Film

Favourite Interviews of 2016

in , , ,

These interviews are the most fun thing I do. I love getting lost in someone’s work, I love editing them and I love getting to show them to you. Here is my 2015 list. 

LEGENDARY PUNK ROCKER HENRY ROLLINS ON WITNESSING DEATH, LONELINESS AND CHANNELING PURE RAGE INTO A MISSION. 

"I WAS A COMPLETE DRUG ADDICT" THE MUSICAL JOURNEY OF MUSICAL SENSATION TASH SULTANA

ALAN ALDA: WHY M*A*S*H GAVE HIM NIGHT TERRORS, HIS LOVE OF SCIENTISTS AND MASTURBATION GUILT

HOW MATT PARKER AND TREY STONE MAKE AN EPISODE OF SOUTH PARK (FROM SCRATCH) IN JUST 6 DAYS WITHOUT GOING CRAZY

JODIE FOSTER'S CHILDHOOD TRAUMA AND GROWING UP IN HOLLYWOOD

MATT DAMON ON REJECTION, SURVEILLANCE & SEEING BEN AFFLECK SUFFER

QUENTIN TARANTINO'S BIGGEST LEARNING CURVES, ON PIRACY & BECOMING A "PROPER" FILMMAKER

THE SECRET ROOM INSIDE JUNEE PRISON

NONI HAZLEHURST: HOW PLAYSCHOOL CHANGED HER, HER POLITICS AND BASICALLY BEING AUSTRALIA'S MUM

AUSSIE-BORN KOREAN POP-STAR PRINCE MAK ON THE INCREDIBLE PRICE YOU PAY TO ACHIEVE K-POP STARDOM

ERIC BANA EXPLAINS WHY SPIELBERG DRAGGED HIM TO AN ABANDONED AIRPORT IN THE DESERT AND WHY HE MISSES BEING A STAND-UP

GANG OF YOUTHS FRONT MAN DAVID LE'AUPEPE ON SUICIDE, GOD AND ASS INJECTIONS

ZOLTAN ISTVAN: THE US PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE WHO WANTS TO ABOLISH DEATH, SHUT DOWN PRISONS AND BECOME A CYBORG

JON FAVREAU ON THE DEATH OF GARRY SHANDLING AND FIGHTING TO TURN ROBERT DOWNEY JR INTO IRONMAN

ALIX GENEROUS: THE APP DEVELOPER WHO WANTS TO HARNESS THE AUTISM SPECTRUM TO FIX THE WORLD'S BIGGEST PROBLEMS

AUSTRALIAN ASTRONAUT ANDY THOMAS ON HOW 117 DAYS, 9 HOURS AND 14 MINUTES IN SPACE CAN AFFECT YOUR MARRIAGE

PIPER KERMAN: THE WOMAN BEHIND ORANGE IS THE NEW BLACK EXPLAINS WHY THE USA HANDCUFFS WOMEN AS THEY GIVE BIRTH

CHIDO GOVERA: THE ZIMBABWE ORPHAN WHO IS USING MUSHROOMS AS A POLITICAL WEAPON TO FIGHT POVERTY.

2016 in 10 (oh god, I'm crying) minutes

in , ,

Every year, Madeleine Genner (my excellent wife) and I gather up the sounds of the year and I break out the old ProTools to mix a mashup of the year in news, politics, sport, power chords and dead famous people.

And hoooo boy, was 2016 a doozy.

This is the 6th year we've made the montage for ABC Radio. It always provokes much argument in our house but we still do it. 

Leave a comment if this makes you cry at any point.  It'll validate this whole exercise. 

The Director of Antz & Madagascar Thinks the Future of Film is Virtual Reality

in , , ,

What can you learn about human nature from animation? That is what Eric Darnell wants to know.

Eric is one of the pioneers of computer-generated movies, he was the director of blockbuster animations like ANTZ, the Madagascar movies, Penguins.

He's now decided the future of filmmaking is this: he has passed up the big bucks of Hollywood to run his very own Virtual Reality studio start-up Baobab.

He's realised that in order to make the ultimate Virtual Reality film, you need to understand the core elements of human nature.

Shot by David May

Edited by Marc Fennell

A Little Note about SBS Viceland

in , , , , ,

Hi,

As you may have read, on November 15, my tv home SBS2 will be transforming into a new channel in partnership with the one-time hipster bible turned Peabody and Emmy-winning youth publisher Vice.

The channel will be called....

 

My nightly programme The Feed will be a lynchpin of the channel alongside a bunch of shows. Some of those will be from Vice and some you already know from SBS2.

For me, It’s been super interesting to see the reaction to the SBS Viceland announcement. I kinda expected the usual “Ugh, why is SBS selling a channel to some US hipster douchebag corporation owned by Murdoch” garbage that comes with these things.

Translation: "Open your eyes, sheeple!"

Translation: "Open your eyes, sheeple!"

For the incredibly-easy-to-Google record, 21st Century Fox has a 5% stake in Vice Media who, in turn, SBS is partnering with to build a new channel which SBS 100% owns and operates. No precious publicly owned spectrum is being auctioned off to Uncle Rupert. We are creating something new out of two broadcasters that have an incredible amount in common.

And special note for my beloved ABC colleagues who seem to forget that the ABC's entire publishing arm ABC Books is an actual part of News Ltd. I know this because they are lovely and I've released two books with them... which you should absolutely buy. #RIPMySoul. 

And as for the hipster douchebag charge….. just you wait. When the Viceland move was first discussed internally at SBS months ago I took the time to go through all of the shows that Viceland had produced and I was floored. SBS will make an announcement very soon about the shows  that will launch on the channel but let me assure you that I have seen stunning programmes on music, sexuality, feminism, technology, sports, food, alcohol, terrorism and yes, good ole fashioned drugs that simply blew me away. Beautiful filmmaking, great characters and stunning storytelling. There are programmes that both revel in hipsterism and utterly challenge it by showing you a world that almost never gets shown on tv. And certainly never shown with this panache.

For those wondering how the Viceland content fits within the SBS charter....

....I totally get it. It seems like an odd fit, right? Except when you see the content you will realise that the whole goal of Viceland is to explore a multicultural world through the prisms of music, sex, the environment, film, food and more. It’s globally focussed, it’s diverse, it’s fun and defiantly open-minded journalism and entertainment. As some of you know, I've been a passionate SBS presenter since I was a teenager with questionable choice in neckwear (see below). I believe deeply in SBS's capacity to capture the diversity of the world in a way that is informative and utterly entertaining.  Frankly, this move will bring SBS2 far more in-line with our charter than some of our existing content.  Certainly not "losing our way" as some have suggested. 

Marc Circa A Time We'd Rather Forget.

Marc Circa A Time We'd Rather Forget.

Is a lot of the Viceland content produced by UK & US producers? Yeah. But we’re also bringing you a lot of those iconic programmes that only SBS can. That’s why it’s a partnership.

Oh and as an aside: By simple virtue of having The Feed, SBS Viceland will still have more first-run, live, original primetime Australian content per week than ABC2 has ever had per week.

Ever.

Don't get me wrong, I love my weekly dose of Good Game and those sassy Tom Tilley specials but - on a per week basis - they don't add up to 3 years of live, nightly original journalism, comedy, forums and documentaries that The Feed has (and will) deliver.  

Come November 15, SBS Viceland & The Feed will bring you Walkley and Logie-nominated Australian storytelling every night that is diverse, fun and generally bats way above its average for a multichannel. And as for the shows around us on the channel and on SBS OnDemand? Well, as I said….  just you wait.  

Or give us a call and tell us what you want to see.