Beyond and Blink TV’s John Farnham: Finding The Voice has been awarded the 2024 TV Week Logie Award for Best Documentary.
Celebrating Australia’s greatest singer and his journey from the suburbs of Melbourne to 60s pop fame, through life’s highs and lows and ultimately to record-breaking success as ‘Australia’s Voice’, the landmark feature length documentary aired on Channel 7 last year following outstanding box office success as the highest grossing Australian feature documentary in history, also receiving the 2024 AACTA Award for Best Documentary.
Accepting the TV Week Logie on behalf of the producers, Paul Clarke said: “This film was a very special experience for us all. When the spotlight of Australia was on how John Farnham was, our film explained why he is so special to us all. That really resonated for us, and for everyone who saw it.
“This film would not have happened without Mikael Borglund, Martin Fabinyi and the terrific team at Beyond. Thank you to the Seven Network for getting behind it, and to Sony Pictures, Sony Music and Sony Music Publishing for all doing such a great job, and to Screen Australia, Screen NSW and VIC Screen for their unwavering support. But the biggest thanks goes to John Farnham and his family for trusting us with his story, and to the incomparable Gaynor Wheatley who was the film’s greatest champion at the hardest of times.”
Accepting the Logie behalf of the Farnham and Wheatley families, Gaynor Wheatley said: “Thank you TV week and to everyone who voted for us – you had some wonderful options so congratulations to the other nominees. I know John is watching and I hope Glenn is too. Thank you both for trusting us with your story. And to Poppy Stockell, Paul Clarke, Martin Fabinyi and Mikael Borglund for telling it so beautifully. To all the interviewees thank you for sharing your stories. John and Jill would want me to thank Rob and James for standing in during these difficult times, and to my children: Tim Sam and Kara, thank you for keeping me upright and motivated to complete Glenn’s to do list!”
Executive Producer, and Beyond Managing Director Mikael Borglund said: “John’s role in the development of Australian music has been paramount to the industry. As a company that is focused on telling music and cultural stories, this film represents all that Beyond stands for. It was an absolute privilege to be able to chronicle John’s incredible career and life story to date, and we thank all our partners for making it possible.”
Beyond and Blink TV’s most recent collaboration, the celebrated feature documentary Midnight Oil: The Hardest Line, opened the 2024 Sydney Film Festival prior to a nationwide theatrical release through Roadshow Films.
Production Credits:
Sony Pictures Releasing International presents and Screen Australia presents in association with Screen NSW in association with VIC Screen, a Beyond Oz production in association with Blink TV with Original Music by David Hirschfelder, Edited by Scott Gray ASE & Steven Robinson ASE Line Produced by Elizabeth Daley Director Of Photography Aaron SmithExecutive Producers Mikael Borglund Martin Fabinyi & Paul Clarke Produced by Olivia Hoopmann Story Supervisor Paul Clarke Written by Poppy Stockell & Paul Clarke and Directed by Poppy Stockell
ABOUT BEYOND & BLINK TV
Beyond and Blink TV are long term collaborators producing music focussed films including the Midnight Oil: The Hardest Line which was the celebrated Opening Night Film of the 2024 Sydney Film Festival; the award winning docu-features John Farnham: Finding The Voice (Sony 2023) and Blood + Thunder: The Sound Of Alberts (ABC + BBC4). A division of Beyond International, Beyond Entertainment is the leading producer of music focussed features and documentaries, including jointly producing the Scott Hicks directed features The Musical Mind (Bonsai Films), and Ben Folds: I Play Piano through Beyond May30, and The Angels: Kickin’ Down The Door (Universal) produced by Beyond LNBF which was the opening night film at the 2022 Adelaide Film Festival. Beyond also co-produced the Emmy Award-winning animated series Beat Bugs incorporating music made famous by The Beatles, and Motown Magic featuring the music of Motown – both for Netflix. Beyond TNC, the Group’s JV with UK based TNC Media, has had a prolific few years of production including the documentary They All Came Out To Montreux which willpremiere at the 2024 Tribeca Film Festival, and the Birthday Party documentary Mutiny In Heaven which opened theatrically in 60 US cities in 2023. The Fatboy Slim documentary Right Here, Right Now was producedfor Sky in 2023. Additionally, the company is on #5 of its iconic series Memory Lane, which applies a journalistic lens to the live concerts of some of the world’s biggest artists at a particular point in their career. Beyond Entertainment is currently producing the 13-part documentary series Great Australian Concerts, to screen on SBS-TV, and developing further documentaries on iconic Australian and international artists.
