STACK #194 Dec 2020

FILM FEATURE

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documentary features of late, including one on another Aussie icon, motorsport champion Peter Brock. “I did this film and Brock: Over the Top concurrently last year. I finished Slim & I before I finished Brock , so I was cutting them both throughout 2019,” he reveals. With interviewees including contemporary country music artists like Keith Urban, Kasey Chambers, Troy Cassar- Daley and Missy Higgins, Stenders asked that they bring along their own instruments and perform some of Slim and Joy’s songs. “It was really a straightforward idea that came out of the blue,” he says. “Country music is such a beautifully simple art form – it’s a voice, an instrument, and a story set to music. And everyone was really up for it. It was such a simple thing to do and such a powerful and evocative thing, too. Indeed, one of the highlights is surely Missy Higgins’ beautiful version of The Biggest Disappointment . “I remember my hair was

Australian filmmaker Kriv Stenders speaks with STACK about his new documentary feature Slim & I , and the enduring power of country music. Words Scott Hocking

A ustralian country music jukebox, and while many of us are familiar with classics like A Pub with No Beer and Duncan , the role played by Slim’s wife, Joy McKean, in creating a musical legacy is perhaps lesser known, and the subject of the new documentary feature from filmmaker Kriv Stenders, Slim & I . Speaking with STACK , Stenders himself is quick to admit that he was unaware of Joy’s influence behind the scenes prior to taking on the project. “Once we started making the film I legend Slim Dusty’s songs are a staple of every rural pub

Kriv Stenders and Joy McKean

standing up and I had tears in my eyes,” says Stenders. “It was one of the most beautiful things I’d ever heard. Her voice is so angelic and so crystal, and hearing it in that pure, unfiltered way was really powerful. That’s the power of great music, it shoots itself into your heart.”

It’s also, he believes, one of the drawcards for audiences that may not necessarily connect with country music. “Great music is timeless and classless. It’s truly democratic and egalitarian in a way. Joy and Slim’s music definitely illustrates that. And country music is our music. You don’t have to have that rural element in your life – it sings to all of us. And it’s all part of the bigger Australian experience. “I also think [the film is]

realised, ‘Gosh, she is really well known in the country music industry. When I started to read her book and read more about her story, I realised what a remarkable woman Joy was. She was a wife, a mother, a manager, and an incredibly talented songwriter and performer. I didn’t realise how important she They had the choice of being housewives and factory workers but they took a punt, bought a caravan and went out there and built an audience, and an industry. It’s quite incredible.” Stenders is also happy to confess that country music was a whole new world for him. “I must admit I was not prejudiced; I just hadn’t really gravitated to country music at all. I had my epiphany while I was researching the film and suddenly these was to the building of Slim’s career. “Those two really lived the dream.

That’s the power of great music, it shoots itself into your heart

just a great love story and an inspiring story about a couple that set out to live their dreams – and did it. “I think now, especially in these uncertain times, it’s great seeing that kind of story about people who throw caution to the wind and go for it. That’s what I thought was really remarkable and beautiful about this story, the journey they went on together.”

songs were open to me and I just couldn’t get enough of them. I’m a convert,” he laughs. One of Australia’s most prolific and versatile filmmakers, whose work includes the hit Red Dog (2011) and recent ANZAC drama Danger Close: The Battle of Long Tan (2019), Stenders has been on a roll with

• Slim & I is out Dec 9

18 DECEMBER 2020

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