Just the Factuals for Victoria

Film Victoria has approved funding for five new factual television projects.

No longer identifying the networks involved with each title, Film Victoria indicates they include both Pay and Free to Air Television projects.

The longest of the five shows is Chris Humfrey’s Wild Life, a 13 part series on zoologist Chris Humfrey presenting Australian fauna.

The others include Charles Bean’s Great War, Kangaroo Mob, Second Australians and a documentary on director Paul Cox (pictured).

Charles Bean’s Great War
Factual One Off, Pay Television
360 Degree Films Pty Ltd
Producer: John Moore
Writer/Director: Wain Fimeri
In this dramatised documentary, Charles Bean, war correspondent, obsessive historian and reluctant mythmaker; tells us all about his remarkable life. From the playing fields of England via the Australian outback, to the maelstrom of the Great War. Charles Bean wrote the truth yet everyone thought he created a myth. He loved Australia the way most people love another person, and as so often happens in love, Australia let him down.

Chris Humfrey’s Wild Life
Television, Factual Series, Long Form 13 x 26 minutes
Producer/s: Tony Wright, Matt Calissi (AP)
Writer: Daniella Ortega
Meet Chris Humfrey, he’s a zoologist who lives with his young family and their REALLY big dog in an idyllic bush haven in country Victoria. But the Humfreys also share their home with a few other pets-around 2000 of them in fact-and each and every one of them needs attention and 24/7 TLC. This isn’t your average family home; it’s a private zoo where human and animal sagas unfold on a daily basis – like a kind of mixed species ‘Packed to the Rafters’! Chris and his wife Nicole work around the clock to keep their very extended family happy and healthy and manage their motley crew of Gen Y zookeepers/presenters. Each week Chris will share with us this extraordinary life and his amazing knowledge of Australia’s fauna. Follow Chris in this chaotic, animal-crazy series that captures the drama, the danger, the animal facts and the sheer exhilaration of Chris Humfrey’s Wild Life. Every day, a new saga unfolds at the zoo! And there is something new to learn all the time – even for Chris!

Kangaroo Mob
Television, Factual One Off, 55 minutes
360 Degree Films Pty Ltd
Producer/Writer: Sally Ingleton
Director: Simon Target
KANGAROO MOB (1 x 55 minutes) is an intimate look at the kangaroos taking over the suburbs of Canberra and the team of ecologists following their every move. Using the latest scientific technology we will uncover surprising new behaviour whilst delving into the controversial issues that arise when sharing your backyard with a large wild animal. KANGAROO MOB will be a highly entertaining look at what happens when habitat runs out and kangaroos and humans are forced to co-exist.

Paul Cox
Television Free to Air, Factual One Off, 55 minutes
Rebel Films Pty Ltd
Producer/s: Jeni McMahon, David Bradbury
Writer/Director: David Bradbury
Paul Cox is one of Australia’s most important and prolific film directors. Over a forty year career his films have provoked an extraordinary range of emotions from audiences and critics; adoration and sometimes derision from the many actors he has worked with. Suffering advanced liver disease, Paul has been given months to live unless a liver matching his rare blood type is located. The recurring themes in Paul’s films – isolation, faith, hope, love, survival – are now evident in his own fragile existence. Now, as he waits for his life saving liver transplant, he must confront his own frailty and look into that mirror darkly. This film is an intimate portrait of an artist confronting his own mortality and an introspective examination of his life’s work.

Second Australians
Television, Factual Series, Long Form 156 minutes (3 x 52′ episodes)
Renegade Films Pty Ltd
Producer/s: Alex West, Lucy Maclaren
Writer/s: Alex West, Sara Tiefenbrun
Director: Ben Shakleford
Few modern nations are as diverse as Australia. Today half of all Australians, or their parents, were born overseas. Some 11 million of us have origins in around 185 countries. The story of immigration, of its restriction and liberalisation is the story of how the Australian dream unfolded. Behind that story is a secret history, revealing modern Australia is the result of a series of remarkable social experiments. The country did not simply evolve: it was socially reengineered. At times politicians who devised these social experiments on both the left and the right covered up their aims with spin. Ironically, while these experiments were intended to ensure that Australia prospered, they also made Australia an international pariah. Despite that, modern Australia ultimately developed into an affluent, cohesive and relaxed society, this series will explain how that was achieved and the struggles to make it possible.

Source: Film Victoria