Melbourne Documentary Film Festival 2020 – Superheroes & Me
Assembling superhero stars, comic creators, and costume-clad fans, the documentary Superheroes & Me unmasks how superheroes can bring people together and provide hope in difficult times.
Interview with Director Liam Burke
Watch Superheroes & Me here:
Congratulations! Why did you make your film?
From blockbuster movies like Avengers: Endgame to TV shows such as Watchmen it is hard to imagine a time when superheroes have been more pervasive in our culture. The documentary film, Superheroes & Me, emerged from a desire to better understand the popularity of the superhero.
Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?
The documentary Superheroes & Me unmasks how these iconic heroes shape people’s lives. The project was developed over several years. It features film and TV stars like Rose McIver (iZombie), Marc McClure (Superman: The Movie), and Eka Darville (Jessica Jones), as well as best-selling comic book creators such as the first woman to draw the Wonder Woman comic, Trina Robbins, and the creator of Harley Quinn, Paul Dini. Most importantly Superheroes & Me draws on over one hundred interviews with superhero fans who demonstrate the important role of superheroes in their daily lives.
How do personal and universal themes work in your film?
One of the goals of the film was to understand how the superhero archetype can be used to respond to international interests. The film highlights the arrival of the first Indigenous Australian superhero Cleverman, a TV show that uses the broadly appealing superhero genre as a provocative allegory for the many social injustices faced by Australia’s First Nations People. The film also draws attention to Australian fans often overlooked in US-centric discussions of popular culture.
What type of feedback have you received so far?
We’ve just started our festival run, but we were fortunate to the win Best Documentary award at the FantaSci Festival in the US, and are scheduled to screen at San Diego Comic Con. As the film sought to draw attention to wider contributions to the superhero genre, to receive international recognition is not only rewarding for us but helps bring further attention to Australia’s contribution to global popular culture.
Has the feedback surprised or challenged your point of view?
The film is an affectionate portrait of the many ways that superheroes inspire us from a marriage proposal at a comic book convention to the importance of diverse representation in the superhero genre. What has been a welcome surprise is that the film has initiated further discussion, with fans sharing their own personal experiences and describing how superheroes inspire them.
What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?
The visibility that comes with the inclusion of Superheroes & Me on www.wearemovingstories.com is great for widening the reach of the documentary. The enthusiasm of the fans who participated in these high-flying heroes is infectious and the inventive ways that they use superheroes to inform their lives is inspirational. As filmmakers, we’re eager to find the widest audience possible for their stories.
Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?
As the film begins its festival run we’re eager to screen it as widely as possible and are hopeful that festival directors will consider including it in their programs. Our last film, @HOME, about Melbourne’s older Irish community and their use of social media, was picked up for broadcast at the end of its festival run. We’re eager for Superheroes & Me to eventually find a wider audience through a broadcaster or streaming service.
What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?
While often dismissed as escapist fantasy, this film demonstrates how these high-flying heroes can bring people together and provide hope in difficult times.
Interview: June 2020
We Are Moving Stories embraces new voices in drama, documentary, animation, TV, web series, music video, women's films, LGBTQIA+, POC, First Nations, scifi, supernatural, horror, world cinema. If you have just made a film - we'd love to hear from you. Or if you know a filmmaker - can you recommend us? More info: Carmela
Superheroes & Me
Assembling superhero stars, comic creators, and costume-clad fans, the documentary Superheroes & Me unmasks how superheroes can bring people together and provide hope in difficult times.
Length: 7:00
Director: Liam Burke and Mark Hellinger
Producer: Liam Burke and Mark Hellinger
About the writer, director and producer:
LIAM BURKE and MARK HELLINGER are a filmmaking duo who have produced a number of documentaries. Liam is an author and university lecturer with expertise in comic books and superheroes, and Mark Hellinger is a filmmaker whose work focuses on the Australian society and how sport and art can strengthen community solidarity and inclusion. The pair previously collaborated on the broadcast documentary @HOME about older Irish migrants in Melbourne and their use of social media.
Key cast: Liam Burke (co-director/co-producer); Mark Hellinger (co-director/co-producer); Rob Shedden, Wilson Huang, Darcy Conlan (Cinematography); Mark Hellinger (Editor and Sound Recordist); Chris Mylrea (Sound Design and Colour Correction); Angela Ndalianis (Executive Producer); Andrew Rea (Graphics); Dan Golding (Original Music); Joshua Diamond, Gia Han Ho, Bethany Hunter, and Georgia Wilson (Editorial Assistants).
Looking for: journalists, film festival directors, distributors, buyers
Facebook: Superheroes & Me
Twitter: @superheroesARC
Hashtags used: #SuperheroesAndMe
Website: www.superheroes-and-me.com
Made in association with: Swinburne University of Technology
Funders: Australian Research Council
Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Melbourne Documentary Film Festival (15-29 July)