Director of Red Dog productions, Kriv Stenders beautifully blends past and present Australian music in the new documentary Slim and I.
Released by Universal Pictures, the film tells the story of Slim Dusty and his rise to success. The feature documentary shines the spotlight on 90-year-old Joy McKean, the woman who made much of Slim’s success happen and was a star in her own right prior to their marriage.
For more than 50 years, Slim Dusty and Joy McKean trail-blazed their way across Australia performing, writing and collecting songs of the bush and its people.
They created a musical legacy, recording 107 albums, with more than eight million records sold in Australia alone.
To this day Slim and Joy’s music continues to entertain and inspire, a catalogue of plain speaking yet profoundly insightful music documenting the rural Australian experience from A Pub with No Beer to Lights on the Hill.
One of the highlights of the film was the work that Slim and Joy did with remote Aboriginal communities, making regular visits and playing for them.
Some of Australia’s biggest artists, including Paul Kelly, Keith Urban, Don Walker, Kasey Chambers and Missy Higgins reminisce about Slim and tell the story of how he and Joy’s music shaped their own sound, with several acoustic covers.
Slim and I blends current day interviews with archival footage of concerts and interviews, including never-before-seen family videos.
Whether you’re a longtime fan who thought they knew all there was about them, or have never heard of Slim Dusty, there’s something in Slim and I for everyone.
Slim and I screens in cinemas from 10 September.
