Jimmy Barnes’ ‘Working Class Boy’ to have biggest cinema opening for Aussie doco

Following rave reviews after its world premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival last week – where the guest of honour arrived dressed in a kilt – Jimmy Barnes: Working Class Boy documentary is set to make waves when it hits the cinemas Australia-wide.

It opens on Thursday, August 23 in over 220 screens.

That makes it the biggest Australian documentary release in history, and the biggest documentary release since Michael Jackson’s This Is It in 2009.

The Jackson doco grossed $8.9 million in Australia in the first month.

Charity screenings of Working Class Boy in Geelong, Victoria, and Parramatta, Sydney, will raise funds for No To Violence to battle domestic family violence.

The Geelong screening was yesterday, and Parramatta’s is tomorrow (Wednesday, August 22).

Barnes is also donating the 2018 royalties from the doco’s soundtrack album through Bloodlines Music to help drought relief efforts.

The powerful and uplifting Barnes story, which begins in the Glasgow slums and touches domestic violence and alcohol issues, gets the warts’n’all treatment from director Mark Joffe (Jack Irish, House of Hancock, The Man Who Sued God).

Barnes reveals he was nervous to see his life played out in film, but knew his friend was the man for the job.

“I trust Mark artistically and emotionally, we’ve been through a lot together and he’s a close, dear friend,” the singer said.

“I knew he would do a good job and to be honest, he’s exceeded my expectations.”

It includes duets with Barnes’ children Mahalia Barnes and David Campbell, and his brother-in-law, Diesel.

A new collaboration with Richard Tognetti’s Australian Chamber Orchestra is another highlight.

The doco is based on his memoir Working Class Boy, which won the 2017 ABIA Award as Australia’s Biography of The Year, and spent 16 weeks at #1.

It sold over 250,000 copies, making it one of the biggest autobiographies in our country’s history.