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National Film and Sound Archive
National Film and Sound Archive
National Film and Sound Archive

Bob Brown in The Giants

2023

Bob Brown in The Giants

2023

  • NFSA IDKVS50VP3
  • TypeFilm
  • MediumMoving Image
  • FormOrganisational papers (newsletters, admin papers)
  • GenresWildlife, LGBTQI, Biographical
  • Year2023

Eco-documentary The Giants is a feature-length biopic about former politician Bob Brown, who is a long-time advocate of green policies in Australia. Brown was also the first openly gay member of the Australian Parliament.

This film still shows Brown standing beneath the massive trees of the Takayna/Tarkine, a significant rainforest area in Tasmania. The home to ancient eucalypts, Huon pines, beeches and myrtles, the prominence of the trees in the image shows the documentary's central focus on the endangered environment and its contemporary lens. There is a lack of nostalgia in the tone of the promotional materials. Brown, photographed in practical hiking clothes, is a vehicle through which ongoing sustainability issues are injected with urgency.

The Giants draws on Brown's 50 years of inspiring environmental activism, from the Franklin campaign for Tasmania’s last wild river, to the ongoing battle for Takayna/Tarkine's wilderness. His story is interwoven with the extraordinary life cycle of Australia’s giant trees, brought to the screen through immersive animated forest landscapes and the cinematography of Sherwin Akbarzadeh. One of the most successful Australian documentaries of 2023, The Giants inspired national rallies, mobilised community groups and kept deforestation in the national conversation.

Eco-documentary The Giants is a feature-length biopic about former politician Bob Brown, who is a long-time advocate of green policies in Australia. Brown was also the first openly gay member of the Australian Parliament.

This film still shows Brown standing beneath the massive trees of the Takayna/Tarkine, a significant rainforest area in Tasmania. The home to ancient eucalypts, Huon pines, beeches and myrtles, the prominence of the trees in the image shows the documentary's central focus on the endangered environment and its contemporary lens. There is a lack of nostalgia in the tone of the promotional materials. Brown, photographed in practical hiking clothes, is a vehicle through which ongoing sustainability issues are injected with urgency.

The Giants draws on Brown's 50 years of inspiring environmental activism, from the Franklin campaign for Tasmania’s last wild river, to the ongoing battle for Takayna/Tarkine's wilderness. His story is interwoven with the extraordinary life cycle of Australia’s giant trees, brought to the screen through immersive animated forest landscapes and the cinematography of Sherwin Akbarzadeh. One of the most successful Australian documentaries of 2023, The Giants inspired national rallies, mobilised community groups and kept deforestation in the national conversation.

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