The next round of documentaries destined for Australian screens include films about George Miller, Jimmy Barnes and other homegrown icons.
Screen Australia has announced its latest round of factual production and development funding, allocating $2.5 million to 30 documentaries. Yidinji activist Henrietta Marrie and artist Ken Done are also among the subjects in the spotlight, with titles about impersonators, a sanctuary using horses as guides, Bruce Pascoe’s Yumburra farm, young Australian bull riders and Chinese women seeking romance via AI chatbots similarly receiving support.
For fans of iconic Australian filmmaker Miller and the “Mad Max” franchise, feature documentary “Mad Max and the Genius of George Miller” explores both the dystopian screen saga and its success, with Chris Eley (“Australia: An Unofficial History”) directing and Margie Bryant (“Knowing the Score”) producing.
“Jimmy Barnes: Working Class Man” is the sequel to 2018 documentary “Jimmy Barnes: Working Class Boy,” again based on a memoir by the rock ‘n’ roll legend, with Andrew Farrell directing. The film is premiering at the 2025 Melbourne International Film Festival.
Marrie, as well as her work with the United Nations and battle for the return of her family’s stolen artefacts from the British Museum, is the focus of “Bukal Bukal” by director Rhoda Roberts (“In the Gutter? No Way”), while “Ken Done” sees “Unbreakable — The Jelena Dokic Story” co-director Ivan O’Mahoney turn his attention to the Australian creative and Done’s influence upon how the world views the nation.
“Axis of Impersonators” tells the type of tale that can only be true: a Kim Jong-Un impersonator and a Vladimir Putin impersonator join forces to rescue a Volodymyr Zelenskyy impersonator following the invasion of Ukraine. Nicholas Coles and Alexis Spraic (“The World According to Allee Willis”) direct and produce.
From Amelia Tovey, 30-minute documentary “It Starts with Us” steps inside a high-school initiative for teens at risk of family violence that includes Rosie Batty as a mentor. Also honing in on young people, the feature-length project “Liyan: Guided by Horses” is about Aboriginal researcher Professor Juli Coffin’s equine-assisted program, with Hunter Page-Lochard, Huna Amweero, Daniel Gordon, Mark Coles Smith and Stephen Page among the film’s executive producers.
From “In the Land of Wolves” writer/director Grace McKenzie, “A Year at Yumburra” heads to Pascoe’s Gippsland property to bring his book “Black Duck: A Year at Yumburra,” about Black Duck Foods, to the screen, while Rhian Skirving (“Off Country”) and Bill Bleakley’s “The Northern Run” ventures to the southern hemisphere’s largest and richest rodeo, and Chouwa Liang (“My AI Lover”) and Shannon Owen (“Left Write Hook”) team up to look at love in the time of AI via “Replica.”
The Rachel Griffiths-presented “When the War Is Over”, a five-part docuseries for the ABC, is also among the funding recipients.
“From regional Australia to global war zones, these rich, intimate and unflinching stories open windows into new worlds, explore our rich cultural landscape and help us understand shared challenges — moving us in ways that only documentary can,” said Screen Australia Head of Documentary Richard Huddleston, announcing the latest funding.
“The calibre of talented emerging creatives we’ve been able to support has been impressive, as is the way many of them are joining forces with more experienced practitioners to achieve their aims.”
“Our sector is ever evolving and this kind of collaborative community, coupled with innovative approaches to distinct Australian storytelling, is why our documentaries resonate with audiences here and around the world.”
For more information on the full list of documentaries that received production and development funding, visit Screen Australia’s website.