SYNOPSIS

Bad Boy Bubby is a bizarre parable of innocence and corruption, belief and redemption, paints a decidedly grim picture while allowing hints of optimistic humanism to filter through. Bubby (Nicholas Hope) is a 35-year-old manchild, confined his whole life by his domineering mother--who uses him for sex--to a two-room tenement apartment. She has convinced Bubby that the air outside is poisonous, donning a gas mask every time she leaves; all this changes when Bubby's father, a priest who has lost his religion, shows up. His presence both demonstrates the possibility of breathing the air outside, and inspires Bubby to an act of violence that upsets his enclosed world. Finding himself out on the street, the antisocial, nearly mute Bubby must now encounter society, and his adventures run the gamut from poignant and funny to grim and brutal. He is seduced by a Salvation Army worker, adopted by a rock band with whom he performs, imprisoned, raped, and saved again.

TECHNICAL DATA

Director: Rolf De Heer
Production: Domenico Procacci, Rolf De Heer

Screenplay: Rolf De Heer
Cast: Nicholas Hope, Claire Benito, Ralph Cotterill, Carmel Johnson
Editing: Suresh Ayyar
Cinematography: Ian Jones
Soundtrack: Graham Tardif
Runtime: 112 min. Language: English Color: Color

DIRECTOR

BIOGRAPHY
Born in 1951 in Heemskerk, Holland, Rolf de Heer migrated to Australia with his family in 1959. From eighteen, he spent seven years working at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. In 1977, he was granted entry into Australia's prestigious Film Television and Radio School, completing the three-year course with Diplomas in Production and Directing. Having written, produced and directed feature films for nearly two decades, de Heer has become one of Australia's leading filmmakers. His films consistently challenge moral conventions and push the boundaries of the filmmaker's art. De Heer's first film was the children's feature Tail of a Tiger (1984), which attracted both critical and commercial success and played at the Berlin Kinderfest. Incidente at Raven’s Gate (1987), de Heer's second feature, was an atmospheric science fiction mystery thriller, followed by DIngo (1990) a musical odyssey that travelled from outback Western Australia to the streets of Paris starring Colin Friels and jazz legend Miles Davis in his only film role. Bad Boy Bubby (1993) marked de Heer's first collaboration with Italian producer Domenico Procacci. Thirty-two different cinematographers were used to chronicle the adventures of a child-man seeing the world for the first time. BAD BOY BUBBY won immediate international acclaim and went on to win the Grand Special Jury Prize and the International Film Critics Prize at the 1993 Venice Film Festival, as well as four Australian Film Institute Awards.De Heer spent the next two years working on Epsilon (1995) that made extensive use of motion control cinematography. During a break in filming, The Quiet Room was shot. The story of a family breakdown as seen through the eyes of a child, The Quiet Room garnered critical acclaim and numerous awards from around the world and was selected for Official Competition in the 1996 Cannes International Film Festival. In 1997 de Heer directed Dance Me to my Song, also chosen for Official Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. In 1999, de Heer spent three months in the jungles of French Guyana shooting the film The Old Man Who Read Love Stories. De Heer's next film, The Tracker, was shot entirely on location in the rugged Gammon Ranges in outback Australia and debuted to a standing ovation at the 2002 Adelaide Festival of Arts and in Official Competition at the 2002 Venice International Film Festival. The film won prizes all over the world. Alexandra's Project, de Heer's tenth film as director, and the first feature to be produced by Fandango Australia. It was selected to participate in official competition at the prestigious Berlin International Film Festival in 2003 and went on to screen at numerous international festivals including Puchon, Edinburgh, Telluride, Toronto and Montreal, where it won the Golden Zenith for Best Film in the Oceania section.In 2003, de Heer began working on Ten Canoes with the community of Ramingining, Arnhem Land. The film went on to win many awards notably the Special Jury Prize in Un Certain Regard at the 2006 Cannes International Film Festival. De Heer recently finished his twelfth feature film Dr. Plonk, a black and white silent comedy in the style of Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. The film closed the Adelaide Film Festival in 2007 and was selected into the Visions Section of the Toronto International Film Festival.


FILMOGRAPHY
- Tale of a Tiger (1984)
- Incident at Raven's Gate (1988)
- Dingo (1991)
- Bad Boy Bubby (1993)
- The Quiet Room (1996)
- Epsilon (1997)
- Dance Me to My Song (1998)
- The Old Man Who Read Love Stories (2000)
- The Tracker (2002)
- Alexandra's Project (2003)
- Ten Canoes (2006)
- Dr Plonk (2007)