Alison Wall

Neil Hamburger: That's Not Gold, That's Dung!

This withdrawn concert film showcases Neil Hamburger, America's Funnyman, at the top of his game before a sympathetic Sydney crowd.

Neil Hamburger: The World's Funnyman

Neil Hamburger, clearly has a larger following in Australia, where these performances were taped, than he does in America. In Los Angeles, small, dingy nightclubs host Hamburger, the nervous, nerdy comedian who clumsily delivers one-liners about rock musicians ranging from Britney Spears to Madonna to Michael Jackson to Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain. But The World's Funnyman boasts footage of Hamburger cracking jokes at a huge music festival, and footage of his main act reveals a near-stadium-sized Sydney club packed with fans. This DVD contains two "concerts," a short, fictionalized performance in which Hamburger takes on a Malaysian crowd, some music video clips, and a Canadian documentary analyzing Hamburger's genius. Hamburger, part Jerry Lewis, and part Andy Kaufman, has a fiercely commanding stage presence despite his cultivated meek demeanor, making his talent apparent. Sometimes funny, sometimes too weird for words, Neil Hamburger is definitely a character.

Terra Nullius

Loosely based on the filmmaker's personal experience, "Terra Nullius" is an impressionistic account of an eight year old Koori girl, Alice, growing up in a white adoptive family which denies her Aboriginality. The film examines how unacknowledged shame and fear passes from one generation to the next, from one culture to another. The last scene depicts a silent meeting between the young Alice and the adult Alice. In order to reclaim her life, Alice decides she must confront the pain and confusion of her childhood.