An up close and personal story of electoral politics…where truth is stranger than fiction...

Interview with Writer/Director/Producer Helen Gaynor

Congratulations! Why did you make your film?

Politics, power and its effect on people’s lives has always fascinated me. It was this interest that propelled me into documentary filmmaking over twenty-five years ago after several years as a television drama director. My first documentary, Impunidad, explored the human rights abuses committed by the Guatemalan government and military against social activists. My next documentary The Election of the Century documented the work of an Australian Electoral Commission worker in helping with the set-up of the first multi-racial elections in South Africa in 1994. Several documentaries and many years later, Community Cop, an exploration of the tensions between the police and African Australian youths in inner-city Melbourne, was provoked by what I regarded as the racist profiling of newly arrived refugees from Somalia and Ethiopia by the right-wing media and the conservative government of the day.

Now once again, and many documentaries and years later, I am exploring this theme. If anything, there is more pressure on minority groups and multi-culturalism than ten years ago. White supremacy is on the rise throughout the western world as evidenced by the popularity of nativist and nationalist parties in Europe and the Americas. Liberal democracies are under attack by these same groups. And research indicates that there is growing crisis of faith in our democratic systems.

The Candidate struck me as a way of shining a light into our political system in a very different way from that provided by the mainstream media. I have lived in the electorate of Batman (now Cooper) for over twenty years and know Alex Bhathal socially. We had talked about a documentary in the past but there was never the opportunity. 2018 however, was crunch time. After years of hard work, Alex stood a very good chance of finally winning the seat and making it to the federal parliament. I was confident that my filmmaking method could deliver an unusually intimate insight into the political figure of the candidate. Additionally, this candidate, apart from being a woman from a multi-cultural background, was not your normal ‘pollie’. I made the time, organised access, grabbed my camera and started filming.

Imagine I’m a member of the audience. Why should I watch this film?

If you love politics, and observational documentary then this is your kind of film. If you like a film that gets under the skin, the inside and personal side of a person's life to find out how they and the system they work in ticks, then this is your film. The Candidate provides an unusually frank insight into electoral politics, one rarely seen on screen.

How do personal and universal themes work in your film?

The Candidate has been a labour of love. Solo directing, shooting, and sound recording is a big job. I have been doing this for many years in a variety of settings: barristers chambers, hospitals, clinics for addicts, schools for the hearing impaired. My style of filmmaking provides audiences with intimate access to worlds and people they would never otherwise see. It was apparent that whatever happened, this intimate documentary access could enhance the understanding and appreciation of our parliamentary democracy, which is under so much pressure at this point in history. The story that unfolded during the campaign was unexpected and revealed the dark side of politics. But for all that I believe there is a hopeful tale to tell as well – that there are well-motivated people working hard to ensure our parliament works for the good – that there is something to treasure in this system that Winston Churchill described as the worst form of government, except for all the others.

How have the script and film evolved over the course of their development?

As is usual with an observational documentary the script came together in during the editing process. The main challenge was how to tell the story from the material that was shot. This, as is also usual, took months of wrestling to arrive at its final form.

What type of feedback have you received so far?

There have not been any public screenings so far so there has not been any feedback.

What are you looking to achieve by having your film more visible on www.wearemovingstories.com?

The Candidate touches on themes that are relevant throughout the world today. The aim of making the film visible on We are Moving Stories is to bring it to the attention of as wide an audience as possible.

Who do you need to come on board (producers, sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors, journalists) to amplify this film’s message?

We are looking for international and educational sales agents, buyers, distributors, film festival directors and journalists to get the film's stories spread as wide as possible.

What type of impact and/or reception would you like this film to have?

The aim of the film is to provide insight into and provoke discussion about the democratic process. The types of discussions we would like to provoke are about the nature of electoral politics, the place of women and people of colour in systems where they are under-represented, and whether there can be a better way to do politics. If not, the discussion is around where to now with electoral politics and democracy?

What’s a key question that will help spark a debate or begin a conversation about this film?

Is there a space for people of good will in electoral politics in contemporary liberal democracies? If not why not, and what can be done to create this space? And if not, what is the future of the democratic process, currently under pressure in so many parts of the world?

What other projects are the key creatives developing or working on now?

Fiona Cochrane is the producer and director of the feature-length documentary Ska'd for Life.

Interview: June 2019

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

The Candidate

An up close and personal story of electoral politics…where truth is stranger than fiction...

Length: 1:15

Director: Helen Gaynor

Producer: Helen Gaynor and Fiona Cochrane

Writer: Helen Gaynor and Ian White

About the writer, director and producer:

HELEN GAYNOR has been an independent documentary filmmaker since the early 1990s. She has made documentaries about human rights abuses, criminal defence barristers nurses, community policing in the Flemington area, and people battling their addictions. She has produced work for most of Australia's leading documentary production companies, and her projects have been commissioned by ABC and SBS TV as well as European broadcasters Arte and ZDF.

IAN WHITE directed and produced theatrical feature films and network television content in over 15 countries throughout the world. His 2015 feature Before The Fall screened at Cannes 2016 and was an official entry in the 89th Academy Awards (Oscars) in 2017. Ian White has been the recipient of numerous awards over the years including a BANF World Media Award for best documentary of the year, a Hero Award at the 2018 Monte Carlo TVFF and several Asian TV awards. His work has been screened internationally and broadcast on television networks such as BBC, ABC, A&E – Biography and History channels, FOX, CNA and CNN. He also edited The Candidate.

FIONA COCHRANE graduated from Monash medical school before following her passion - film. For the last 10 years, she has been directing and producing both dramas and documentaries. In 2007 she made a feature-length intimate observational documentary called Rachel: A Perfect Life which premiered at the Sydney Film Festival, and in 2008 she completed an ultra-low-budget feature film called Four of a Kind which premiered at the Montreal World Film Festival. In 2009 she completed the music documentary Music of the Brain, followed by a feature-length music documentary Joe Camilleri: Australia’s Maltese Falcon in 2011, and another music documentary 25 Tracks in 2016. A 50 minute personal documentary about her colleague dying was completed in 2014 - All In Her Stride, and an educational feature documentary Women Are The Answer (shot in India) in 2015. All of her films have screened internationally at numerous festivals and won an array of awards (listed later).

Key cast: Alex Bhathal

Looking for: distributors, sales agents, film festival directors, buyers

Twitter: @thecandidatedoc

Instagram: @thecandidatedoc

Hashtags used: @thecandidatedoc

Website: www.thecandidatedoc.com

Made in association with: f-reel film & TV

Funders: Self Funded and through donations via the Documentary Australia Foundation

Where can I watch it next and in the coming month? Sunday 28th July at 11am at Cinema Nova as part of the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival, Melbourne Stories part 2.