Tom Zubrycki (born in London, England, in 1946) is an Australian documentary filmmaker. He is "widely respected as one of Australia's leading documentary filmmakers", according to ''The Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film''. His films on social, environmental and political issues have won international prizes and have been screened around the world. He is an active member of the

Australian Directors Guild The Australian Directors' Guild (ADG) is an industry guild representing the interests of film, television, commercials and digital media directors, including documentary makers and animators, throughout Australia. With its headquarters in Sydney ...

and lectures in the Open Program of the

Australian Film, Television and Radio School The Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) formerly Australian Film and Television School, is Australia's national screen arts and broadcast school. The school is a Commonwealth Government statutory authority. History Establishe ...

.Directing Masterclass with Tom Zubrycki
Australian Film, TV and Radio School

Personal life and activities

Zubrycki was born in the UK. His father was Jerzy Zubrzycki, a university academic credited as one of the main architects of the Australian government’s policy on

multiculturalism The term multiculturalism has a range of meanings within the contexts of sociology, political philosophy, and colloquial use. In sociology and in everyday usage, it is a synonym for " ethnic pluralism", with the two terms often used interchang ...

. The family migrated to Australia in 1955, where he attended St Edmunds College, Canberra ACT Australia;

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public research university located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton encompasses seven teaching and research colleges, in addition to several national academies an ...

, Canberra; and

University of New South Wales The University of New South Wales (UNSW), also known as UNSW Sydney, is a public research university based in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia. It is one of the founding members of Group of Eight, a coalition of Australian research-intensiv ...

, Sydney. Zubrycki completed a Bachelor of Science degree at the

, Canberra, and the immediately left Canberra for Sydney where he got a job at

Abbotsleigh , motto_translation = Time Flies Faster than a Weaver's Shuttle , established = , type = Independent early learning, primary and secondary day and boarding school , denomination = Anglic ...

, a private girls college on Sydney’s north shore. There he taught science as well as directing and staging several plays including

The Maids ''The Maids'' (french: Les Bonnes, links=no) is a 1947 play by the French dramatist Jean Genet. It was first performed at the Théâtre de l'Athénée in Paris in a production that opened on 17 April 1947, which Louis Jouvet directed. The play ...

, by Jean Genet. He also became involved in the anti-Vietnam War movement and joined SDS (

Students for a Democratic Society Students for a Democratic Society (SDS) was a national student activist organization in the United States during the 1960s, and was one of the principal representations of the New Left. Disdaining permanent leaders, hierarchical relationships ...

). In 1970 he enrolled part-time for a Masters in Sociology at the

, Sydney. Whilst studying Zubrycki obtained a teaching position at the International School in North Ryde. While studying Sociology, Zubrycki became inspired by the Canadian

Challenge for Change Challenge for Change (French: ''Societé Nouvelle'') was a participatory film and video project created by the National Film Board of Canada in 1967, the Canadian Centennial. Active until 1980, Challenge for Change used film and video production t ...

scheme, which used film and video to empower local communities. The videos were shown in town halls, community centers and people's houses in a period before domestic video players were available. In 1974 the Whitlam Labor government funded 1
video access resource centres
across Australia which were modelled on the Canadian scheme. Zubrycki eventually became a leading player in the development of the community video in Australia before switching to direct his first feature documentary. Through the 70’s Zubrycki became an active member of the Sydney Filmmakers Co-operative and served on the editorial board of

Filmnews ''Filmnews'' was a monthly newspaper that covered independent film production, distribution and exhibition in Australia and the federal and state government policies and practices that supported them. Produced in Sydney, it was distributed around ...

. His first two film
Waterloo
an
Kemira – Diary Of A Strike
were distributed by the Co-op. Over the course of his career, Zubrycki has directed 16 documentaries. most of them feature-length, produced another 20, and executive produced 2. Apart from making films, Zubrycki is also a teacher of documentary. Between 2003 and 2008 he lectured in documentary at University of Technology, Sydney, and from 2010 taught documentary masterclasses in the Open Program of

. Zubrycki has also worked extensively as an assessor of projects for Australian government film bodies, and for a brief period was a commissioning editor for

SBS Independent SBS independent (SBSi) operated as the commissioning house for Australia's multicultural public broadcaster, the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS), between August 1994 and December 2007. It was instituted via the landmark "Creative Nation" cul ...

. He is actively involved in the

and served for several years on the board. He is also a founding member o
OZDOX
the Australian Documentary Forum, and serves on the Film Advisory Panel of the

Sydney Film Festival The Sydney Film Festival is an annual competitive film festival held in Sydney, Australia, usually over 12 days in June. A number of awards are given, the top one being the Sydney Film Prize. the festival's director is Nashen Moodley. Histo ...

. In 2018 Zubrycki was commissioned by Currency House to write a Platform Paper about the current state of documentary in Australia. The Paper title
“The Changing Landscape of Australian Documentary”
was published a year later. It canvassed the history of documentary in Australia and made critical observations about how the sector is struggling after cuts in government funding, despite recent cinema hits. The Paper called for government regulation of streaming platforms like

Netflix Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a fi ...

Amazon Amazon most often refers to: * Amazons, a tribe of female warriors in Greek mythology * Amazon rainforest, a rainforest covering most of the Amazon basin * Amazon River, in South America * Amazon (company), an American multinational technolog ...

and Stan to compel them to invest in more Australian documentaries. Tom Zubrycki is married t
Julia Overton
Julia Overton executive produces documentaries for broadcast and theatrical release. She travels regularly to international festival and markets and teaches and mentors developing filmmakers. They have one chil
Sam Zubrycki
who is also a filmmaker.

Writing/directing career

After finishing a degree in sociology, Between 1974 and 1978 Zubrycki filmed, directed and edited short social impact videos using black and white porta-paks in collaboration with Sydney-based community groups and trade unions. These were his first visual documentary projects and include
We Have To Live With It
(1974) an
Fig Street Fiasco
(1974). We Have To Live With It was triggered by an incident in Balmain, Sydney where a container truck from the terminal in Mort Bay lost its breaks and crushed a small car killing the passengers on board. The outcry led to the formation of a local resident action group. Zubrycki was a member of the group, and quickly shot and edited a video which was screened it at a large town hall meeting. The screening fired-up debate over the issue. A delegation of residents met with the minister responsible, and showed him the video. The container terminal closed within a year and the trucks disappeared! This was one of the first times in Australia where video was used as a

social action In sociology, social action, also known as Weberian social action, is an act which takes into account the actions and reactions of individuals (or ' agents'). According to Max Weber, "Action is 'social' insofar as its subjective meaning takes ...

tool with an objective of achieving change. In 1976 Zubrycki obtained a job in a community centre in Marrickville to make similar social impact videos. He was also supplied with a budget to build and operate a mobile facility. The Community Media Bus, as it came to be known, was re-fitted out as a mobile office and production studio. It operated around the suburb of Marrickville, Newtown and Dulwich Hill. The limits of the new video technology and his desire to reach wider audiences ultimately forced Zubrycki to switch to

16mm film 16 mm film is a historically popular and economical gauge of film. 16 mm refers to the width of the film (about inch); other common film gauges include 8 and 35 mm. It is generally used for non-theatrical (e.g., industrial, edu ...

and to feature-length documentaries. Using the networks developed while making these early videos, Zubrycki completed Waterloo in 1981. The film, which focused attention on the negative social impacts of Sydney's rapid urban development, won the prize for Best Documentary at the 1981

. Zubrycki's films have a style that he has developed over the course of his career. The subjects of his documentaries are, on the most part, drawn from issues of the day, and personalised. He usually works in a documentary or " observational style" and his films are narrative-based and character-driven. His first documentaries were stories that focused on the victims of Australia's rapid economic and social re-structuring. They included ''Waterloo'' (1981) about the effects of urban redevelopment on a Sydney suburb; ''Kemira - Diary of a Strike'' (1984) about an underground colliery sit-in strike near

Wollongong Wollongong ( ), colloquially referred to as The Gong, is a city located in the Illawarra region of New South Wales, Australia. The name is believed to originate from the Dharawal language, meaning either 'five islands/clouds', 'ground near wa ...

which won an AFI Award for Best Documentary,Past AFI Award Winners
Australian Film Institute and ''Friends & Enemies'' (1985) about a protracted and bitter union dispute in Queensland that saw the rise of the

New Right New Right is a term for various right-wing political groups or policies in different countries during different periods. One prominent usage was to describe the emergence of certain Eastern European parties after the collapse of the Soviet Uni ...

in Australian politics. In 1988, he was contracted by

Film Australia Film Australia was a company established by the Government of Australia to produce films about Australia in 1973. Its predecessors were the Cinema and Photographic Branch (1913–38), the Australian National Film Board (1939–1955, under diff ...

to write and direct a documentary commissioned by the

Australian Council of Trade Unions The Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), originally the Australasian Council of Trade Unions, is the largest peak body representing workers in Australia. It is a national trade union centre of 46 affiliated unions and eight trades and l ...

(ACTU) and funded by The Australian Bicentennial Authority. However, owing to an editorial difference between the filmmaker and the ACTU, the film was never officially completed. Zubrycki claimed that he was forced to re-write history in accordance with the wishes of key ACTU officials who wanted to de-emphasize direct industrial action as a way of improving wages and conditions. The unfinished film was screened at the Melbourne International Film Festival in 1989, and copies on VHS tape circulated in Australia. In the late 1980s, Zubrycki made two documentaries in Broome, Western Australia: ''Lord of the Bush'' (1990), a bio-pic about eccentric British developer Lord Alistair McAlpine and his plans to create a new ‘civilization’ in Australia's north; and ''Bran Nue Dae'' (1991), about the first Aboriginal musical written and performed in Australia. The documentary featured the indigenous playwright

Jimmy Chi James Ronald Chi (1948 – 26 June 2017) was an Australian composer, musician and playwright. His best known work is the 1990 musical ''Bran Nue Dae'' which was adapted for film in 2009. Early life Chi was born in Broome, Western Australia in ...

. In the early 1990s, Zubrycki's focus turned to migrant and refugee families, and the stresses caused by cultural conflict, and the search for identity and home. In 1993, he completed ''Homelands'' about an El Salvadorean refugee family and the anatomy of a marriage under stress. This was followed by ''Billal'' (1995), a documentary that followed the dramatic aftermath of a racially motivated incident involving a Lebanese teenage boy and his family. Zubrycki was employed as a commissioning editor at

SBS-TV The Special Broadcasting Service (SBS) is an Australian hybrid-funded public service broadcaster. About 80 percent of funding for the company is derived from the Australian Government. SBS operates six TV channels ( SBS, SBS Viceland, SBS World ...

in 1996/97, but quickly returned to directing, making ''The Diplomat'' (2000), about the former exiled

East Timor East Timor (), also known as Timor-Leste (), officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is an island country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the exclave of Oecusse on the island's north-west ...

ese leader

Jose Ramos-Horta Jose is the English transliteration of the Hebrew and Aramaic name ''Yose'', which is etymologically linked to ''Yosef'' or Joseph. The name was popular during the Mishnaic and Talmudic periods. *Jose ben Abin *Jose ben Akabya *Jose the Galilean ...

and the final two years of his 25-year campaign to secure his homeland's independence. The film won the 2000

AACTA Award The Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts Awards, known as the AACTA Awards, are presented annually by the Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA). The awards recognise excellence in the film and television industry, ...

for Best Documentary and Best Director. ''The Concise Routledge Encyclopedia of the Documentary Film'' called it his most successful film. This was soon followed by ''The Secret Safari'' (2001), a historical documentary set in the

Apartheid Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...

era about a covert operation involving a specially designed Bedford truck which used the cover of a safari tour to run weapons and munitions to Umkhonto we Sizwe operatives in the townships of Cape Town and Johannesburg. This film involved re-enactment as part of the story-telling structure and was a stylistic departure. In 2003, he returned to Australia and made '' Molly & Mobarak'', a story about a Hazara refugee from Afghanistan who finds work in an Australian country town and falls in love with a local schoolteacher. The film secured cinema release around Australia, opened the

Margaret Mead Film Festival The Margaret Mead Film Festival is an annual film festival held at the American Museum of Natural History in New York City. It is the longest-running, premiere showcase for international documentaries in the United States, encompassing a broad spe ...

in New York in 2003, and was screened in competition at IDFA. This was followed in 2005 by ''Vietnam Symphony'', about how during the American War (aka Vietnam War) the Hanoi Conservatorium of Music - teachers and students - evacuated to a village where it continued to operate for five years. In 2007, he made ''Temple of Dreams'' about an Islamic Youth Centre in

Lidcombe Lidcombe is a suburb in western Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia. Lidcombe is located west of the Sydney central business district, in the local government area of Cumberland Council, with a small industrial part in the north ...

and its battle with the local municipal council that wants to shut it down. In 2011, he completed ''The Hungry Tide'', a personal story about the impact of climate change on the small Pacific nation of

Kiribati Kiribati (), officially the Republic of Kiribati ( gil, ibaberikiKiribati),Kiribati
''The Wor ...

, which was premiered at the

and screened in competition at IDFA. In 2017 Zubrycki completed his last film ''Hope Road'', which was 5 years in the making. A refugee from the Sudanese civil war, Zacharia (one of the ‘lost boys’ of Sudan) lives in Australia, with his partner and daughter. Like many others who are forced to leave their homeland, Zacharia wants to give something back and improve the lives of people he left behind. Zac’s ambitious dream is to build a much-needed school in his home village, now part of the new nation of

South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the ...

. For support he enlists the backing of an unlikely band of Aussie supporters who join him on a 40-day charity walk to raise funds for this venture. But life disrupts the best-laid plans, and Zac has to draw on all his resources to keep his dream alive. ''Hope Road'', had its world premiere at the

on June 14, 2017, and also screen at the Melbourne International Film Festival

Producing career

In the early 1990s, Zubrycki started producing the work of emerging directors. One of the first films he produced was ''Exile in Sarajevo'' (1996), a personal story about the last of the

Siege of Sarajevo The Siege of Sarajevo ( sh, Opsada Sarajeva) was a prolonged blockade of Sarajevo, the capital of Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the Bosnian War. After it was initially besieged by the forces of the Yugoslav People's Army, the city was then be ...

during the

Balkan war The Balkan Wars refers to a series of two conflicts that took place in the Balkan States in 1912 and 1913. In the First Balkan War, the four Balkan States of Greece, Serbia, Montenegro and Bulgaria declared war upon the Ottoman Empire and defea ...

. The film won an International Emmy in 1998. In the following two decades Zubrycki worked as a mentor to many Indigenous directors, producing a mix of TV documentaries and features. These includes films lik
Stolen Generations
(2000), an historical account of the policy and practise of removal of 'part-descent' Aboriginal children from their parents.

(2002) about the celebrated Indigenous actor. Both were written and directed by Darlene Johnson. Other films include

(2009), a short documentary by Angie Abdilla about 'the Block' - an indigenous community in the heart of Sydney - told through the eyes of Auntie Barb and the life of Wanja her blue heeler dog,

(2009) following the life of a Indigenous man recently from jail (by Kelrick Martin )

A record of the first year of The Northern Territory Emergency Intervention and its impact on the town of Katherine and the surrounding communities, directed by Julie Nimmo

a mother's meditation on the future for her musician daughter in the shadow of the twin threats of climate change and mass extinction. Other notable features Zubrycki produced includ
The Sunnyboy
(2013) directed by Kaye Harrison about Jeremy Oxley the enigmatic lead singer of the 1980s band Sunnyboys and his gradual recovery from schizophrenia leading to the band's successful come-back, an
Ablaze
a film about Bill Onus – a truly heroic cultural and political figure who revived his people’s culture in the 1940’s and 50’s and helped ignite a civil rights movement that helped change the course of history for Indigenous Australians.

Films

*2022
Senses Of Cinema
(88 mins, Co-Producer, Co-Director)] *2022
My Rembetika Blues
(83 mins, Producer)] *2021
Ablaze (81 mins, Producer)
*2020

*2018 ttps://www.roninfilms.com.au/feature/15771/teach-man-fish.html Teach A Man To Fish (86 min, Producer)*2017
Hope Road (103 mins, Director/Producer)
*2017

*2013
The Sunnyboy (2013, Producer)
official website *2012:

' (26 mins, Producer) *2011
The Hungry Tide
' (83 mins, Director/Producer) *2009

*2008

(46 mins, Producer) *2007
Temple of Dreams
( 89 mins. Director/Producer) *2006
The Prodigal Son
(28 mins, Producer)] *2005
Vietnam Symphony
' (52 mins, Director/Producer) *2003
Molly & Mobarak
' (85 mins, Director/Producer)\ *2002
Gulpilil - One Red Blood
' (56 mins, Producer) *2002
Making Venus
' (82 mins,Producer) *2001
The Secret Safari
' (52 mins, Director) *2000

' (56 mins, Producer) *2000
The Diplomat
' (84 mins, Director)' *1998

' (52 mins, Producer) *1996
Exile in Sarajevo
' (90 mins, Producer). *1995
Billal
' (87 mins, Director/Producer) *1993
Homelands
' (79 mins, Director/Producer) *1991

' (55 mins, Director/Producer) *1990
Lord of the Bush
' (55 mins, Director/Producer) *1990
Amongst Equals
' (90 mins, Director/Producer) *1985
Friends & Enemies
' (90 mins, Director/Producer) *1984:
Kemira - Diary of a Strike
' (62 mins, Director/Producer) *1981:
Waterloo
' (48 mins, Director/Producer)

Awards and honours

In 2010, the

Australian International Documentary Conference The Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC) is an Australian conference for the promotion of documentary, factual and unscripted screen content, regarded as one of two major national conferences for filmmakers. History First esta ...

presented Tom with the highest award for a documentary practitioner, the Stanley Hawes Award "in recognition of outstanding contribution to documentary filmmaking in Australia". In his presentation he criticized the mainstream broadcasters ABC and SBS for commissioning factual programs that were format-driven and light in content. He called for a dramatic increase in

Screen Australia Screen Australia is the Australian Federal Government's key funding body for the Australian screen production industry, created under the ''Screen Australia Act 2008''. From 1 July 2008 Screen Australia took over the functions of its predecess ...

's Signature Fund in order to finance documentaries that were not dependent on broadcaster commissions. *1981:

, Greater Union Awards, Best Documentary,

, ''Waterloo'' *1984: AFI Awards, Best Documentary, ''Kemira - Diary of a Strike'' *1992:

Film Critics Circle of Australia The Film Critics Circle of Australia (FCCA) is an association of cinema critics and reviewers. It includes journalists in "media, television, major national and state papers, radio, national and state, online and freelance writers, Australian ...

, Best Documentary, ''Homelands'' *1998:

International Emmy The International Emmy Awards, or International Emmys, are part of the extensive range of Emmy Awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. Bestowed by the New York–based International Academy of Television Arts and Sci ...

, Best Documentary, ''Exile in Sarajevo'' *2000:

AFI Award The Australian Film Institute (AFI) was founded in 1958 as a non-profit organisation devoted to developing an active film culture in Australia and fostering engagement between the general public and the Australian film industry. It is responsi ...

, Best Documentary, ''The Diplomat'' *2000:

, Best Direction, ''The Diplomat'' *2000:

Hawaii International Film Festival The Hawai'i International Film Festival (HIFF) is an annual film festival held in the United States state of Hawaii. HIFF has a focus on Asian-Pacific cinema, education, and the work of new and emerging filmmakers. HIFF’s primary festival is ...

, First Prize, ''The Diplomat'' *2001:

, Dendy Awards, Best Documentary, ''The Secret Safari'' *2005:

, Best Sound in a non-feature film, ''Vietnam Symphony'' *2009: Cecil Holmes Award (

) *2010: Stanley Hawes AwardStanley Hawes Award
/ref> presented b
The Australian International Documentary Conference (AIDC).
*2021: Victorian Premier's History Award, with Alec Morgan and Tirki Onus, for ''Ablaze – A Feature Documentary''

References

Selected readings

Zubrycki’s point: Amongst Equals, utilitarian film in the Australian labour movement y John Hughes (2019) in Studies in Documentary Film, 13:2, 103-126 Visceral response" – an interview with Tom Zubrycki by Paul Byrnes. Sydney Film Festival 1954 to Now.Time, Memory and History in the Labor Documentary film: An examination of Friends & Enemies in Studies in Documentary Film 13(2):1-10 · April 2019 The Hungry Tide - a review by Shweta Kishore in Metro Magazine Issue 171, 2012. A Nation Slips Under The Waves: Tom Zubrycki’s The Hungry Tide in Real Time Arts Issue 105, Oct 2011 The journey we take together – an interview with Tom Zubrycki in Metro Magazine 171 March 2011.Lebanese Muslims Speak Back: Two films by Tom Zubrycki by Susi Khamis in Diasporas in Australian Cinema, Intellect Books 2009Exploring Power and Trust In Documentary - A Study of Tom Zubrycki’s Molly and Mobarak. In Studies in Documentary Film Volume 4, No 1, 2010Beyond the Frame - Documentary from a participant's perspective. Part 1: Stealing Moments, Tom Zubrycki’s Molly and Mobarak in Metro MagazineI’m Falling in Your Love. Cross-Cultural Romance and the Refugee film by Sonia Magdalena Tascon in Diasporas in Australian Cinema, Intellect Books, 2009.Tom Zubrycki: On filmmaking, history and other obsessions by Patrick Armstrong in Metro Magazine 2005Reclaiming The Personal As Political in Metro Magazine, No 138 by Mary Debrett. 2002 Documentary – a personal view in SECOND TAKE – Australian Filmmakers Talk by Burton & Caputo, Allen & Unwin 1999.Showing some fight: Kemira's challenge to industrial relations" by Rebecca Coyle & Lisa Milner pp 178 - 183 Metro Magazine 153, 2007"Tom Zubrycki shares the stories behind some of his most acclaimed documentaries" Australian Screen Online
Australian documentaries will founder without courage and funds. Opinion piece in ''

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 ...

''. February 24, 2010 Ahead of history - the documentary filmmaker in the age of extremes. The 200
NSW Premier’s History Awards
Address Documentary: A personal view". Article i

ed. by Raffaele Caputo & Geoff Burton. Allen & Unwin (publishers), 1999 Politicising the Community and the Personal – the construction of narrative in the cinema of Tom Zubrycki, by Kerry L Peachey. MA Thesis.

Griffith University Griffith University is a public research university in South East Queensland on the east coast of Australia. Formally founded in 1971, Griffith opened its doors in 1975, introducing Australia's first degrees in environmental science and Asian ...

1995. Going Public with private turmoil in ''Sydney Morning Herald'', October 7, 1993. Postcards to Beirut – a documentary screenplay (co-writer Stan Correy) i
HOMELAND
ed. George Pappaelinas. Allen & Unwin (publishers), 1991 Interview with Tom Zubrycki and Russ Hermann i
"Scanlines - video art in Australia since the 1960s"

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Zubrycki, Tom 1946 births Living people Australian documentary filmmakers