Michael Rubbo

Michael Dattilo Rubbo (born 31 December 1938) is an Australian documentarian/filmmaker.

Early life

Rubbo was born in Melbourne, the son of Australian microbiologist Sydney Dattilo Rubbo, and the grandson of the painter Antonio Dattilo Rubbo. He is one of four children and the brother of artist Kiffy Rubbo (1944–1980). 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'' (1972)), '' Waiting for Fidel'' (1973), ''Wet Earth and Warm people'', and '' Margaret Atwood: Once in August'' (1984).

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. In 1973, he helped re-establish Film Australia. His work has inspired 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. They have been widely shown on TV and are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) and film schools around the world. His films are among the most-screened in the history of the Sydney Film Festival.

Rubbo has also directed and written four children's feature films including ''The Peanut Butter Solution'' (1985), ''Tommy Tricker and the Stamp Traveller'' (1988), ''The Return of Tommy Tricker'' (1994), and the Daytime Emmy award-winning film '' Vincent and Me'' (1990).

In 2017, he published the book ''Travels with My Art''.

Personal life

Rubbo and his wife Katerina, a Russian interpreter, teacher and artist, have two grown children and live in Avoca Beach, New South Wales.

In 2013, the BBC
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