Ellis Park

Directed by: Justin Kurzel (The Order, True History of the Kelly Gang, The Snowtown Murders, Nitram)
Genre: Documentary
Cast: Warren Ellis, Justin Kurzel
Written by: Justin Kurzel and Nick Fenton
Produced by: Nick Batzias, Charlotte Wheaton
Production Company: GoodThing Productions
Release year: 2024
Country: Australia
Language: English, French
Duration: 105 min

Synopsis:

A key member of iconic bands The Dirty Three and Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds, multi-instrumentalist Warren Ellis has cut a brilliant and unorthodox figure in music for over three decades. Far from the international concert halls in which he has plied his craft lies a very different passion project: a wildlife sanctuary in the forests of Sumatra. Co-founded by Ellis and spearheaded by the indomitable Femke den Haas, whose dedicated team of conservationists rescues trafficked and mistreated animals and then devotes years to nursing them back to health.

This fly-on-the-wall documentary offers both a deeply personal insight into one artist’s life through the act of creating and an inspiring reminder of how much can be achieved when working together.

“Justin Kurzel’s film about the Bad Seeds and Dirty Three musician, and the animal sanctuary he founded in Indonesia with activist Femke den Haas, is richly cinematic”
“Hats off to editor Nick Fenton for crafting wonderfully intuitive rhythms.”
Luke Buckmaster - The Guardian
★★★★

”a vital, heartbreaking story”
”It's a profoundly moving film of an artist looking at another and uncovering the person behind the act”
Joonatan Itkonen - Toisto.net
★★★★★

FESTIVALS

Melbourne International Film Festival 2024 Music on Film Gala

BFI London Film Festival 2024 Journey