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Legendary music producer, Mark Opitz AM reveals sad childhood in doco by Canberra filmmaker

Announcement posted by Jameson & Co 19 Sep 2023

Eighty Twenty: Mark Opitz Remembers now streaming on FOXTEL On Demand and Binge

Legendary Australian record producer, Mark Opitz AM speaks candidly about his sad childhood as one of "The Forgotten Australians" in an eye-opening documentary titled Eighty Twenty: Mark Opitz Remembers, currently streaming on FOXTEL On Demand and on Binge.

 

In the one-hour film, director Adele Chynoweth explores how Opitz used music as a form of escapism during the several years he and his brother spent in a boys' home in the 1960s. As an adult, he was fuelled by his traumatic experience and would become a multi-award winning studio master, internationally renowned for his hand in creating hits for many artists including Cold Chisel, The Angels, Divinyls, Bad//Dreems and INXS.

 

Chynoweth says, "I was interested, through the making of this film, in seeing if there was any connection between Mark's childhood experiences and his body of work that has become the soundtrack of our lives.

 

During his lengthy interview with Chynoweth, Opitz reveals that his award-winning achievements as a record producer stem from his determination to overcome the hardship of his childhood.

 

While Eighty Twenty: Mark Opitz Remembers offers detailed insight into the illustrious career of one of Australia's most successful music producers, it also aims to draw much-needed attention to the Forgotten Australians and Care Leavers. 

 

When Opitz was a child, his parents moved from Melbourne to Brisbane where they separated leaving his mother, Shirley, to look after him and his brother. Shirley worked night shifts as a nursing sister and amidst the dearth of childcare provisions for single parents at the time, she had no choice but to place seven year old Mark and his brother, David, as private wards into Margaret Marr Boys' Home. 

 

Mark recalls the superintendent of the Home, who insisted on being called 'Boss' and would isolate any boy who had committed an offence, by forcing them to stand in the dining room during the evening meal and then cane him afterwards in front of all the others. 

 

In the dormitory at night, Mark would cry, only to be reprimanded by Matron. He attended the local school and remembers the dry sandwiches from the Home that would be delivered at lunchtime. On Sundays, the boys from Margaret Marr would be loaded into a Bedford van and taken to the local Methodist Church, for their compulsory collective responsibility as the choir.

 

Mark had a crystal set radio with a small earpiece. He would hide under the bedcovers and listen to the hit songs of the day. On Sunday evenings they were allowed to listen to the 'Hit Parade' on the dormitory radiogram. Music served as Mark's escape and nurtured his imagination and dreams. A 'gang of brothers' stole Mark's crystal set and threatened to kill him. Mark recalls other traumatic events - boys who died in the Home, in addition to the continual witnessing of corporal punishment.

 

Says Chynoweth, "It is important to understand how many children were institutionalised in Australia in the 20th century. Approximately 50,000 were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Seven thousand were child migrants from Britain or Malta. Over 440,000 were domestic non-Indigenous Australian children - the Forgotten Australians.

 

"We need to talk about the experiences of the Forgotten Australians .I'm hoping that Mark's story and the music that he helped to create will broaden much-needed public understanding," the filmmaker adds.

 

As Opitz says in the film, "There are many, many Forgotten Australians, through bad luck or design, have fallen through the cracks. It's something none of us, any Australian, forgotten or not, should be happy about because we are Australians. We are one people. We should be looking after each other."

 

Eighty Twenty: Mark Opitz Remembers was written, produced and directed by Adele Chynoweth. Produced with assistance from the ACT Screen Arts Fund through Screen Canberra and the ACT Government. Produced with the support of Screen Australia

through the Producer Equity Program. Financed with the assistance of Documentary Australia © Tutwork Productions 2023. It is currently streaming on FOXTEL On Demand and on Binge.

 

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MEDIA CONTACT:

Erin Jameson | erin(at)jamesonandco(dot)com | +61 419 323 663

 

 

 

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