Ellis Park Launch and Q&A 7th June 2025
South Australian director Justin Kurzel has produced a couple of incredible films that focussed on controversial topics that not many others would touch. Both Snowtown and Nitram were as riveting as they were terrifying.
In a change of genre, Kurzel has decided to document a close friend and one of Australia’s finest musicians, Warren Ellis.
Ellis’s career spans 30+ years most prominently with The Dirty Three, The Bad Seeds and as a sought after film composer. He is a multi-instrumentalist but it’s the violin for which he is most renown.
According to Ellis, he was expecting to be a part of a film that highlighted his project Ellis Park in Sumatra, but what he discovered was that Kurzel pushed him out of his comfort zone and did a deeper dive into his life.
Ellis and his wife purchased a large parcel of land in 2021 in Sumatra to assist a wildlife centre that saves injured and traumatised animals and restores their health. Most of the animals are rescued from the evil animal trade and most will never leave the centre, unable to survive in their natural habitat due to the damage they received.
Kurzel follows Ellis on his maiden trip to the park and these are some the most emotional scenes in the film. Kurzel in his own inimitable way explains the nightmare of what happens in Indonesia and Africa through his lens and from the experience of the centre’s director Femke.
As difficult as it is to see and hear the stories there is an overwhelming sense of positivity in the centre and with the people who work there which will leave you in tears. Ellis is a director of the centre and obviously an enormous financial contributor. The interactions between Ellis and the staff are beautiful. This is a link to the centre’s website
The documentary shifts between the park and Ellis’s trip home to Ballarat as well as some recording in his adopted home of Paris.
Whilst the documentary was being made, Ellis was in Melbourne at the time rehearsing a show with Nick Cave when Kurzel unexpectedly took him to his childhood home in Ballarat to visit his parents and have a look around at his old haunts.
This was a stroke of genius from Kurzel as we get to see a deeper and more personal level to Ellis who by nature is very shy and guarded.
Everything about the old home and his parents was so emotional. As someone of a similar age and background I was choking up at the interaction Ellis had with them.
Then Ellis takes Kurzel to a couple of his favourite childhood destinations. Firstly the stunning Ballarat Botanical Gardens where he plays a magical piece on violin and then to the glorious Cinema One at the Regent Theatre which is where we actually watched the film with six hundred others. He gets to play yet another inspiring piece on the empty stage which is filmed to fully take in the beauty of the theatre.
The trip to Ballarat certainly had an effect on Ellis. At the Q&A after the film he opened up on what the trip meant. It’s a big departure from the international goings-on of a musician to then head home on a whim. It appears to have brought back that sense of melancholy and grounding that we can all get by doing the same.
As he said, he’s just like you and I. He’s battled drug and alcohol addiction and while the documentary was being made he was dealing with personal issues at home.
The Q&A was enlightening and Ellis was very open and funny, acknowledging his friendship and respect for Justin for pushing him out of his comfort zone to make him a better man.
It’s a fantastic documentary. The music weaves it’s way throughout and it is truly uplifting. The individual musical performances that are captured in particular are superb as Ellis attacks his work, eyes closed and swaying like he’s in a dream.
At the end of the day, Ellis is very much a Ballarat boy who through sheer hard work and a bit of luck, became an international superstar. He’s also very kind and generous.
Justin Kurzel has produced something that is both a tribute to a musical treasure and an education into the vile world of animal trafficking.
He somehow has combined the two into an authentic, heart rending film that will stay with you for a long time. 9/10
