The Production Team

Mike Rubbo  Director, Writer, Camera, Sound and Co-Producer
rubbo@aapt.net.au

Mike trained in media at Stanford, California. He then went to the National Film Board of Canada where he directed over 30 prize winning films, most famously, Waiting for Fidel. Next, he directed four features for kids which also won many prizes, including an Emmy. This was for Vincent and Me his best known feature, a story about a young girl who travels back in time to meet van Gogh. He came back to his native Australia in the mid-nineties to be Head of Documentaries at the ABC and introduced, Race around the World to Australia.

After that, he became a freelance documentary maker again and directed the controversial; Much Ado About Something. Much Ado delves into the mystery of who really wrote Shakespeare. Was it perhaps Christopher Marlowe? More recently, he made one of his most popular films to date, All About Olive. This doc tells the story of 105 year-old Olive Riley, going back to her native Broken Hill where she was born in 1899, to spark some memories. Even Emus Need to Dance is his first community drama, the first of many, he hopes, though he did try something similar on a slow boat from China, long, long ago.

Mike has been actively campaigning to save a lovely art house cinema in Avoca Beach where he now lives www.avoca-beach-theatre-story.org. He is now Adjunct Professor at QUT, teaching a masters media course in documentary. At Avoca Beach he lives with his interpreter wife, Katya Korolkevich-Rubbo, and their daughter, Ellen. Locally, he's also a painter, a bit Van Gogh-ish in style.


Susanne Haydon  Script Editor; Casting; Locations; Publlicity; Co-Producer

Susanne trained in media and communications at the University of Technology in Sydney. She was Executive Producer of a corporate video unit in Sydney where she developed 32 films and won Best Communication Package at the prestigious Chicago Film Festival. Susanne worked with husband Tom Haydon on the documentaries he produced before his death in 1991, including the trilogy of Behind the Dam and The Fight for the Franklin. Susanne taught film and television at Sydney Girls' High School where she established a Film Commission and began the ATOM National Students Film Festival which still runs today. Her students' films were screened at the Sydney Film Festival and won awards both in Australia and overseas.

Susanne moved to Maleny in 2001 because she wanted to further explore her involvement in the cooperative movement. After working as a Research Fellow for QUT and writing strategy for the Queensland Government, Susanne decided to work within her community and to further develop cooperative enterprise. She was a coordinator of the Maleny Working Together project, possibly the largest research study of a community conducted in Australia. In 2004, Susanne took on the role of Maleny Film Society manager, organising fortnightly screenings and film festivals.

Even Emus Need to Dance has been a significant way for Susanne to work with the Maleny community and the people who signed up to participate in this fun filmmaking project. Susanne lives in Maleny with her husband Rick Gould.


Jessica Begun  Production Assitant; Script Editor

Jessica trained at Queensland University of Technology in theatre and directing. She worked as a set designer in Sydney and following her MFA in Drama at QUT worked with Neil Cameron Productions as a performer, assistant director, and designer in outdoor fire spectaculars and community productions throughout Australia. Prominent among them was the Fire Event at the Woodford Folk Festival. She also produced and directed community art events and theatre in Queensland.

Jessica is a visual artist and was a founder of Forum Theatre in Worcester Massachusetts. She was president and program director of Maleny Community Radio. Jessica lives in Maleny with her husband Michael. She has two sons and two grand-children.


Henion Han  Editor

Henion Han was born in Johannesburg, South Africa on 8 Februaury 1952 to Chinese immigrant parents. He completed a Bachelor of Arts with Honours Degree in the subject of Drama and Film at the University of Witwatersrand, Johannesburg.

In 1984 he was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to pursue a Master of Fine Arts Degree at the Art Institute of Chicago.

As an editor he has completed 41 documentaries, 5 short and 1 full-length feature film. The topics include a 5 part series on the History of the ANC, a 16 part series on AIDS, a 5 part series on environmental issues in Africa, a music documentary on the Dave Matthews Band and 'Big voice' Jack Leroli, and a profile on Women Miners for Discovery Channel.

He currently resides in Australia and has edited programs for SBS, ABC and Channel 10.