Paul Clarke’s Midnight Oil: The Hardest Line, a documentary that tracks the journey of rock band Midnight Oil, will have its world premiere at the opening night gala of this year’s Sydney Film Festival.
Filmed over seven years, the Blink TV and Beyond Entertainment production features unheard interviews with each band member and unseen live and studio footage, while also delving into the band’s outback tour with Warumpi Band, their Exxon protest gig in New York, and the “Sorry” suits at the Sydney Olympics.
Clarke wrote directed, and executive produced the project, working alongside Carolina Sorensen and fellow EPs Mikael Borglund and Martin Fabinyi. Screen Australia and the ABC provided principal production funding, in association with Screen NSW, while the film was financed with support from Sony Music Entertainment and Sony Music Publishing. Roadshow Films is handling Australian distribution.
Sydney Film Festival Director Nashen Moodley described the film as a fitting tribute to the band’s legacy and a “profound reflection” on their ongoing impact.
“We are thrilled to present Midnight Oil: The Hardest Line as the opening film for this year’s Sydney Film Festival,” he said.
“This documentary not only chronicles the formidable journey of one of Australia’s most influential bands but also captures the spirit of an era that reshaped our cultural and political landscapes.”
Clarke believed it was an important film to share.
“There is no other rock band in the world like Midnight Oil,” he said.
“For half a century they were fearless, contrary, and totally original. When Australia was creaking under the weight of its own myths, they told us the truth. Their songs pinpoint the fault-lines in our culture, they rage against the strange and dangerous times we’ve lived through, and they offer hope. We are all excited to unleash Midnight Oil: The Hardest Line as the Opening Night of the Sydney Film Festival.”
Executive producer Mikael Borglund said the documentary was a “film for our time”.
“Observant of Australian politics and culture, and fearless in calling out environmental and racial issues, ‘The Oils’ maintained their relevance for over 40 years by writing and performing music with global resonance,” he said
Midnight Oil drummer Rob Hirst said it was “as much a revelation as a chronicle”.
“With strong management, a tough crew, and a sabre-tooth lawyer, bands can often dwell in a kind of mobile Faraday cage – the lightning striking all around, while the musicians remain high and dry in a studio, on a stage or wedged inside a Tarago,” he said.
“Thus it was for Midnight Oil: rarely were we able to focus on the horizon and see the ‘Big Picture’, if there was such a thing. Perhaps at last we can frame the last 50 years, make some collective sense of it, wrap it in a box marked ‘the Luckiest Band Ever.’”
The opening night gala for the 71st Sydney Film Festival will be held Wednesday, June 5, at the State Theatre followed by a post-screening celebration in the Sydney Town Hall.