''Slim and I'' is a 2020

Australian Australian(s) may refer to: Australia * Australia, a country * Australians, citizens of the Commonwealth of Australia ** European Australians ** Anglo-Celtic Australians, Australians descended principally from British colonists ** Aboriginal A ...

documentary film directed by

Kriv Stenders Kriv Stenders is an Australian writer, producer and director best known for the film '' Red Dog'' and the thriller film ''Kill Me Three Times''. He started off directing music videos for many famous Australian bands, including Go Betweens, M ...

about the life of

Joy McKean Joy McKean , (born 14 January 1930), is an Australian country music singer-songwriter and wife and manager of the late Slim Dusty. Known as the "grand lady" of Australian country music, McKean is recognised as one of Australia's leading songwrite ...

and

Slim Dusty Slim Dusty, AO MBE (born David Gordon Kirkpatrick; 13 June 1927 – 19 September 2003) was an Australian country music singer-songwriter, guitarist and producer. He was an Australian cultural icon and one of the country's most awarded stars ...

, Australia's most successful husband and wife singer-songwriter duo.

Making of the documentary

The documentary came about through the passion of Slim and Joy's grandson James Arneman, who had compiled an archive of old footage of the families touring days. The family was approached by film producer Chris Brown before director Kriv Stenders joined the project. Stenders said "The idea to tell their story through the lens of Joy was something that I found very interesting about this project and made me want to be involved the documentary. I knew very little about Slim and Joy, but I listened to their music and read the books about their lives and discovered such an incredible story that needed to be told."

Cinematic launch

''Slim and I'' was released in Australian cinemas in September 2020, during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...

, which delayed the film's release in the

State of Victoria Victoria is a state in southeastern Australia. It is the second-smallest state with a land area of , the second most populated state (after New South Wales) with a population of over 6.5 million, and the most densely populated state in Au ...

. The world première took place in Kempsey, New South Wales, close to where Slim Dusty grew up. The

Governor of New South Wales The governor of New South Wales is the viceregal representative of the Australian monarch, King Charles III, in the state of New South Wales. In an analogous way to the governor-general of Australia at the national level, the governors of the ...

Margaret Beazley Margaret Joan Beazley, , (born 23 July 1951) is an Australian Judge, jurist who is the 39th and current governor of New South Wales, serving since 2 May 2019. She was the president of the New South Wales Court of Appeal, the List of the first wo ...

attended the red carpet event, along with the Member for Oxley

Melinda Pavey Melinda Jane Pavey (; born 1969), an Australian politician, is the New South Wales Minister for Water, Property and Housing since April 2019 in the second Berejiklian ministry and the Perrottet ministry. Pavey has been a member of the New South ...

and

Kempsey Shire Kempsey Shire is a local government area in the Mid North Coast region of New South Wales, Australia. The shire services an area of and is located on the Pacific Highway and the North Coast railway line. Kempsey Shire was formed on 1 Octob ...

Mayor Liz Campbell. Joy McKean also attended along with children

Anne Anne, alternatively spelled Ann, is a form of the Latin female given name Anna. This in turn is a representation of the Hebrew Hannah, which means 'favour' or 'grace'. Related names include Annie. Anne is sometimes used as a male name in the ...

and David Kirkpatrick, director

and producer Aline Jacques. The film reached Australian cinemas on 10 September 2020.

Critical reception

Following its Australian premiere, the film received rave reviews. ''

The Sydney Morning Herald ''The Sydney Morning Herald'' (''SMH'') is a daily compact newspaper published in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, and owned by Nine. Founded in 1831 as the ''Sydney Herald'', the ''Herald'' is the oldest continuously published newspaper ...

s Paul Byrnes gave it four stars and called it "pure joy, in more ways than one". ''

The Australian ''The Australian'', with its Saturday edition, ''The Weekend Australian'', is a broadsheet newspaper published by News Corp Australia since 14 July 1964.Bruns, Axel. "3.1. The active audience: Transforming journalism from gatekeeping to gatew ...

'' newspaper review by Stephen Romei called it a "brilliant love story" and an "utterly charming film", and also gave four stars. Anthony Morris for Screenhub gave it four stars and wrote: "This fast moving, insightful and always entertaining film is firmly a tribute to Joy, and rightly so: if Slim Dusty was 'the man who is Australia', she was the woman who made the man." ''Out in Perth'' gave it four and a half stars and wrote "After viewing this very Australian story, you are left questioning why this wasn’t made years ago." ‘Slim & I’ tells the story of country music queen Joy McKean
www.outinperth.com; 1 Sep, 2020

Awards and nominations

Soundtrack

A soundtrack was released on 4 September 2020.

Track listing

Charts

Weekly charts

Year-end charts

Release history

References

External links

* * * {{Slim Dusty Country music films Musical films based on actual events 2020 films Slim Dusty albums Australian biographical films Films about entertainers Jukebox musical films 2020 soundtrack albums Soundtracks by Australian artists Compilation albums by Australian artists EMI Records albums Films directed by Kriv Stenders 2020s English-language films Screen Australia films