Martin Fabinyi

Martin Fabinyi is an Australian film and television producer and director, songwriter and music label owner and has written books on the local rock music scene. He was the chief executive officer of Mushroom Pictures from its formation in 1993 to 2009. His film projects include the features '' Chopper'' (2000), ''Gettin' Square'' (2003), Wolf Creek (2005) and '' Macbeth'' (2006). Fabinyi was profiled by ''Variety'' and named one of the most influential people in the Australian film industry by '' Screen International'' magazine.

In 1978 Fabinyi and composer Cameron Allan formed the label Regular Records, initially for releases by pop and R&B band, Mental As Anything.

Early life

Martin Fabinyi was born and grew up in Melbourne. He was one of five children of the Hungarian-born book publisher Andrew Fabinyi (1908–1978), and Elisabeth Clare (nee Robinson, 1912–2002), an administrative officer and librarian. Dr. Fabinyi OBE, as Managing Director of F.W. Cheshire, became one of Australia's most influential and celebrated publishers, including publishing Joan Lindsay's Picnic At Hanging Rock, Alan Marshall's I Can Jump Puddles and early work by David Malouf and Robin Boyd. Fabinyi was educated at Wesley College, Melbourne He worked as a film editor and appeared as Cousin Martin on the children's ''Tarax Show'' with "Uncle" Norman Swain on the Nine Network and then spent two years studying drama at Flinders University in Adelaide from 1969 where he founded and edited the student newspaper ''Empire Times''.

Career

In 1973 he moved to Sydney and joined the Filmmakers Co-op. Fabinyi, who had shot independent works in Adelaide, received a grant from the Experimental Film Board to make ''The Vacuum'' (1975), one of the first projects in Australia to be shot on portable videotape. A satire on the personalities behind religious cults, featuring a game show guest starring Johnny O'Keefe and starring Stephen MacLean, Charlie Dare and drag act Sylvia and the Synthetics, the video premiered at the Co-op, and toured universities with a live performance from the Synthetics and Fabinyi's earlier work, including the controversial ''TV Dinner'' (1973). Fabinyi, who was influenced by German artist Otto Muehl, continued to work in video and was a founding member of Bush Video, the group which wired up and broadcast on-site during the 1973 Aquarius Festival in Nimbin. In 1974 Fabinyi received a grant to screen a selection of Australian experimental films in London. Writing for ''Filmnews'' he reported on the series of events held in April to May 1975.

He continued working with the group Sylvia and the Synthetics in performance art and was invited to participate in the Adelaide Fringe Festival in 1975. His piece, which involved nudity and video (the audience only seeing the video and therefore not sure whether the event was live or not) was staged in a tent next to the Torrens River and attracted the attention of the local police who claimed they could see behind the screens and charged Fabinyi with "Aiding and abetting an indecent act". Whilst the Adelaide Festival organisers debated whether to show the video across the city (that year monitors screened events on most city street corners), Fabinyi was in court. Eventually, after an appeal was lost, he was sentenced to three months hard labour. This was reported in Sydney by Richard Neville in the ''Nation Review'' as an outrage, prompting still more debate.

Fabinyi returned to Sydney and the world of rock and roll, teaming with photographer Philip Morris for the book, ''The Bumper Book of Rock''. With Morris he designed record covers, photo shoots and documented the 1970s Sydney scene with Morris and rock legend Johnny O'Keefe. Fabinyi began writing feature film scripts with co-writers and directors including Cameron Allan (1955–2013).

Regular Records

Fabinyi and Allan also shared a passion for pop music escpecially Sydney-based band Mental As Anything, which became the first signing for their new label, Regular Records, formed in September 1978. The band's talent manager was soon replaced by his brother, Jeremy Fabinyi. Distributed by Festival Records, Regular Records nevertheless remained as an independent label for fifteen years, breaking artists such as Icehouse, I'm Talking and Kate Ceberano. The label's artists cumulatively sold over five million albums. It released " Australiana" (1983), which became a number-one hit for comedian, Austen Tayshus. Note: Used for Australian Singles and Albums charting from 1974 until Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) created their own charts in mid-1988. In 1992, Kent back calculated chart positions for 1970–1974. Regular Records also signed the Reels,McFarlan
'The Reels'
entry. Retrieved 27 February 2010.
/ref> Stephen Cummings, the Cockroaches (later became the Wiggles) and Electric Pandas. Allan left Australia (and the label) in mid-1980s to work in the United States; Fabinyi sold the label in 1995.

In 1990 Fabinyi was appointed editor of ''Follow Me Gentlemen'', a men's fashion magazine version of ''Follow Me''. Changing its name to ''FMG'', it was a precursor to Australian men's fashion and general magazines. In 1999 Fabinyi and Toby Creswell co-authored ''The Real Thing: Adventures in Australian Rock & Roll, 1957-now'', a history of Australian rock and roll between 1957 and the late 1990s.

Mushroom Pictures

Fabinyi formed Mushroom Pictures with Michael Gudinski of Mushroom Records in 1993 as the film-making branch of he [Mushroom Group. Mushroom Pictures began by making documentaries for the ABC, Discovery Channel and the Nine Network. Early works were ''Tribal Voice – Yothu Yindi'' (1993 TV documentary on Indigenous rock group Yothu Yindi), '' Kate Ceberano & Friends'' (1993 TV series), ''Next to Nothing'' and ''Nothing to Hide'' (on lingerie and swimwear) and ''The Singer and the Swinger'' (1998 TV documentary on Johnny O'Keefe and Lee Gordon).

In 2000 Mushroom Pictures produced and released the horror feature spoof Cut starring Molly Ringwald and Kylie Minogue, which was sold worldwide and achieved box office success in Europe and Asia. Mushroom Pictures' second feature, Chopper, which Fabinyi executive produced, was the first Australian R+18 rated feature to go No. 1, grossing over $5 million. It became a worldwide cult phenomena and launched the careers of both director Andrew Dominik and actor Eric Bana. Mushroom Pictures moved into local distribution with Russian Doll. In 2003, Fabinyi produced Gettin' Square, directed by Jonathan Teplitzky and starring David Wenham and Sam Worthington, which garnered box office success and critical acclaim. This was followed by Geoffrey Wright's take on Macbeth, also starring Sam Worthington. Mushroom Pictures moved back to television with ''Great Australian Albums'' seasons 1 (2007) and 2 (2008), an eight-part documentary series on influential Australian bands' albums for SBS Television. Its first season was described by Graeme Blundell in ''The Australian'' as the best documentary series of the year. Mushroom Pictures distributed the American documentary ''Anvil! The Story of Anvil'', the feature film ''Cedar Boys'', and ''Mad Bastards'' in 2010. Fabinyi had worked as CEO from 1994 to 2009.

Beyond Entertainment

In 2010 Fabinyi joined Beyond Entertainment as Head of Documentaries and Feature Films. ''Manny Lewis'', a feature film starring Carl Barron, was released in 2015 in conjunction with Studio Canal. The origins of AC/DC were a part of a documentary on the record label Albert Productions, ''Blood + Thunder'' (2015), written and directed by Paul Clarke. This two-part documentary mini-series was screened on ABC-TV and BBC4.

Fabinyi and Beyond CEO Mikael Borglund executive produced the 12-part ABC-TV music documentary series ''Days Like These with Diesel'' (2022). Fabinyi has produced ''The Hardest Line'' a feature-length documentary on Midnight Oil in conjunction with Blink TV to be released through Roadshow Films in 2023. He also co-produced feature documentary ''The Angels: Kickin' Down the Door'', released through Universal Pictures in 2022 and is executive producing ''John Farnham: Finding the Voice'' to be released in 2023 by Sony Pictures. In development are scripted features and documentaries with emerging filmmakers.

Personal life

Fabinyi was married to fashion designer Jenny-Jane Carpenter from 1988 to 1993.

Bibliography

Books

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Articles

* Fabinyi, Martin (2013)
"Composer was a restless intellect"
''The Sydney Morning Herald'', 19 July 2013 - obituary of Cameron Allan.
* Fabinyi, Martin (2022)
Elvis: a Baz Luhrmann extravaganza
(film review), sydneysentinel.com.au, 30 June 2022.
* Fabinyi, Martin (2022)
"Margrete: Queen of the North – Review"
cityhubsydney.com.au, 8 November 2022.

Filmography

Credits:
* ''TV Dinner'' (1973) – video: filmmaker
* ''The Vacuum'' (1975) – video feature: director, writer, producer
* '' The Crossing'' (1990) – feature film: music co-ordinator
* '' Tribal Voice – Yothu Yindi'' (1993) – TV documentary: producer
* ''Fashion'' (1993) – TV series: executive producer
* '' Kate Ceberano & Friends'' (1993) – TV series: executive producer
* ''Next to Nothing/Nothing to Hide'' (1995) – TV series: executive producer
* ''Counting the Beat'' (1996) – TV documentary: executive producer
* ''The Singer and the Swinger'' (1999) – documentary: executive producer
* ''Cut'' (2000) – feature film: producer
* '' Chopper'' (2000) – feature film: executive producer
* ''Horseplay'' (2003) – feature film: executive producer
* ''Gettin' Square'' (2003) – feature film: producer
* '' Wolf Creek'' (2005) – feature film: executive producer
* '' Macbeth'' (2006) – producer
* ''Storm Warning'' (2007) – feature film: executive producer
* ''Great Australian Albums'' (2007, 2008) – TV series: executive producer
* '' Cannot Buy My Soul'' (2008) – feature documentary: executive producer
* ''Cedar Boys'' (2009) – feature film: executive producer
* '' Bait 3D'' (2011) – feature film: co-executive producer
* ''Manny Lewis'' (2015) – feature film: producer
* '' Blood + Thunder: The Story of Alberts'' (2015) – TV documentary mini-series
* ''Indigo Lake'' (2016) – feature film: executive producer
* ''Backburning'' (2018) – short documentary: producer
* '' Days Like These'' (2022) – TV series: executive producer

* ''The Angels: Kickin' Down the Door'' (2022) – producer
* '' The Hardest Line'' (2023) – feature documentary: producer
* '' John Farnham – Finding the Voice'' (2023) – feature documentary: executive producer

Awards and nominations

* 2003: AACTA Awards (previously known as IF Awards) – 'Best Film' - Gettin' Square – nominee

* 2015: 15th Screen Producers Australia Awards - Documentary Television Production - Blood and Thunder - nomineeScreen Producers Australia Awards Finalists Announced
screenproducers.org.au. Retrieved 9 November 2022.

References

External links

Martin Fabinyi
at Screen Australia's The Screen Guide.

Biographical cuttings on Martin Fabinyi, former photographic designer for record covers
at National Library of Australia

Martin Fabinyi
at British Film Institute

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fabinyi, Martin
Australian magazine editors
Film directors from Melbourne
Australian screenwriters
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people)
Australian people of Hungarian descent
20th-century Australian male writers