GIRT BY SEA - Documentary (2014)
No other nation has so actively sought to identify itself through its connection to the sea and its shoreline.
Girt By Sea is a musical and cinematic love letter to the coastline of Australia - a poetic celebration of our connection to the sea as documented over the past 100 years.
In Girt By Sea, director Shane McNeil draws on the extensive visual collections held by The National Film and Sound Archive and ABC Archives along with a mass of crowd-sourced home movies, to weave a lyrical and contemplative interpretation of Australia’s coastal history.
Set to an original score by award-winning Australian band The Panics, the film takes the viewer on an immersive visual journey around the shoreline of our island continent - exploring the role the coast has played in shaping our national identity; a place of relaxation and leisure, a place for work and industry, and occasionally, a place of terror.
From surf lifesavers on Bondi Beach to ship-building in Whyalla, from the sweeping coastline of the Great Ocean Road to sandy Xmas pilgrimages to Cottesloe, from Queensland’s unique coral reefs to tearful departures to foreign wars from Fremantle, and from Indigenous fishermen of Groote Eylandt down to Tasmania’s sentinel lighthouses, Girt By Sea celebrates the iconic, evocative, and often nostalgic place the coast holds in our collective heart.
Produced under the banner Digital Jellyfish in coproduction with REangle Pictures, the film was commissioned by ABC TV Arts, Perth International Arts Festival, ScreenWest, Screen Australia and the National Film and Sound Archive.
SCREENINGS AND PERFORMANCES
9th Feb 2014 WORLD PREMIERE - Perth International Arts Festival
16th February 2014 BROADCAST PREMIERE - ABC (then followed by online access at ABC IVIEW)
8th - 11th June 2014 EUROPEAN PREMIERE - Sheffield DOC/FEST (5 screenings)
13th August 2016 - Live Event - Adelaide Guitar Festival
AWARDS
2014 - Best Documentary Nomination - WA SCREEN AWARDS
TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS
Production Year: Completed 2014 Country: Australia Running Time: 00:58:30 Aspect Ratio: 16:9 (4:3 images pillarboxed) Colour: Full Colour and Black and White Sound: Stereo Mix available Formats Available: DCP, BluRay, DigiBeta, .mov, DVD, (NTSC and PAL Versions Available) Language: English, Subtitling may be available upon request.
TALENT
Writer/Director: Shane McNeil (SA) Producers: Heather Croall (SA) and Kate Separovich (WA) Editors: Merlin Cornish (WA) and Sean O’Keeffe (WA) Music Compososition: The Panics (ex-WA) Score Mixer: Mal Luker (WA) Archive provided by: Australian Broadcasting Corporation, National Film & Sound Archive of Australia and social media-sourced contributors Funded By: Australian Broadcasting Corporation, National Film & Sound Archive of Australia, Perth International Arts Festival, ScreenWest and Screen Australia Based on UK Format From The Land To The Sea Beyond (2012) Produced in Western Australia
