Michael Dattilo Rubbo (born 31 December 1938) is an Australian
filmmaker, screenwriter, and publisher who has written and directed
over 50 films in documentary and fiction. Rubbo studied at Scotch
College, Melbourne, and read anthropology at Sydney University, before
travelling on a Fulbright scholarship to study film at Stanford
University, California where he got his MA in Communication Arts.
Rubbo worked for 20 years as a documentary film director at the
National Film Board of Canada before returning to Australia.Rubbo
worked for 20 years as a documentary film director at National Film
Board of Canada, taking time off in between films to teach both in
Australia at the just opened National Film School, and U.S.
universities (including Harvard University). Hired by the NFB to make
films for children, Rubbo directed over 40 documentaries, winning many
international prizes. His best known documentaries are Sad Song of
Yellow Skin (1972)) (filmed in Vietnam during the war), Waiting for
Fidel (1973), Wet Earth and Warm people (a personal journey through
Indonesia), Margaret Atwood: Once in August (1984), and a more recent
documentary made after his NFB tenure, Much Ado About Something
(2001). Much Ado About Something explores the possibility that
Christopher Marlowe was the hidden hand behind William Shakespeare.
"Rubbo marshals the evidence with lucidity and zest and comes to his
own original and contentious conclusion" - Suzy Baldwin, Sydney
Morning Herald.Working at the NFB, Rubbo was an early pioneer in the
field of metafilm, creating subjective, highly personal films that
were more like personal journals than objective records of reality.
Sad Song of Yellow Skin, Rubbo's reaction to the Vietnam war, is his
most awarded film in this genre. That Rubbo should have pursued this
vision at the National Film Board was particularly striking, as the
NFB's English-language production branch had, during Rubbo's tenure,
generally encouraged a much more objective approach to non-fiction
film, including the use of voice-of-God narration.
filmmaker, screenwriter, and publisher who has written and directed
over 50 films in documentary and fiction. Rubbo studied at Scotch
College, Melbourne, and read anthropology at Sydney University, before
travelling on a Fulbright scholarship to study film at Stanford
University, California where he got his MA in Communication Arts.
Rubbo worked for 20 years as a documentary film director at the
National Film Board of Canada before returning to Australia.Rubbo
worked for 20 years as a documentary film director at National Film
Board of Canada, taking time off in between films to teach both in
Australia at the just opened National Film School, and U.S.
universities (including Harvard University). Hired by the NFB to make
films for children, Rubbo directed over 40 documentaries, winning many
international prizes. His best known documentaries are Sad Song of
Yellow Skin (1972)) (filmed in Vietnam during the war), Waiting for
Fidel (1973), Wet Earth and Warm people (a personal journey through
Indonesia), Margaret Atwood: Once in August (1984), and a more recent
documentary made after his NFB tenure, Much Ado About Something
(2001). Much Ado About Something explores the possibility that
Christopher Marlowe was the hidden hand behind William Shakespeare.
"Rubbo marshals the evidence with lucidity and zest and comes to his
own original and contentious conclusion" - Suzy Baldwin, Sydney
Morning Herald.Working at the NFB, Rubbo was an early pioneer in the
field of metafilm, creating subjective, highly personal films that
were more like personal journals than objective records of reality.
Sad Song of Yellow Skin, Rubbo's reaction to the Vietnam war, is his
most awarded film in this genre. That Rubbo should have pursued this
vision at the National Film Board was particularly striking, as the
NFB's English-language production branch had, during Rubbo's tenure,
generally encouraged a much more objective approach to non-fiction
film, including the use of voice-of-God narration.
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