Michael Rubbo


Michael Dattilo Rubbo is an Australian documentarian/filmmaker.

Early life

Rubbo, film maker and artist, was born in Melbourne, the son of Australian microbiologist Sydney Dattilo Rubbo, and artist Ellen Rubbo with whom he had his first exhibition at The Argus Gallery. He is the grandson of the painter Antonio Dattilo Rubbo and is one of four children. He attended the private Scotch College, and studied anthropology at Sydney University. He earned a Fulbright scholarship to study film at Stanford University, California; in 1965, he graduated with a Master's degree in Communication Arts.

Career

Rubbo approached the National Film Board of Canada about an internship, but they were so impressed by his thesis film, The True Source of Knowledge, they hired him to make films, initially for children. He spent the next 20 years there, as a director, writer, editor and/or producer, mainly of serious films. At the time, the NFB was encouraging an objective approach to non-fiction film, including the use of voice-of-God narration, but Rubbo became an early pioneer in the field of metafilm, creating subjective, highly personal films that were more like personal journals than objective records of reality. His best-known NFB films are Sad Song of Yellow Skin ), Waiting for Fidel, Wet Earth and Warm people, and Margaret Atwood: Once in August.
In between films, Rubbo taught at Australia's National Film School, and was a visiting lecturer at New York University, UCLA, Stanford University, the University of Florida, Harvard University and the Australian Film, Television and Radio School. His work has influenced numerous filmmakers, notably Michael Moore, Nick Broomfield, Louis Theroux, Tina DiFeliciantonio and Karen Goodman.
In 1990, he returned to Australia to take the position of Head of Documentaries at the Australian Broadcasting Corporation.
Rubbo's films have won numerous awards. Many have been shown on TV and are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and film schools around the world. His films have been screened at many festivals including the Sydney Film Festival.
Rubbo has also directed and written four children's feature films including The Peanut Butter Solution, Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller, The Return of Tommy Tricker, and the Daytime Emmy award-winning film Vincent and Me.
In 2017, he published the book Travels with My Art.

Personal life

Rubbo and his wife Katerina, a Russian interpreter, teacher and artist, live in Avoca Beach, New South Wales. Rubbo has two grown children, Nicolas Rubbo and Ellen Rubbo living in Australia.
In 2013, the BBC named the Avoca Beach Theatre as one of the 10 most beautiful cinemas in the world. Rubbo was prominent in the campaign to stop plans to redevelop the theatre. Rubbo is also a prominent advocate for the widespread use of bicycles.

Filmography

Awards

Mrs. Ryan's Drama Class 1969
Sad Song of Yellow Skin
Wet Earth and Warm People
The Man Who Can’t Stop
Waiting for Fidel
  • American Film and Video Festival, New York: Red Ribbon, World Concerns, 1976
Bate’s Car: Sweet as a Nut
The Walls Come Tumbling Down
  • American Film and Video Festival, New York: Blue Ribbon Award, Citizen Action, 1978
Where Have All the Maoists Gone?
Solzhenitsyn’s Children…Are Making a Lot of Noise in Paris
Daisy: The Story of a Facelift
The Peanut Butter Solution
Vincent and Me 1990
  • Daytime Emmy Awards, New York: Outstanding Children's Special, 1991
  • Wisconsin International Children's Film Festival, Milwaukee: WisKid Award, Full-Length Feature, 1991