Prison Songs
The people imprisoned in a Darwin jail are shown in a unique and completely new light in Australia’s first ever documentary musical.
- Filmmaker(s)
- Kelrick Martin
- Harry Bardwell
- Category
- Full-Length Film
- Subject Matter
- Crime & Justice
- Featured In
The people imprisoned in a Darwin jail are shown in a unique and completely new light in Australia’s first ever documentary musical. Incarcerated in tropical Northern Territory, over 800 inmates squeeze into the overcrowded spaces of Berrimah Prison. In an Australian first, the inmates share their feelings, faults and experiences in the most extraordinaryway – through song.
Kelrick Martin - Writer/Producer/Director
Kelrick is a Ngarluma/Bunuba man from Broome, Western Australia and commenced his career
as a cadet radio broadcaster for Goolarri Media. In 1998 he moved to Sydney, presenting ABC
Radio National’s Indigenous arts and culture program Awaye!. During this time he also
produced radio documentaries for and presented Radio Eye. He then became the inaugural
presenter of ABC TV’s Message Stick, before moving quickly into the Series Producer role.
Enrolled at the Australian Film Television and Radio School (AFTRS) in 2001, he completed his
Masters in Documentary Writing and Directing. In 2006 he teamed with renowned Australian
documentary filmmaker Tom Zubrycki to make his first documentary film Mad Morro. In 2007
he was recruited by National Indigenous TV (NITV) as it’s first Commissioning Editor.
Kelrick formed Spear Point Productions in 2010, and has since been a key figure in WA’s
Indigenous screen production sector. His credits include documentaries Yagan, Outside
Chance, and Prison Songs. His first short fiction film, Karroyul, is a 2015 AACTA Award nominee.
Kelrick is currently head of Indigenous at the ABC.
Harry Bardwell - Executive Producer/Producer
Harry Bardwell has been an independent producer, broadcaster, senior media manager and
headed funding at ScreenWest. In his various roles he has worked on hundreds of hours of
independent productions and public broadcasting. Harry began his career in Western Australia
where he trained in film making at PIFT (now FTI), the ABC and WAIT (now Curtin University).
Following several years running his own production business in South Australia, Harry rejoined
ABCTV in Sydney in 1983.
In 2002 Harry created the executive media consultancy Bardwell Media with clients: SBS
Australia, Hutchison 3 and Carlton Productions.In 2005 Harry joined ScreenWest as Director,
Production and Development, responsible for funding over 100 hours of film, television and
digital media production projects in Western Australia. In 2013 Harry reincorporated Bardwell
Media to work in association with Beyond West. Harry is Managing Director of Bardwell Media
and Manager and Executive Producer at Beyond West.
