Film Projects, Les Films du Balibari, Shining Light Productions
Once described by the press as “one of the most controversial figures on the Australian art scene”, avant-garde poet and playwright Christopher Barnett achieved a level of notoriety in the Melbourne underground theatre scene during the 70s and 80s, before self-exiling to France. He remains there today, running an experimental theatre lab working with the marginalised and underprivileged, applauded by the establishment (including former French Prime Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault) and faithful to his belief that art can change the world. These Heathen Dreams is an intimate portrait of Barnett¹s life and revolutionary philosophy. Combining archival footage dating back to the 60s with contemporary observational documentation and text from Barnett¹s writings, it is a poignant and inspiring study of the power of both art and political activism.
PRODUCER: Georgia Wallace-Crabbe, Emmanuelle Jacq, Anne Tsoulis
DIRECTOR: Anne Tsoulis