What if you shared a name with the most famous man in the world?
In this an energetic British feature film The Other Fellow, Australian director Matthew Bauer finds many surprising answers to the question What’s in a name? When that name is ‘Bond, James Bond’…
In this year marking 60 years of James Bond, and with Bauer’s global mission complete, The Other Fellow is set for the Australian Premiere in Melbourne on July 26 in the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival,
In 1952, Jamaica, when author Ian Fleming needs a name for his suave, sophisticated secret agent, he steals one from an unaware birdwatcher and creates a pop-culture phenomenon about the ultimate fictional alpha-male.
From a Swedish 007 super-fan with a WWII past, a gay New York theatre director, an African American Bond accused of murder, and two resilient women caught up in it all, Bauer’s cinematic mission is an audacious, poignant, and insightful examination of masculinity, gender, and race in the very real shadows of a movie icon. For a select group of men with the same name, it means that their lives have been severely impacted – both good and bad – by the link to the film phenomenon. Can anyone ever live up to that name?
Join the global mission to find out what it’s like to live in the shadow of 007 and discover the lasting, contrasting and very personal impacts of sharing an identity with a global literary and cinematic titan.
Director Matthew Bauer said: “When I was finishing my thesis at NYU Film School, somewhere from the aether appeared the enticing question, “What would it be like to have the name James Bond?” That simple thought has taken me on a figurative and literal journey across the world over a number of years, and has uncovered a myriad fascinating, wholly divergent stories. It now feels like the perfect time and place to return down under, to my own part of the world, to premiere THE OTHER FELLOW. In the sixtieth anniversary year of the James Bond film series and as questions rage about the gender, race, and identity of the next movie 007, suddenly THE OTHER FELLOW holds great, fascinating resonance.”
The Other Fellow is directed by Matthew Bauer and co-written by Bauer and Rene van Pannevis (Jacked, Looted). The producer is Michelle Brøndum (Requiem, Stories for You and I) for The Other Fellow Ltd.
The Other Fellow Australian Premiere at Melbourne Documentary Film Festival on July 26th. The film is currently seeking distribution.
6.30pm Tuesday 26 July at Cinema Nova as part of MDFF. Tickets: https://www.cinemanova.com.au/films/mdff-other-fellow-the
About Matthew Bauer
Born and raised in Australia on a diet of Bond films, labyrinthine thrillers and Errol Morris documentaries, Matt attended NYU/Tisch and completed his Masters in Directing under the tutelage of Oliver Stone and Todd Solondz.
His interest in film grew in high school where he made a run of several short films including SURVEILLANCE – a queer take on Alfred Hitchcock’s REAR WINDOW – and mockumentary, FAKES.
Matt is a proud LGBTQ+ filmmaker and has a unique worldview expressed in his films. He is developing his second feature documentary ETHANOL and a TV series about the 1972 Moroccan royal jet attack.
