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in the archive
Documentary production
Approvals 2014-2015

DOCUMENTARY PRODUCTION – PRODUCER PROGRAM
 

CHINA’S DEEP DIVE / RIDING THE OCEAN DRAGON (working title)
50 mins
Sealight Pictures Pty Ltd
Producer
Adam Geiger
Executive Producer Colette Beaudry
Directors Adam Geiger, Rachael Thornton
Synopsis For the very first time, China invites an Australian journalist on a mission that risks national pride, millions of dollars and dozens of lives – including our host’s. Rachael Thornton spends five weeks at sea with the world’s deepest diving three-person sub as it explores the wealth of the deep.

GLENN MURCUTT ARCHITECT
58 mins
Catherine Hunter Productions
Producer
Julia Overton
Director Catherine Hunter
Synopsis Glenn Murcutt Architect explores the life and art of Australia’s most famous living architect. At 79 years, he is tackling the most unusual commission of his career.

MOTORKITE DREAMING
96 mins, 4 x 24 mins
Intafusion Films Pty Ltd
Producer
John Cherry
Executive Producers Marcus Gillezeau, Ruth Cross, Simon Nasht
Director Charlie Hill-Smith
Synopsis Motorkite Dreaming is an extreme cultural adventure following two young Aussie adventurers and their fiancées giving wings to their crazy idea to be the first to fly microlights 5,000 km across Australia, with an award-winning filmmaker trying to keep up!

MOUNTAIN
70 mins
Stranger Than Fiction Films Pty Ltd
Producer
Jo-anne McGowan
Executive Producer Stephen Boyle
Director Jennifer Peedom
Synopsis A feature documentary that takes us on a cinematic and musical odyssey, exploring our complex relationship with mountains. The history of a fascination. In collaboration with Richard Tognetti and the Australian Chamber Orchestra.

SINGING THE COUNTRY
56 mins
Tarpaulin Productions Pty Ltd
Producers
Tom Murray, David Jowsey, Ian Ludwick
Director Tom Murray
Synopsis After more than 100 years in spiritual limbo, two Indigenous warriors are being returned to the rainforest country of their souls – but a century of colonial rule has not been kind to their culture. Can Tom Gertz, their great-grandson, ‘reignite’ the dreaming songs that will lead their spirits safely home?

PSALM 91 (PART 2)
98 mins
The Sheik Film Company
Producers
Katey Grusovin, Janine Hosking
Director Janine Hosking
Synopsis The story of two sisters and the dark secret they share.

ZACH’S CEREMONY
90 mins
Wangala Films Pty Ltd
Producers
Sarah Linton, Alec Doomadgee
Executive Producer Mitzi Goldman
Director Aaron Petersen
Synopsis Zach’s an ordinary Australian kid, struggling with life in the city and the outback. His parents divorced when he was nine and he now lives with his father who insists he reconnects with his Aboriginal roots, to become a man through the ancient rite of initiation. As the pressure of ceremony builds, Zach hits the teenage years with angst and rebellion, and his relationship with his father breaks down. But what’s at the heart of his struggle? Is it the approval of his father, the love of his mother or the freedom to be himself?

BLACK AS
20 x 4 mins
Rebel Films Pty Ltd
Writer/Director/Producer
David Batty
Executive Producer David Noakes
Synopsis Going bush with the Black As crew, a celebration of bush culture, ingenuity and what it is to be a young fella in the bush today.

CAST FROM THE STORM
70 mins
Missing Archive Productions
Producer
James Cogswell
Executive Producer Susan MacKinnon
Director David Mason
Synopsis After desperately fleeing war and persecution, an extraordinary bunch of teenagers are brought together through a life-changing theatre program. At a Sydney high school, under the guidance of three passionate teachers, they share their ‘Storm Stories’ – the stories that made them refugees – in front of Australian audiences.

THE EULOGY
98 mins
iKandy Films
Producer
Katey Grusovin
Director Janine Hosking
Synopsis The Eulogy tells the powerful story of little known concert virtuoso, Geoffrey Tozer, and poses the question – did Australia fail its greatest ever pianist?

LAND ARTISTS
57 mins
Renegade Films Pty Ltd
Producers
Lucy Maclaren, Joe Connor, Ken Connor
Director Paul Goldman
Synopsis The story of the art and philosophy behind one of Australia’s most outstanding (and controversial) architecture firms, Denton Corker Marshall, and their rise to international recognition.

THE LIVING UNIVERSE
90 mins
Essential Media and Entertainment Pty Ltd
Producers
Alan Erson, Christine Le Goff
Executive Producers Chris Hilton, Marcus Gillezeau
Director Richard Smith
Synopsis The next great voyage of human exploration has already begun: the search for life on planets orbiting distant stars. With extraordinary CGI, the world’s most inspiring scientists, via extreme environments on Earth and around the solar system, the film takes viewers aboard the next generation of space ships, across the cosmos and beneath the clouds of the exo-planets to discover The Living Universe.

ON RICHARD’S SIDE
85 mins
Pericles Film Productions Pty Ltd
Producer/Director
Andrew Wiseman
Synopsis Filmed over three decades, this documentary charts the life story of Richard, a young man with severe intellectual disability since birth, and his parents’ quest to carve out a quality life for their son and a fulfilling life for themselves.

SECRETS OF THE STONE AGE
2 x 52 mins
Electric Pictures Pty Ltd
Producer
Andrew Ogilvie
Director Steve Westh
Synopsis Spectacular reconstructions of life in the Stone Age draw audiences into the exciting story of how surprising fossil discoveries across Asia are now challenging our understanding of human evolution.

WHITELEY
90 mins
Northern Pictures
Producer
Sue Clothier
Director James Bogle
Writers Victor Gentile, James Bogle
Synopsis Whiteley is a portrait that looks intimately at the artist Brett Whiteley’s incredible life and legacy.

NATIONAL DOCUMENTARY PROGRAM
 

THE GREAT AUSTRALIAN EDUCATION EXPERIMENT
4 x 60 mins
Cordell Jigsaw Productions Pty Ltd
Producers
Michael Cordell, Toni Malone, Rick McPhee
Broadcaster ABC
Sales Cordell Jigsaw Distribution
Synopsis The Great Australian Education Experiment – taking the class to task, examining the status quo of the Australian education system.

I CAN CHANGE YOUR MIND ABOUT RECOGNITION (working title)
58 mins
Smith & Nasht Pty Ltd
Producers
Simon Nasht, Ruth Cross
Writer/Director Simon Nasht
Broadcaster ABC
Synopsis As Australia heads to a referendum on Indigenous recognition, two fiercely opposed advocates travel the nation to see if they can change each other’s mind.

NORFOLK ISLAND (working title)
51 mins
Heiress Films Pty Ltd
Producer
Jennifer Cummins
Director Martin Taylor
Broadcaster SBS
Sales SBS Distribution
Synopsis The residents of Norfolk Island are fiercely independent – but recent hard times have forced the island to reach out to Australia for help, and with mainland help comes mainland rules.

AUSTRALIA: SPACES BETWEEN BUILDINGS
4 x 60 mins
Fremantle Media Australia Pty Ltd       
Executive Producers Cathie Scott, Anna Gregory
Producer Linda Gregoriou
Director Bruce Permezel
Writer Mark Davis
Broadcaster ABC
Sales Fremantle Media International / ABC Commercial
Synopsis A 4 x 1-hour series that explores one of Australia’s most valuable commodities – Public Space – how we design, develop and repurpose shared spaces to accommodate our expanding population.

THE EXPENDABLES (working title)
3 x 52 mins
Joined Up Films Pty Ltd          
Producers Jacqueline Willinge, Daniel Brown, Anthony Willinge
Director Mike Bluett
Broadcaster SBS
Sales SBS
Synopsis The Vietnam War through the eyes of the Australians and the South Vietnamese who fought it together.

KA-CHING! THE RISE AND RISE OF THE POKIES
57 mins
Ka-Ching! Ka-Ching! Pty Ltd    
Executive Producer Neil Lawrence
Producer Mitzi Goldman
Director Jane Manning
Writers Neil Lawrence, Andrea Lang, Jane Manning 
Broadcaster ABC
Sales Looking Glass Pictures Pty Ltd
Synopsis Exploring Australia’s passion for the pokies. What is the unique attraction of these machines? With more machine gambling venues opening and our State Governments increasingly reliant on tax revenue from gaming machines is the social cost worth it?

LET THERE BE ROCK: THE STORY OF ALBERTS SOUND
2 x 57 mins
Beyond Screen Production Pty Ltd     
Executive Producers Ron Saunders, Paul Clarke, Mikael Borglund
Producer Martin Fabinyi
Writer/Director Paul Clarke
Broadcaster ABC
Sales Beyond Entertainment
Synopsis Alberts is Australia’s Motown and, like Motown, they developed their own sound, their music spoke for a generation, they sold millions of records and were incredibly influential.

GENERAL DOCUMENTARY PROGRAM


AUSTRALIA’S AMISH: THE SECRET WORLD OF ADASS ISRAEL
51 mins
Mint Pictures Pty Ltd
Producer
Dan Goldberg
Executive Producer Adam Kay
Director Danny Ben-Moshe
Broadcaster SBS
Sales SBS Sales
Synopsis Australia’s Amish is a revealing observational documentary that opens an unprecedented window into Australia’s most ultra-Orthodox Jewish subculture – the small and highly reclusive Adass Israel community in Melbourne – as it battles to maintain its millennia-old ultra-Orthodox traditions in the face of modernity and all its subversive temptations and trappings.

CAGED
58 mins
In Films Pty Ltd
Producer
Nial Fulton
Writer/Director Ivan O’Mahoney
Broadcaster SBS
Synopsis Caged follows the trials and tribulations of several mixed martial arts fighters in Sydney’s multicultural western suburbs. Some of whom carry the hopes of their community on their shoulders, others who might have followed a life of crime if not for the discipline of the contest, all of them fighting the media’s portrayal of cage-fighting as an ultra-violent free-for-all.

LOVE & MARRIAGE IN LITTLE INDIA
51 mins
360 Degree Films Pty Ltd
Producer
Sally Ingleton
Writer/Director Sean Cousins
Broadcaster SBS
Sales SBS Commercial
Synopsis Three young people from Melbourne’s Little India search for marriage partners in a new land.

OVER THE EDGE: ‘WHERE ARE THEY NOW?’
52 mins
Earthstar Productions Pty Ltd
Producer
Fran Dobbie
Executive Producer Carolyn Johnson
Writer/Director Benjamin Rose
Broadcaster SBS/NITV
Synopsis We revisit eight Indigenous teenagers, now young adults, five years after they went on a journey of self-discovery in 2009 as part of a series titled On the Edge.

THE ANGRY MILE
3 x 52 mins
Cordell Jigsaw Productions Pty Ltd
Executive Producers Nick Murray, Michael Cordell
Producers Rick McPhee, Toni Malone
Writer Michael Cordell
Broadcaster SBS
Sales Cordell Jigsaw Distribution Pty Ltd
Synopsis The Angry Mile reveals who we are, what we talk about and how we say it as we simultaneously follow the lives of the owners, the staff and the community that surrounds two fast food shops in two Australian cities.

MAKING FAMILIES HAPPY
3 x 57 mins
Heiress Films Pty Ltd
Producer Jennifer Cummins
Broadcaster ABC
Sales ABC Commercial
Synopsis Can a team of elite psychologists transform the lives of three dysfunctional families in just eight weeks?

INTERNATIONAL DOCUMENTARY PROGRAM


SALT WATER HEROES
4 x 48 mins
Northern Pictures
Producer
Karina Holden
Executive Producer Sue Clothier
Director Adam Geiger
Writer Colette Beaudry
Sales Discovery Australia
Synopsis Saltwater Heroes is a series about our toughest fisher folk and a disappearing way of life on the oceans that surround our island continent.

DOCUMENTARY PRODUCTION – BROADCAST PROGRAM
 

AUSSIE GOLD
10 x 45 mins
Electric Pictures Pty Ltd
Producer
Andrew Ogilvie
Director Roger Power
Broadcaster National Geographic Channel
Synopsis Against the backdrop of the colourful communities who call Australia’s famed Goldfields home, we enter the high-stakes world of prospectors in hard pursuit of AUSSIE GOLD!

BREAKING THE SILENCE
56 mins
Mint Pictures Pty Ltd & Identity Films
Producer
Dan Goldberg
Executive Producer Adam Kay
Director Danny Ben-Moshe
Broadcaster ABC
Synopsis An explosive courtroom drama set partially inside the Royal Commission, Breaking the Silence sifts through the rubble of the fallout and follows an investigative trail to America, climaxing with a dramatic twist when the whistleblower from Code of Silence confronts another ultra-Orthodox rabbi who he claims molested him.

CONVICTION
57 mins
DD & B Productions Pty Ltd
Producers
Terry Carlyon, Robyn Miller, John Silvester
Director Terry Carlyon
Broadcaster ABC
Synopsis A missing person, a murder that shocked the nation and a suspect hunted by social media as police close in. Conviction takes viewers inside the homicide squad as they bring the killer to justice.

DEEP WATER
77 mins
Blackfella Films Pty Ltd
Producer
Darren Dale
Writer Jacob Hickey
Broadcaster SBS
Distributor DCD Rights
Synopsis Up to 80 murders, 30 unsolved cases, thousands of assaults. For the first time, Deep Water presents the full account of the gay-hate crime epidemic that bloodied Sydney’s coastline.

DOLPHIN DYNASTY
60 mins
Sea Dog TV International Pty Ltd & WildBear Entertainment Pty Ltd
Producers
Jodie De Barros, Bettina Dalton
Executive Producers Jodie De Barros, Michael Tear, Peter Moers, Edwina Thring
Writer/Directors Leighton De Barros, Peter Moers
Broadcaster National Geographic Channel
Synopsis Utilising specialist filming techniques never used before we’ll unveil the complex social hierarchy, family ties and the incredible maternal bonds of a small group of Shark Bay dolphins, in a wild soap opera that is Dolphin Dynasty.

FIRST CONTACT SERIES 2
3 x 51 mins
Blackfella Films Pty Ltd
Producers
Darren Dale, Jacob Hickey
Writer Jacob Hickey
Broadcaster SBS
Distributor SBS
Synopsis Six out of 10 who call Australia home have had little or no contact with Indigenous people. Twenty-eight days. One life-changing journey.

HANSON: THE YEARS THAT SHOOK AUSTRALIA
72 mins
CJP
Producers
Anna Broinowski, Toni Malone
Executive Producer Michael Cordell
Director Anna Broinowski
Broadcaster SBS
Synopsis A contemporary history film about Pauline Hanson: a fish & chip shop lady from Ipswich, who changed Australia forever.

HATCH, MATCH & DISPATCH
8 x 28 mins
Fredbird CDK Pty Ltd T/A Fredbird Entertainment
Producers
Sandra Welkerling, Colin Thrupp, Faye Welborn
Executive Producer Craig Graham
Broadcaster ABC 1
Synopsis A privileged look at the funny and moving stories of the biggest events of our lives: births, deaths and marriages.

MAMBO: ART IRRITATES LIFE
57 mins
Bombora Film and Music Co Pty Ltd
Producer
Scott Nowell
Executive Producer Jo-anne McGowan
Director Paul Clarke
Broadcaster ABC
Synopsis This is the story of how punk rockers and reprobates created an art movement that would capture the minds of the masses in a wearable art form.

FIRING THE MAGIC BULLET (SEQUEL)
56 mins
Rymer Childs Films Pty Ltd
Producers Judy Rymer, Lois Harris
Writer/Director Judy Rymer
Broadcasters SBS and BBC Scotland
Sales Off the Fence
Synopsis Two Australian scientists embark on a David and Goliath struggle to commercialise their discovery which has the potential to revolutionise the treatment of cancer.

OUTBACK ED
8 x 25 mins
Screentime Pty Ltd
Executive Producers Jennifer Collins, Simon Steel
Producer Tony De La Pena
Writers Simon Steel, Jennifer Collins
Broadcaster ABC
Sales Banijay International 
Synopsis Following the daily work lives of the nurses and doctors in the Emergency Department of an outback hospital.

RAZZLE DAZZLE: THE HIDDEN STORY OF CAMOUFLAGE
57 mins
Jonnie & Kate Films Pty Ltd
Executive Producers Lucy Maclaren, Joe Connor, Ken Connor
Producer Kate Pappas
Writer/Director Jonnie Morris
Broadcaster ABC 1
Synopsis Razzle Dazzle: The Hidden Story of Camouflage uncovers a world of design, where cubism, cuttlefish and warships collide.

Disclaimer:  Screen Australia has undertaken all reasonable measures to ensure the accuracy of this information at time of publication. If you have any updates please contact [email protected]