Suzi Quatro & Joy McKean biopics funded by Screen Australia

Three biopics of female music heroes are among 18 documentaries to receive funding by Screen Australia for $3.6 million.

Two are about Australian innovators, country music matriarch Joy McKean and recorder virtuoso Genevieve Lacey, and the third about international rocker Suzi Quatro.

Slim & I will touches on McKean growing up on a dairy farm and hosting her own radio show with her sister as a teenager.

She married fellow country performer Slim Dusty in 1951 and went on to write some of his biggest hits, including ‘Lights On The Hill’, ‘Walk A Country Mile’ and ‘Indian Pacific’.

McKean executive produces Slim & I, which is written and directed by Kriv Stenders and made by Pictures in Paradise Pty Ltd.

Australian writer/director Liam Firmager and producer Tait Brady have taken four years to bring the life of Detroit-born UK-based Suzi Quatro to the big screen in Suzi Q.

At a time when females in rock bands were invisible, Quatro led a group of men, played guitar and sang lead – and with her leather-clad version of ‘I Wanna Be Your Man’ may have taken a step further in LGBTI+ statement!

Suzi Q features archival concert footage and interviews with Australian producer Mike Chapman, Alice Cooper, Deborah Harry, Talking Heads’ Tina Weymouth, The Runaways’ Joan Jett and Cherie Currie, Henry Winkler (she played Fonzie’s love interest in Happy Days) and KT Tunstall.

Brady called it “an essay on the price of fame, we look at her marriage and divorce, her children and sibling rivalry.”

He expects the movie out through Label Distribution in November when Quatro returns for yet another Australian tour, and has already attracted interest in Europe.

Recorder Queen sees recorder virtuoso Genevieve Lacey team up with filmmaker Sophie Raymond (Mrs Carey’s Concert) who co-writes with Lacey, directs, and co-produces with Clare Sawyer.

Lacey is a serial collaborator with figures from radio, film, dance, theatre and orchestras.

Made by Music Films Pty Ltd, “This film is seen entirely from the Recorder Queen’s perspective, inviting audiences into her experience of the world.

“You come close to her relationships with her instrument, with music and with you, the listener.

“Ultimately, her story provides the framework for a bigger story about creativity – it’s about commitment, courage, compromise, fear, vulnerability, and moments of absolute bliss.”