Director
The emotional, true story of Ikey Solomon, an infamous British convict whose life is considered to have been the inspiration for Dickens’ Fagin of Oliver Twist and perhaps also an influence on the creation of the felon Magwitch of Great Expectations. The First Fagin seamlessly blends narration (by Miriam Margolyes of Harry Potter movie fame), still photography, historical records, interviews with scholars and historians, and vivid dramatic re-enactment. Using an entirely Tasmanian cast as well as the picturesque Tasmanian landscape and historical sites as background for the drama, the film also offers insight into the 19th century British penal colony in Van Diemen’s Land.
Continuity
Parody of historical epics that focuses on real-life Australian explorers William John Wills and Robert O'Hara Burkes, who tragically tried to cross the Australian continent from the south, to the north, a distance of 3,250 km.
