Thirteen Australian documentaries selected for IDFA
Monday 19 October 2009: Thirteen Australian documentaries will screen at the
International Documentary Film Festival Amsterdam (IDFA) when the festival kicks
off on 19 November.
A record seven Australian films have been selected to screen in the Competition
section of the festival.
Contact (w/d/p: Bentley Dean, Martin Butler) and The Miscreants of Taliwood (d:
George Gittoes, p: Gabrielle Dalton) have been selected to screen in the
prestigious Feature-Length Documentary Competition with The Snowman (w/d:
Juliet Lamont, p: Dylan Blowen, Rachel Landers) and Stolen (w/d: Violeta
Ayala, Dan Fallshaw, p: Tom Zubrycki) selected in Competition for First
Appearance. The Matilda Candidate (w/d/p: Curtis Levy, p: Helen Panckhurst) will
screen in Competition in the Mid-Length Documentary section. Screening in the
Short Documentary Competition section are My Uncle Bluey (w/d: Britt Arthur, p:
James Grandison) and Salt (d/p: Michael Angus, d: Murray Fredericks).
This is the first time that seven Australian films have been selected to screen in
Competition since IDFA began in 1988.
Four Australian films will screen in the Non-Competitive programs of IDFA. A Good
Man (w/d/p: Safina Uberoi, p: Himman Dhamija, Jenny Day) will be presented in
the Reflecting Images – Best of Fests section. The Reflecting Images – Panorama
program will feature Indonesia Calling: Joris Ivens in Australia (w/d/p: John
Hughes, p: Andrea Foxworthy), I, Psychopath (w/d: Ian Walker, p: Sally Regan)
and Strange Birds in Paradise – A West Papuan Story (d: Charlie Hill-Smith, p:
Jamie Nicolai, John Cherry).
Two Australian projects, Big Stories, Small Towns (d: Jeni Lee, Sieh Mchawala, p:
Martin Potter) and Trendsmap.com (p: John Barratt), will feature as part of
DOCLAB – a new program section investigating the relationship between new
media, web culture and documentary.
“IDFA’s selection of these 13 projects reflects the diversity of Australia’s
documentary filmmaking,” said Kathleen Drumm, Head of Marketing at Screen
Australia. “It is deeply pleasing to see the non-fiction work of Australian practitioners
continue to strike a chord with local and international audiences.”
IDFA was founded to stimulate the national and international documentary culture.
Over the last 21 years, IDFA has developed into the largest documentary film
festival in the world.
2/4
The International Documentary Festival Amsterdam runs 19–29 November 2009.
A Good Man
(79 mins)
European Premiere
Writer/Director: Safina Uberoi
Producers: Safina Uberoi, Himman Dhamija, Jenny Day
Production Company: Divana Films
International Sales: Films Transit
Synopsis: A Good Man tells the story of a struggling Australian farmer, his incurably quadriplegic
wife, their newborn baby and their plans to open a brothel in a small country town.
Big Stories, Small Towns
(90 mins)
International Premiere
Directors: Jeni Lee, Sieh Mchawala
Producer: Martin Potter
Production Companies: Media Resource Centre, Screen Australia National Interest Program
Synopsis: A multi-platform online project that tells the story of the country town of Port Augusta,
South Australia, through the eyes of its long-term residents.
Contact
(78 mins)
International Premiere
Writers/Directors: Bentley Dean, Martin Butler
Producers: Bentley Dean, Martin Butler
Production Company: Contact Films
International Sales: ABC Commercial
Synopsis: Yuwali was just 17 when her fully traditional lifestyle ended with the arrival of patrol
officers from Woomera. A space rocket, the Blue Streak, was to be fired at her home. Her group
of 20 had never seen or heard of white people, and the chase and contact were all filmed and
photographed. Survivors on both sides of the clash of cultures tell the intimate story of Contact.
I, Psychopath
(83 mins)
European Premiere
Writer/Director: Ian Walker
Producer: Sally Regan
Production Company: Fibro Majestic
International Sales: Off The Fence BV
Synopsis: Psychopaths … they’ll charm you, manipulate you, then ruin your life. But not all of
them with a gun or a knife. In this extraordinary documentary, suspected psychopath Sam Vaknin
goes in search of a diagnosis … was he born without a conscience?
Indonesia Calling: Joris Ivens in Australia
(90 mins)
International Premiere
Writer/Director: John Hughes
Producers: John Hughes, Andrea Foxworthy
Production Company: Early Works
International Sales: Early Works
3/4
Synopsis: In 1946, celebrated Dutch documentarian Joris Ivens defied his government and
released a radical film supporting Indonesian independence. This feature documentary revisits
Australia’s early relationship to its northern neighbour, and the impact of this small film on
Australian filmmaking.
The Matilda Candidate
(57 mins)
International Premiere
Writer/Director: Curtis Levy
Producers: Curtis Levy, Helen Panckhurst
Production Company: Olsen Levy Productions
International Sales: Olsen Levy Productions
Synopsis: The Matilda Candidate follows filmmaker Curtis Levy's comedic personal journey to
prove that Waltzing Matilda should become the national anthem. Levy stands for parliament on
the platform that Waltzing Matilda should become the Australian anthem when we become a
republic. During his campaign Levy uncovers the surprising history behind the song, and looks at
whether the Australian peoples’ passion for the song means that they are capable of embracing
the true values of a republic.
The Miscreants of Taliwood
(92 mins)
European Premiere
Director: George Gittoes
Producer: Gabrielle Dalton
Production Company: Gittoes & Dalton Productions
International Sales: SBS Content Sales
Synopsis: Maverick director George Gittoes’ ‘Extreme Tour of Terror Central’ – a totally
surprising, sometimes funny, sometimes terrifying journey into the forbidden zones of Pakistan’s
North-West Frontier.
My Uncle Bluey
(17 mins)
International Premiere
Writer/Director: Britt Arthur
Producer: James Grandison
International Sales: James Grandison
Synopsis: A filmmaker's personal story about her estranged Uncle Bluey – a white man who
found his home in a remote Aboriginal community.
Salt
(28 mins)
Directors: Michael Angus, Murray Fredericks
Producer: Michael Angus
Production Company: Jerrycan Films
International Sales: Jerrycan Films
Synopsis: Salt is the short documentary of photographer Murray Fredericks’ extreme journeys to
capture the heart of the world's most desolate landscape on Lake Eyre, in the remote north of
South Australia.
The Snowman
(79 mins)
World Premiere
Writer/Director: Juliet Lamont
Producers: Dylan Blowen, Rachel Landers
Production Company: Pony Films
4/4
International Sales: Pony Films Pty Ltd
Synopsis: In 1978, Jimmy Graham went to Antarctica with Operation Deep Freeze to train
scientists in survival skills on the ice. He left in December of that year. Three months later he
arrived back agitated and paranoid. He said that he had stumbled onto an illegal American
nuclear site and that the CIA had given him a chemical lobotomy. He descended into madness.
Unable to cope with his frightening behaviour, his wife fled with their two children. Now, 30 years
later, his daughter Juliet will try to uncover the truth and reconnect with what's left of the man she
called her father.
Stolen
(77 mins)
European Premiere
Writers/Directors/Co-producers: Violeta Ayala, Dan Fallshaw?
Producer: Tom Zubrycki
?
Production Companies: BIC Productions, United Notions Film
?
International Sales: The Film Sales Company
Synopsis: Australian filmmakers Violeta Ayala and Dan Fallshaw go to the Polisario-governed
refugee camps in the Algerian desert to make a film about a family reunion. Everything changes
when the black Saharawis start to talk about a different subject ... their freedom.
Strange Birds in Paradise – A West Papuan Story
(75 mins)
World Premiere
Director: Charlie Hill-Smith
Producers: Jamie Nicolai, John Cherry
Production Company: The House of Red Monkey
International Sales: The House of Red Monkey
Synopsis: An expedition of imagination and discovery to the hidden Indonesian province of West
Papua that exposes its sad history and desperate hopes, but culminates in a joyful and defiant
musical celebration.
Trendsmap.com
Producer: John Barratt
Production Company: Stateless Systems
Synopsis: Trendsmap.com is a real-time mapping of Twitter trends across the world. See what
the global, collective mass of humanity are discussing right now.
NEWS 
