Film Info55 minutes
360 Degree Films in association with Screen Australia, ABC TV, Film Victoria and ZED Available for Free AND Ticketed events Synopsis: This one-hour documentary explores how the fly, a much-maligned spoiler of the Australian summer, is in fact a crime solver, healer, pollinator and street sweeper. Directed by Tosca Looby and produced by Sally Ingleton, this amusing and intriguing film pays homage to a much-maligned invertebrate and the influence it has had on our world. Part social history, part scientific study, The Great Australian Fly introduces the people who devote their lives to flies through science, criminology, medicine, as breeders and for love. And explains why we might need to stop swatting and start embracing the fly. Action Items |
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- Educate yourself on the facts and myths about flies http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-04-07/myths-about-flies-debunked-in-new-documentary/6374432
- Learn how flies are used in the medical industry and research https://helix.northwestern.edu/article/why-fruit-fly-research-no-joke http://www.monarchlabs.com/mdt
- Learn how flies help solve crimes and assist in murder investigations. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2014/10/141029-maggot-flies-bodies-video-forensics-science/
- Want more information about flies? Check out ‘Flies: The Natural History and Diversity of Diptera’ http://www.nhbs.com/title/185988/flies-the-natural-history-and-diversity-of-diptera
- Don’t forget to eat them! The UN is urging people to be more open about the idea of eating insects as a source of protein and nutrition, http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2013/13/130514-edible-insects-entomophagy-science-food-bugs-beetles/
Filmmaker Q & A
What inspired this story?
There was a clear hole in Australia’s storytelling – somehow we had forgotten to document one of our most ubiquitous residents: The Fly. We felt something just had to be done.
Describe some of the challenges faced while making this film?
Flies don’t listen to any instructions and are rather awkward to train. That said, flies garner no laws protecting their welfare. Although we worked hard to ensure no fly would be injured in the course of filming, we can’t be absolutely sure that all our animal actors survived the experience.
How do you approach science storytelling?
We felt that flies lent themselves very well to comedy. People who study flies also tend to lend themselves to comedy. The combination of these two facts left us with no option but to approach our science with a very wry smile.
What impact do you hope this film will have?
Our intention is to educate the public about the importance of flies in our ecosystem. We want viewers to be surprised by what they learn, and a little less inclined to bathe their world in fly spray.
Were there any surprising or meaningful moments/experiences you want to share?
We spent a full day in a small, boiling shed with 30,000 blowflies and several trays of rotting fish. We left that hell hole with fly faeces on ourselves and our equipment. The faeces washed off but the smell will never leave us.
Anything else you would like people to know?
Flies are really quite beautiful, especially when viewed with an electron microscope and/or Weissman camera.
What next?
Cockroaches.
What were some of the specific editing challenges you had to address?
The biggest challenge for me was understanding the subtle appearances between the different kinds of flies. Director Tosca Looby and I had to make sure that each sequence we edited was with the correct fly!
I also found the maggot-therapy rushes initially confronting. Fortunately the characters within the scene were both genuine and wonderful (the nurse and the patient) and their story steered the edit into interesting territory. And of course the marvelous maggots rose to the occasion!
There was a clear hole in Australia’s storytelling – somehow we had forgotten to document one of our most ubiquitous residents: The Fly. We felt something just had to be done.
Describe some of the challenges faced while making this film?
Flies don’t listen to any instructions and are rather awkward to train. That said, flies garner no laws protecting their welfare. Although we worked hard to ensure no fly would be injured in the course of filming, we can’t be absolutely sure that all our animal actors survived the experience.
How do you approach science storytelling?
We felt that flies lent themselves very well to comedy. People who study flies also tend to lend themselves to comedy. The combination of these two facts left us with no option but to approach our science with a very wry smile.
What impact do you hope this film will have?
Our intention is to educate the public about the importance of flies in our ecosystem. We want viewers to be surprised by what they learn, and a little less inclined to bathe their world in fly spray.
Were there any surprising or meaningful moments/experiences you want to share?
We spent a full day in a small, boiling shed with 30,000 blowflies and several trays of rotting fish. We left that hell hole with fly faeces on ourselves and our equipment. The faeces washed off but the smell will never leave us.
Anything else you would like people to know?
Flies are really quite beautiful, especially when viewed with an electron microscope and/or Weissman camera.
What next?
Cockroaches.
What were some of the specific editing challenges you had to address?
The biggest challenge for me was understanding the subtle appearances between the different kinds of flies. Director Tosca Looby and I had to make sure that each sequence we edited was with the correct fly!
I also found the maggot-therapy rushes initially confronting. Fortunately the characters within the scene were both genuine and wonderful (the nurse and the patient) and their story steered the edit into interesting territory. And of course the marvelous maggots rose to the occasion!