Martin Fabinyi
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New article name is Martin Fabinyi
Martin Fabinyi was educated at Wesley College Melbourne and spent two years studying drama at Flinders University Adelaide between founding and editing the student newspaper Empire Times and mobilising the student body against the Vietnam war.
In 1972 he moved to Sydney and joined the Filmmakers Co-op, which at the time not only counted experimental filmmakers such as Albie Thoms, Aggy Read and Mick Glasheen as members, but also filmmakers who would become some of the most popular and commercial directors including Peter Weir, Phillip Noyce and Bruce Beresford. Fabinyi, who had shot independent works in Adelaide, received a grant from the Experimental Film Board to make The Vacuum, one of the first projects in Australia to be shot on portable videotape. A satire on the personalities behind religious cults, featuring a game show starring Johnny O’Keefe and drag act Sylvia and the Synthetics, the video premiered at the Co-op and toured universities with a live performance from the Synthetics and Fabinyi’s earlier work, including the controversial TV Dinner, which polarised audiences due its uncompromising and unerotic sexual subject matter. Fabinyi, who was influenced by German artist Otto Muehl, continued to work in video and was a founding member of Bush Video, the group which wired up and broadcast on-site during the 1973 Nimbin Festival, an event that has become the epitome of the hippie movement. In 1974 Fabinyi received a grant to screen a selection of Australian experimental films in London which was warmly received.
He continued working with the group Sylvia and the Synthetics in performance art and was invited to participate in the Adelaide Fringe Arts Festival in 1975. His piece, which involved nudity and video (the audience only seeing the video and therefore not sure whether the event was live or not) was staged in a tent next to the Torrens river and attracted the attention of the local police who claimed they could see behind the screens and charged Fabinyi with “Aiding and abetting an indecent act”. Whilst the Adelaide Festival organisers debated whether to show the video across the city (that year monitors screened events on most city street corners), Fabinyi was in court. Eventually, after an appeal was lost, he was sentenced to three months hard labour. This was reported in Sydney by Richard Neville in the Nation Review as an outrage, prompting still more debate.
Fabinyi returned to Sydney and the world of rock and roll, teaming with photographer Philip Morris for the book The Bumper Book Of Rock. He and Philip designed record covers, photo shoots and documented the 1970s Sydney scene and the life of Johnny O’Keefe.
Fabinyi began writing scripts for directors Phillip Noyce, Jim Sharman and Michael Thornhill, and with composer Cameron Allan . The two shared a passion for pop music and when Mental As Anything became their first signing Regular Records was born.
The label would endure as a ground-breaking independent for fifteen years, breaking artists such as Icehouse, Austen Tayshus and Kate Ceberano.
In 1990, Fabinyi was appointed editor of Follow Me Gentlemen, the men’s fashion version of Follow Me. Changing the name to FMG, the magazine was a precursor to men’s fashion and general magazines. In 1999 Fabinyi co-authored The Real Thing, a history of Australian rock and roll, with Toby Creswell.
When Regular was sold to its distributor, Mushroom Pictures began with documentaries, for the ABC, Discovery Channel and the Nine Network. Titles such as Tribal Voice featuring Yothu Yindi, Kate Ceberano & Friends, Next To Nothing and Nothing to Hide (on lingerie and swimwear) and The Singer and The Swinger (the story of Johnny O’Keefe and Lee Gordon) cemented Mushroom’s documentary credentials.
In 2000, Mushroom Pictures produced and released the horror feature spoof Cut starring Molly Ringwald and Kylie Minogue, which was sold worldwide and achieved box office success in Europe and Asia. Mushroom Pictures’ second feature. Chopper, which Fabinyi executive produced, was the first Australian “R” rated feature to go #1, grossing over $5 million. It became a worldwide cult phenomena and launched the careers of both director Andrew Dominik and actor Eric Bana. Mushroom Pictures moved into local distribution with Russian Doll. In 2003, Fabinyi produced Gettin’ Square, directed by Jonathan Teplitzky and starring David Wenham and Sam Worthington, which garnered box office success and critical acclaim. This was followed by Geoffrey Wright’s take on Macbeth, also starring Sam Worthington. Mushroom Pictures moved back to television with Great Australian Albums Volumes 1 & 2, an eight-hour documentary set of the most influential Australian bands for SBS Television. It was described by Graham Blundell in The Australian as one of the most important local documentary series ever produced. Mushroom Pictures distributed the U.S. documentary Anvil: The Story of Anvil and Cedar Boys, and will distribute the Australian feature Mad Bastards in 2010. Fabinyi left Mushroom Pictures in 2009 and works independently as both a producer and writer.
References
Creswell, Toby (1999). The Real Thing: Adventures in Australian Rock & Roll, 1957-now. Milsons Point, NSW: Random House. ISBN 9780091835477.