and his greatest fear was that he’d be known as some kind of freak - ”the blind filmmaker”.
But he was seriously debilitated by it and our only real fights were when he felt I was patronising him about his eyesight. But it was astonishing what he achieved in spite of it. He taught himself a complex 3D animation software, maya, and modelled and animated a feature film on his own. He was so determined - nothing was going to stop him.
And I guess that is what I find so hard to accept about his death - that after years of tenacity and energy and drive - he chose to walk away from us and his projects. But in a weird kind of way it also makes sense. Peter had very high standards, he was a proud man and lived life on his own terms. And he obviously wanted to leave life on his own terms as well.
I am so proud of Peter and what he was able to achieve. I wish he didn’t have to go and I’m going to miss him terribly. But my life is so much the richer for having been his friend, and I thank him for that.
Part of Peter’s legacy to us is his body of work, including the beautiful music composed for “Stolen Life” by Phillip Johnston - who will play a piece from it now.”
