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in the archive
Documentary production
Approvals 2012-2013

National Documentary Program
 

THE CATCH
3 x mins
Producers Sonja Armstrong, Alan Erson
Writers Michael O’Neill, Matthew Evans, Stephen Oliver
Director Stephen Oliver
Broadcaster SBS
Sales Essential Media and Entertainment
Synopsis Matthew Evans embarks on a campaigning voyage of discovery revealing the complex truths behind the seafood Australians produce and consume.

THE GREAT AUSTRALIAN RACE RIOT
3 x 52 mins
Essential Media and Entertainment
Producers Alan Erson, Chris Hilton
Writer Alan Erson
Director Sally Aitken
Broadcaster SBS
Sales Essential Media and Entertainment
Synopsis The history of tribe-on-tribe street fighting reveals the ‘race riot’ as a vicious but vital part of the way Australia really works – and a remarkably consistent window into who we are.

Z SPECIAL UNIT
3 x 52 mins
Joined Up Films
Producers Daniel Brown, Anthony Willinge, Jacqueline Willinge
Writer/Director Robert Wilkins
Broadcaster SBS
Sales SBS International
Synopsis This series charts the journey of Z Special, Australia’s first special forces unit, bringing to life the Z men’s tactics, fighting skills and war craft by recreating their gruelling training regime in the present day.

- See more at: http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/news_and_events/2013/mr_130527_documentary.aspx#sthash.U9DvarRY.dpuf

THE CATCH
3 x 52 mins
Essential Media and Entertainment
Producers
Sonja Armstrong, Alan Erson
Writers Michael O’Neill, Matthew Evans, Stephen Oliver
Director Stephen Oliver
Broadcaster SBS
Sales Essential Media and Entertainment
Synopsis Matthew Evans embarks on a campaigning voyage of discovery revealing the complex truths behind the seafood Australians produce and consume.

THE GREAT AUSTRALIAN RACE RIOT
3 x 52 mins
Essential Media and Entertainment
Producers Alan Erson, Chris Hilton
Writer Alan Erson
Director Sally Aitken
Broadcaster SBS
Sales Essential Media and Entertainment
Synopsis The history of tribe-on-tribe street fighting reveals the ‘race riot’ as a vicious but vital part of the way Australia really works – and a remarkably consistent window into who we are.
 

Z SPECIAL UNIT
3 x 52 mins
Joined Up Films
Producers Daniel Brown, Anthony Willinge, Jacqueline Willinge
Writer/Director Robert Wilkins
Broadcaster SBS
Sales SBS International
Synopsis This series charts the journey of Z Special, Australia’s first special forces unit, bringing to life the Z men’s tactics, fighting skills and war craft by recreating their gruelling training regime in the present day.    
 

AFGHANISTAN: THE AUSTRALIAN WAR
3 x 55 mins
Essential Media and Entertainment Pty Ltd
Producer Alan Erson
Writer/Director Victoria Midwinter-Pitt
Sales Agent ABC Commercial
Broadcaster ABC TV
Synopsis The complete story of Australia’s longest and most expensive modern war told by the generation of Australians who fought it, those who ordered it, our allies and enemies.

ART + SOUL 2
3 x 57 mins
Hibiscus Films Pty Ltd
Producers Bridget Ikin, Jo-anne McGowan
Director Steven McGregor
Writer Hetti Perkins                                                                              
Broadcaster ABC
Sales TBC       
Synopsis Building on the success of art + soul, this second series will offer new insights into contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, art and culture.

BUILDING AUSTRALIA
6 x 25 mins
Bearcage Television
Producers Michael Tear,Harriet Pike
Director Serge Ou
Writer Michael Cove
Broadcaster FOXTEL
Sales TBC
Synopsis An exploration into the history and meaning of that most cherished of buildings, the Australian home.

ONCE UPON A TIME IN CARLTON
3 x 52 mins
Northern Pictures
Producer Sue Clothier
Director TBC
Broadcaster SBS
Sales SBS
Synopsis Once Upon a Time in Carlton looks at the 70-year history of the Italian migrant community in the Melbourne suburb of Carlton.

WELCOME TO PUNTLAND
52 mins
Electric Pictures Pty Ltd
Producers Andrew Ogilvie, Claire Jager
Writer/Director Victoria Pitt
Director/Camera Operator Tim Wise
Broadcaster SBS
Sales SBS International
Synopsis Somali Australians have returned to their Puntland homeland with a mission: to piece together their broken state and set it on a path to becoming a modern African nation.

TEN BUCKS A LITRE
55 mins
Smith & Nasht
Producers Simon Nasht, Kate Hodges
Director Max Bourke
Broadcaster ABC TV
Synopsis Some of our most serious global challenges revolve around energy – controlling it, paying for it and the consequences of burning it. As both one of the world’s biggest per capita users and exporters of fossil fuels, Australia is sure to be deeply affected by the radical changes coming down the energy pipeline. Yet there is a lot of confusion around the subject. Self-confessed fossil fuel junkie Dick Smith will try to separate the facts from the hot air. What are Australia’s options as we enter the age of energy disruption?

WHITLAM
Beyond Screen Production Pty Ltd & Bombora Film and Music Co.
2 x 55 minutes
Executive Producer Mark Hamlyn, Beyond Screen Production Pty Ltd
Executive Producer, Producer Penny Robins, Bombora Film and Music Co.
Writer, Director  Paul Clarke, Bombora Film and Music Co.
Broadcaster ABC
Sales ABC Commercial
Synopsis Whitlam examines an era and the man when as a country we were at our most confident and flamboyant, when we took risks and went to the margins. It was a time of power, of passion… and which divided us as a nation in a way that hadn't happened before – nor since.

General Documentary Program

 

LIVING WITH THE ENEMY
6 x 52 mins
Shine Australia
Broadcaster SBS
Sales BBCW Distribution
Distributor SBS Distribution
Synopsis Living with the Enemy is a bold and provocative six-part documentary series exploring the fault lines of social cohesion in Australia. Through a series of social experiments, people on opposing sides of a key social issue or cultural divide will be immersed in each other’s lives and see if they discover a greater understanding of each other and have their deeply held views and beliefs challenged and changed.

BODYLINE: THE ULTIMATE TEST
57 mins
Serendipity West Pty Ltd
Producers Kate Pappas, Charlotte Wheaton
Executive Producers Alex West, Margie Bryant
Writer Alex West
Director Bruce Permezel
Sales Agent ABC Commercial
Broadcaster ABC1
Synopsis This is the story of one of the most extraordinary, well-known, but perhaps least understood, moments of conflict and controversy in the history of sport: the infamous Bodyline test cricket series of 1932/33. 

THE BOFFIN, THE BUILDER AND THE BOMBARDIER
28 mins
For Valour Pty Ltd trading as Bearcage Television
Producers Michael Tear, Serge Ou, Harriet Pike, John Concannon
Writer John Concannon
Directors Chris Bamford, Serge Ou
Sales Agent Flame Distribution
Broadcaster ABC TV
Synopsis The Boffin, the Builder and the Bombardier is a fast-paced, fun, living history documentary in which three mates deconstruct history by reconstructing the devices that made it.

MARY & MOHAMMAD
28 mins
Jotz Productions Pty Ltd
Producers Tom Zubrycki, Heather Kirkpatrick
Writer/Director Heather Kirkpatrick
Broadcaster ABC TV
Synopsis Mary is 71 years old and has been a Christian all her life. When the government announces the arrival of a detention centre, her local knitting club agrees to knit beanies for the asylum seekers, though Mary is originally not in support. She meets Mohammad, a 26-year-old Muslim from Afghanistan, and begins to question her own beliefs.

THE TIPPING POINTS: OCEANS THE LAST FRONTIER
52 mins
Unboxed Media Pty Ltd
Producers Liz Courtney, Veronica Sive
Writer/Director Liz Courtney
Sales Agent Electric Sky UK
Broadcaster NITV
Synopsis For generations families have lived off the oceans – and off the grid – on islands across Oceania. But after seasons of extreme weather tracked across these lands, people are now finding themselves facing a whole set of new challenges and the ultimate question: how long before they become climate refugees? This documentary sets out to identify and explore the culprits that are altering the oceans existence and our very way of life.

AUSTRALIA: MEDIOCRE AND PROUD
6 x 30 mins
Cordell Jigsaw Productions
Producers Michael Cordell, Toni Malone
Director Ivan O’Mahoney
Broadcaster ABC2
Sales Cordell Jigsaw Distribution
Synopsis In this six-part series Joe Hildebrand – The Daily Telegraph’s rebel-rousing columnist – travels the lucky country, shattering our myths, bursting our bubbles and slaughtering some sacred Australian cows.

MY BIG FAT BAR MITZVAH
26 mins
Wild Fury Productions
Producer Veronica Fury
Director Susan Lambert
Broadcaster ABC
Sales TBC
Synopsis My Big Fat Bar Mitzvah looks at contemporary Jewish life in Australia through the eyes of the most important event in their lives – their Bar or Bat Mitzvah. We step inside the wild world of some of Australia’s biggest Bar Mitzvah parties.

OUR NOTEBOOK
52 mins
Clare Young Films
Producers Clare Young, Sasha Burrows
Director Clare Young    
Broadcaster BBC Worldwide Australia
Sales Cross City Sales
Synopsis A portrait of Jane Campion and her collaborators at work: a personal and insightful exploration of how, often against all odds, the creative spirit can sing.

RACE FOR BEAUTY
52 mins
Prospero Productions
Producers Ed Punchard, Julia Redwood
Director TBC
Broadcaster SBS
Sales SBS Distribution
Synopsis Anna Choy explores the new and increasingly controversial phenomenon of ethnic plastic surgery and its effect on multicultural Australia.

TWO MEN IN CHINA
3 x 60 mins
Cordell Jigsaw Productions
Producers Michael Cordell, Toni Malone
Director Damian Davis
Broadcaster ABC
Sales Cordell Jigsaw Distribution
Synopsis Australia is inextricably connected to China – but how much do we really know about it? It’s time for the Two Men to explore our powerful partner. Tim Flannery and John Doyle follow the journey of Australian iron ore from the Pilbara to the heart of China.

KIDS ON SPEED
3 x 57 mins
Essential Media and Entertainment
Producers Alan Erson, Sonja Armstrong
Director Max Bourke
Broadcaster ABC TV
Sales ABC Commercial
Synopsis Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) in children is one of the most hotly disputed and commonly diagnosed mental disorders of our time. Kids on Speed is a 3 x 1-hour documentary series that confronts and illuminates the question of whether or not to treat ADHD and related conditions with stimulants like Ritalin (a drug with similar effects to the amphetamine known as speed). A team of leading clinicians and educators will attempt, without prescribing drugs, to improve the lives of six challenging kids showing symptoms of ADHD and related conditions. Can rethinking our classrooms, our communities and the way we run our families prevent at least some of the current widespread medication of our kids?

THE VASECTOMIST
52 mins
Smith & Nasht
Producers Simon Nasht, Ruth Cross
Director Jonathan Stack
Broadcasters SBS TV, CBC (Canada), DR (Denmark), VPRO (Netherlands)
Sales SBS International
Synopsis The Vasectomist follows Dr Doug Stein, a urologist from small-town Florida, on a mission to save the planet by ‘spreading the gospel of vasectomy’. He’s performed more vasectomies than anyone – 27,000 – throughout the US, Asia, Africa and the Caribbean. A modern day Don Quixote; part dreamer, madman and visionary committed to the impossible quest of lowering population on the planet, one vasectomy at a time. As he travels the world, Doug confronts the difficult ethical questions surrounding birth control and the reluctance of men to be involved in family planning. While the mathematical absurdity of his vasectomy mission haunts his every procedure, the questions Doug raises about the future of humankind are critical to our collective wellbeing.

OUTBACK CORONER
Screentime Pty Ltd
4 x 60 minutes (series 1)
Producer Helen Barrow
Executive Producers for Screentime Bob Campbell, Simon Steel
Director, Writer Hugh Piper
Broadcaster FOXTEL
Sales Cineflix UK
Synopsis Outback Coroner is an observational documentary series that explores accidental and mysterious deaths in the most remote regions of Australia. When the circumstances of a death are unknown the Coroner is called. The mix of cultures, social history and remote geography present unique challenges to these dedicated people and their teams, who seek answers essential for all of us. While Coroner’s outback inquests ultimately conclude in a court this series is not a courtroom drama. We will take the viewers inside the mind set and the challenges confronting the Coroner and his team who investigate the forensic evidence, conduct autopsies and counsel the bereaved, while seeking answers to the unexplained death.

WHO DO YOU THINK YOU ARE – SERIES 6
Artemis International Pty Ltd & Serendipity Productions Pty Ltd
6 x 52 mins [Screen Australia funding 2 of the 6 episodes]
Producers Brian Beaton, Margie Bryant, Celia Tait
Broadcaster SBS
Sales SBS Sales
Synopsis Well known Australians play detective as they go in search of their family history, revealing secrets and surprises from the past.

International Documentary Program
 

FRANK GEHRY’S TREEHOUSE
57 mins
Essential Media and Entertainment Pty Ltd
Producer Alan Erson
Writer Helen Vatsikopoulos
Director Sally Aitken
Sales Agent Essential Media and Entertainment
Broadcasters ABC TV, BBC Imagine
Synopsis Drawing on a life’s work defined by controversial and ground-breaking ideas, the world’s greatest architect creates his first Australian building in Sydney – where debate already rages over whether it will be an eyesore or icon.

JFK: THE SMOKING GUN
90 mins
Cordell Jigsaw Productions and Muse Entertainment
Producers Michael Cordell, Jesse Prupas
Executive Producers Simon Egan, Michael Prupas
Writer Steve Lucas
Sales Agents Cordell Jigsaw Distribution, Muse Distribution International, Zodiak Rights
Broadcasters Discovery Canada, SBS Australia, ReelzChannel USA
Synopsis A former undercover Australian police detective/crime writer sets out to uncover the truth behind the JFK assassination.

THE REAL JAWS
52 mins
Prospero Productions
Producers Ed Punchard, Julia Redwood
Writer/Director Adam Geiger
Sales Agent PBS Distribution
Broadcasters Nine Network Australia, NOVA
Synopsis Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water... a series of fatal shark attacks in Western Australia shows it is anything but.

TALES OF THE UNEXPECTED
3 x 60 mins
Genepool Productions Pty Ltd
Executive
Producers Sonya Pemberton, Michael Cordell
Series Producer Peter Rees
Sales Agent Cordell Jigsaw Distribution
Broadcasters SBS, Smithsonian Networks
Synopsis Tales of the Unexpected is a contemporary science documentary series that will take you out of your comfort zone and into a world where you need to think, and then think again…The science is contemporary, counterintuitive and often controversial.

TRUCKING HELL
44 mins
Prospero Productions
Producers Ed Punchard, Julia Redwood
Director Eliot Buchan (Field Director)
Sales Agent NGTI
Broadcaster Seven Network Australia
Synopsis Behind the wheel of monstrous road trains, daredevil Aussie truckers put their lives on the line to drive some of the world’s toughest roads. Their mission – to haul crucial supplies, thousands of kilometres across the vast island continent of Australia.

ART OF AUSTRALIA
3 x 55 mins
Serendipity Productions in association with Wall to Wall Television UK
Producer Alex West
Executive Producer Margie Bryant
Directors Alex West, Bruce Beresford
Writer Edmund Capon
Broadcaster ABC1
Sales ABC Commercial
Synopsis Thirty thousand years of Australian history told through art.

LIFE ON US
2 x 52 mins
Smith&Nasht
Producer Simon Nasht
Director Annamaria Talas
Broadcasters SBS, ARTE France
Sales SBS International, Zodiak Rights
Synopsis We are all rented, shared, shaped and kept alive by the bugs that live on us and inside us.

OUTBACK CORONER (TWO)
4 x 47 mins
Screentime Pty Ltd in association with Evershine
Producers Bob Campbell, Helen Barrow, Simon Steel
Series Producer Helen Barrow
Series Director/Writer Hugh Piper
Broadcaster FOXTEL
Sales Cineflix Rights
Synopsis Adocumentary series that explores unexplained deaths in outback Australia through the eyes of the coroner.

RED DEER CAVE
57 mins
Electric Pictures Pty Ltd
Producers Andrew Ogilvie, Claire Jager
Writer/Director Franco di Chiera
Broadcaster ABC1
Sales ABC Commercial
Synopsis Australian and Chinese scientists have uncovered mysterious ancient remains of what may be a new human species, a discovery which challenges our understanding of the human journey – with profound implications for the origins of us.

SHARK GIRL
57 mins
Kaufmann Productions Pty Ltd
Producers Gisela Kaufmann, Carsten Orlt
Writer/Director Gisela Kaufmann
Broadcaster ABC TV
Sales ABC Commercial, Smithsonian (US), Terra Mater (Austria)
Synopsis Shark Girl is the story of a young Australian conservationist who has changed her life to protect sharks in the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Park.

BREAKER MORANT THE RETRIAL
Film Projects Pty Ltd
2 x 60 mins
Producers Georgia Wallace-Crabbe, Gregory Miller
Directors Gregory Miller, Nick Bleszynski
Broadcaster History Channel
Sales Sabido
Synopsis Harry ‘The Breaker’ Morant is about to be re-tried – 110 years after he was executed by the British during the Boer War. Breaker Morant the Retrial will capture a rare moment of living history through the cross examination of historians and legal experts, and the presentation of new evidence that reveals the betrayal and subterfuge at the centre of the trial.

THE SEARCH FOR THE OCEAN’S SUPER PREDATOR
Ocean's Super Predator Films Pty Ltd
1 x 60 mins
Executive Producers Leighton De Barros, David Riggs, Michael Lynch
Writer, Director Michael Lynch
Broadcaster ABC
Sales ABC Commercial / Al Rayyan Media & Marketing
Synopsis In the hidden depths of Australia’s wild Southern Ocean a great white shark is savagely attacked by a far larger and faster mystery predator. An electronic tracking device attached to the great white records a high-speed underwater chase six hundred meters deep before the shark and its tag are savagely devoured. Two weeks later, after being carried in the belly of the unknown killer, the still functioning tag is excreted and washed ashore, withholding clues that could reveal the identity of the shark’s super predator. This is the story of a super predator’s epic underwater attack that leads investigators to a mysterious and powerful natural phenomenon that, for a few short weeks each year, attracts the oceans most fearsome predators.

Signature Documentary Program

 

BACK TO GROUND ZERO
90 mins
JOTZ Productions
Producer/Director Tom Zubrycki
Synopsis A story about a Sudanese refugee living in Sydney who returns home to build a school in his village, which has been devastated by 29 years of civil war. A group of Australian friends resolve to assist him in this quest.

THE FRACKMAN
90 mins
Freshwater Productions Pty Ltd
Producers Trish Lake, Simon Nasht, Richard Todd
Writers John Collee, Sarah Rossetti
Director Richard Todd
Sales Cargo Entertainment
Distributor Hopscotch
Digital Marketing GetUp!
Synopsis The adventures of anti-coal seam gas campaigner The Frackman and his filmmaker mate.

LOVE MARRIAGE IN KABUL
85 mins
Bower Bird Films Pty Ltd
Producer Pat Fiske
Co-producers Sanaz Fatouhi, Amin Palangi
Director Amin Palangi
Synopsis Love Marriage in Kabul follows the extraordinary quest of an Afghan-Australian woman, Mahboba Rawi, as she passionately negotiates and challenges old traditions to make a love marriage happen in Kabul.

MOTHER WITH A GUN
75 mins
Rebel Films Pty Ltd
Executive Producer Jeni McMahon
Co-producer/Writer/Director Jeff Daniels
Sales The Film Sales Company
Synopsis The matriarch of a bloody terrorist organisation chooses to hang up her gun and walk away.

ORDINARY WONDERLANDS    
85 mins
House of Gary Pty Ltd
Producer Karina Astrup
Writer/Director Penny Vozniak
Synopsis Filmed over eight years, Ordinary Wonderlands is the stranger-than-fiction story of the world’s first real-life superheroes.    
 

Signature Documentary Program: Interactive


BIG STORIES, SMALL TOWNS: ASIA PACIFIC
Big Stories Co
Transmedia Producer Anna Grieve, Martin Potter
Online Producer Nick Crowther
Creative Director Martin Potter 
Synopsis Big Stories, Small Towns: Asia Pacific is a multi-platform documentary project working with filmmakers and communities across the region to produce inspiring local stories that are central to their lives and relevant to the world.

 

KIM JONG-IL INTERACTIVE CINEMA EXPERIENCE (KJILCE)
Chocolate Liberation Front
Producers Dan Fill, Frank Verheggen                
Writer Anna Broinowski
Synopsis An interactive journey through the world of North Korean cinema, enabling users to share and learn about the film methodology of Kim Jong–Il and make their own films.

 
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]