Screen Australia has invested $1 million in five documentary projects triggering an expected $2.2 million in production.
The funding was made under the national screen agency's Signature Documentary Program, which supports bold projects with a strong creative vision that may not have a broadcaster attached.
“This year’s exciting line-up of Signature documentaries were chosen from 50 plus applications," Screen Australia’s documentary manager Liz Stevens said in a statement. "They’ll take audiences on inspirational journeys, touching on the personal and the political, and reveal that truth is stranger than fiction."
The five projects funded are:
THE CALL OF CONSCIENCE (working title)
Production Company: iKandy Films Pty Ltd
Producer/Writer/Director: Janine Hosking
Producer/Writer: Katey Grusovin
FALLOUT
Synopsis: Following the atomic destruction of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, internationally acclaimed novelist Nevil Shute prophetically and emotively predicted the devastating impact of nuclear proliferation in one of the most important anti-nuclear novels of the 20th century, On the Beach. Fallout explores the writing and impulses of Shute’s career and novel, the making of the famous film in Australia by Hollywood director Stanley Kramer resulting in his tenuous relationship with Shute, and the ongoing resonance of On the Beach.
Production Company: Rough Trade Pictures Pty Ltd
Producer: Peter Kaufmann
Producer/Writer/Director: Lawrence Johnston
MISS NIKKI AND THE TIGER GIRLS
Synopsis: After 50 years of military dictatorship, Myanmar’s first girl band face a tough reality – when you’re finally allowed to speak, what do you say?Production Company: Iris Pictures Pty Ltd
Producer: Jessica Douglas-Henry
Writer/Director: Juliet Lamont
SAM KLEMKE’S TIME MACHINE
Synopsis: Sam Klemke is almost unique in human history. In 1977, aged 17, the obsessive amateur filmmaker set out to record himself every year until he died. Set against the tumultuous last 50 years of world history, we see Sam grow up on film from optimistic brace-toothed teen, to self-important 20 year old, into an obese, self-doubting 30-something and onwards into his philosophical 50s. Pets die, belt sizes fluctuate, love comes and goes and wars begin and end. Now aged 54, and finding himself a little lost, Sam has decided to explore time via his epic home movie project, to see if he can find a deeper meaning to his life. As he questions his own existence what will we learn about our own lives and mortality from this everyman time traveller?
Production Company: Closer Productions
Producer: Rebecca Summerton
Writer/Director: Matthew Bate
THE UNLIKELY PILGRIMS
Synopsis: Ronan O’Connor works in a rehabilitation centre with people who have drug addiction, who are often very socially disadvantaged and have deep psychological issues. He takes a small group of clients on the Camino de Santiago, to face their demons. In the process his own life falls apart.
Production Company: Intafusion Films Pty Ltd
Producer/Director: John Cherry
Consultant Producer: David Jowsey
Writer/Director: Kirsten Mallyon
Writer: David Tiley