Five new Mint Pictures productions have been revealed for broadcast in 2019.
The new year will kick off in January with two new slow TV documentaries for SBS on the back of ‘The Ghan: Australia’s Greatest Train Journey’, which was a ratings hit for the network with some 715,000 viewers tuning in last January – its highest rating show in the previous 12 months.
‘The Indian Pacific: Australia’s Longest Train Journey’ and ‘The Kimberley Cruise: Australia’s Last Great Wilderness’ will take armchair viewers on two more three-hour slow journeys across the continent while longer versions will screen on VICE. Both shows were directed and executive produced by Adam Kay, Mint’s managing director, with Bill Baxter producing ‘The Indian Pacific’ and Daniel Whelan producing ‘The Kimberley Cruise’.
SBS will also air two more documentaries by Mint in 2019 in its ‘Untold Australia’ season.
‘The Secret Life of Death’ (working title) takes viewers inside two family-run funeral houses in Sydney through the eyes of two young women – one who works with the living, the other who works with the dead. It is directed by Dan Goldberg, Mint’s head of factual, and produced by Nia Pericles, with Gary Russell from Tangerine Pictures as DoP and co-executive producer, along with Mint’s Adam Kay. It is funded by SBS, Screen Australia and Create NSW.
The second ‘Untold’ documentary is ‘Trans Mission’ (working title), which follows Holly Conroy, a transgender truck driver bidding to stage a Mardi Gras in Australia’s number one Christian capital – Wagga Wagga – as she continues her sexual reassignment surgery. It is directed and produced by Catherine Scott, executive produced by Adam Kay, with Benjamin Strum as associate producer, and is funded by SBS, Screen Australia and Create NSW.
Also commissioned is ‘The Pool’, a stunning two-part series for ABC Regional & Local exploring the social history of the swimming pool in Australia, which has been a battleground for race, religion, sex and gender over the last century. It is being written by Christos Tsiolkas (The Slap, Barracuda), directed by Emmy-nominee Sally Aitken, produced by Dan Goldberg and executive produced by Adam Kay.
