Hugh Jackman: Dukale’s Dream

OMTIMES: What was the motivation behind the making of this documentary, what was the concept you intended to capture?

Josh Rothstein: The motivation behind making this documentary was simply to explore Hugh and Deb’s interest in figuring out the best way to address global poverty. It has been a lifelong journey for Hugh and Deb and they have long been advocates for human rights and social issues, and so this film, to a certain extent, is the extension of that passion and intention. As our film highlights, there have been some significant and very encouraging new concepts in the aid and development world, specifically as it relates to community development work. So, the purpose of our film and the jumping-off point is exploring and seeing first hand some of the work that World Vision Australia is implementing in Ethiopia for community development projects with coffee farmers. The concept that we intended to capture was to tell the story of this personal journey for Hugh and Deb and as it turns out, the initial meeting and trip with Dukale was just the tip of the iceberg in terms of Hugh and Deb’s involvement and a sense of how they could get involved on a deeper level.

OMTIMES: What were the biggest challenges in the making of this documentary?

Josh Rothstein: The biggest challenge in terms of making this documentary was just confronting the reality that is the sort of best and worst case scenario in documentary film making: that you have no idea when the film is going to end and what narrative elements are around the corner, which of course leads to very real and organic moments of discovery. However, it is always difficult to prepare and budget and anticipate where the next event will occur. Overall, this element of the unknown in storytelling over the years has turned out to be a key ingredient of course, in terms of the film rolling out in such a narrative way that is genuine and true to the personal experience and growth that Hugh went through over the years.