Barry Jones documentary honours Phil Chubb

If you want to be a journalist but find yourself in an environment where there are no jobs, you have a couple of options, film-maker Garry Sturgess suggests.

One is to give up and change careers, another to create your own job, using accessible technology and new channels and modes of distribution to establish a body of work.

Documentary-making requires time and effort and single-minded pursuit but can be incredibly empowering, says Sturgess, whose film Barry Jones in Search of Lost Time - A Film Story opens at Cinema Nova on 3 May, with an advance screening, with Q&A, on 22 April.

The film, which explores the shaping forces and influences on the life of politician and polymath Barry Jones, through the thematic lenses of cinema and Proustian time, has been described by reviewers as “superb”, “truly remarkable” and “heart-stopping”.


“It’s a film about Barry and a film about film,” says Sturgess, an oral historian with a background in law, journalism and documentary making, who previously produced a 16.5 hour oral history of Jones for the National Library of Australia.

Sturgess was a close friend of former Press Club Vice President Phil Chubb and has dedicated the work to Chubb’s memory.

Phil was an important figure in journalism, he says, and inspired, taught and mentored a lot of people, including himself.

Phil was very encouraging about the film project and Sturgess hopes the dedication will help to “keep him in people’s minds”.

An advance screening of Barry Jones in Search of Lost Time - A Film Story will be held at Cinema Nova on 22 April, featuring a Q&A with Barry Jones and Garry Sturgess conducted by Shaun Miller. The film will screen at the Nova from 3 May.

Download the film's flyer

 

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