''Morgana'' is a 2019 feature

documentary A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

about Morgana Muses, a pornographic film star in her 50s. The film is directed by Isabel Peppard and Josie Hess, and produced by Karina Astrup of House of Gary. The film premiered at

Melbourne International Film Festival The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is an annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. It was founded in 1952 and is one of the oldest film festivals in the world following the founding of the Venic ...

. in August 2019.

Production

The film had a successful Kickstarter campaign that was completed in August 2017 During this time, the project was covered by

The Feed (Australian TV series) ''The Feed'' is an Australian news, current affairs and satire television series that began airing on SBS Viceland (then known as SBS2) on 20 May 2013 and continued through several series and with several changes of presenters until it became a ...

SBS Viceland SBS Viceland (stylised as SBS VICELAND) is an Australian free-to-air television channel owned by the Special Broadcasting Service (SBS). It began as SBS TWO on 1 June 2009, and was branded as SBS 2 between 2013 and 2016. On 8 April 2017, SBS V ...

with Marc Fennell.

Release

Morgana had its North American premiere at

Fantasia Film Festival Fantasia International Film Festival, also known as Fantasia Fest or simply Fantasia, is a genre film festival that has been based mainly in Montreal since its founding in 1996. It focuses on fantasy, horror, sci-fi and cult genre films. Regular ...

in August 2020. The official trailer was launched as an exclusive on Indiewire on August 6, and the film was acquired by Juno Films on August 27.

Critical reception

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, the film holds an approval rating of 100% based on 17 reviews, with an average rating of 7.80/10. Michele Galgana writing for

Screen Anarchy ScreenAnarchy, previously known as Twitch Film or Twitch, is a Canadian English-language website featuring news and reviews of mainly international, independent and cult films. The website was founded in 2004 by Todd Brown. In addition to films, ...

said "Filmmakers Peppard and Hess craft a fantastic documentary with a clear story, that while extraordinary, deeply relatable and touching." Anthony O'Connor writing for ''

FilmInk ''FilmInk'' is an Australian film magazine published by FKP International Exports. It was founded by current publisher Dov Kornits and Colin Fraser in July 1997, in Sydney. The magazine has been through many changes over the course of its exist ...

'' said Morgana is "A poetic, moving, life-affirming yarn extolling the virtues of sex positivity and self expression."

References

{{reflist 2019 documentary films 2019 films Australian documentary films 2010s Australian films