Mint’s new prime-time arts series, When The War Is Over, premiered at the Australian War Memorial in Canberra last week.
Among the packed audience of almost 200 people were the Minister for Veterans’ Affairs, Matt Keogh MP; the Director of the War Memorial, Matt Anderson PSM; and the Chair of the ABC, Kim Williams AM, who all spoke.
They were followed by the star of the show, presenter Rachel Griffiths, who said the War Memorial was the obvious venue to host the premiere, not just because it holds the stories of Australians at war but because it was a place “whose stories fascinated me since I was a child”.
The five-part series explores how art and pop culture – films, music, books, paintings, songs – have helped Australians better understand and heal from our five major wars: World War I, WWII, Vietnam, Afghanistan and the Australian wars fought here on home soil. Among the all-star cast are Jimmy Barnes and Don Walker from Cold Chisel, Redgum’s John Schumann, Peter Weir and David Williamson who directed and wrote Gallipoli, actors Neil Pigot and Kate Mulvany, singer/songwriter Troy Cassar-Daley, and artists Ben Quilty, Kat Rae and Alex Seton.
Two episodes were screened at the premiere: Afghanistan and Vietnam, as veterans of both military campaigns were among the audience. In between the two screenings Jennifer Collins, the Director of Screen at the ABC, hosted a Q&A with Rachel Griffiths.
Also among the high-profile crowd were parliamentarians, senior military officials, members of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs, war veterans and their families, representatives from the Returned Services League, executives of the National Gallery of Australia, National Archives of Australia, National Film & Sound Archive, National Museum of Australia, National Portrait Gallery, Screen Australia, the Vietnamese Embassy and executives from the ABC.
The series was directed by Sophie Meyrick and produced by Ili Bare. Executive producers were Rachel Griffiths, Dan Goldberg and Craig Graham. Rachel Robinson was executive producer for the ABC with Kath Earle as the Head of Arts.
It was financed by the ABC and Screen Australia, with a grant from the Department of Veterans’ Affairs Saluting Their Service program, as well as some philanthropic funding.
When The War Is Over premieres on ABC and ABC iView on Tuesday November 18 at 8pm
