Music Theatre fandom documentary REPEAT ATTENDERS to make Australian premiere

23 February, 202021 February, 2020 Gabi Bergman 0 Comments

Australian independent filmmaker, Mark Dooley, is excited to announce the Australian premiere of REPEAT ATTENDERS – a feature-length documentary film that takes us inside the fascinating and unexplored world of musical theatre superfans.

REPEAT ATTENDERS celebrates its Australian premiere in Melbourne, Sydney, Adelaide, Byron Bay, Brisbane, Perth and Canberra as part of the Young at Heart Film Festival from 18:00 on Wednesday 19th February at Palace Cinemas.

In this groundbreaking new film, producer/director Mark Dooley delves into the psychology of the most extreme Broadway superfans, to reveal the quirks and complexities of their obsessions.

*Starlight* *Express* superfan Gudrun Mangel is featured in the film

For some people, Broadway musicals are merely frivolous entertainment, a fun way to spend a few hours. For others, it’s an all-consuming obsession, a way of life and even the key to their very identity. These superfans are so commiGed to their favourite show that they return to see that show again and again, hundreds of times over. REPEAT ATTENDERS shines a spotlight on Broadway superfans and this growing global phenomenon of ‘repeat attending’, as it examines just how far the most extreme superfans will go in pursuit of their passion – some with devastating consequences.

Filmed on Broadway, London’s West End, Bochum Germany and Australia’s Melbourne and Brisbane over a six-year period, REPEAT ATTENDERS introduces us to some of the world’s biggest, most extreme superfans of shows such as CATS, RENT, LES MISERABLES and STARLIGHT EXPRESS.

“Repeat Attenders is a documentary film that introduces the audience to a world where we can escape for a couple of hours. In a theatre you can cry, laugh, connect and heal together despite being surrounded by strangers. Inside a darkened theatre, you are allowed to be who you are, without judgement. All the things you might be judged for in the real world, don’t matter here. Here in the theatre, you are simply part of the human race, having a shared experience. I felt this was a subject worth celebrating, as now more than ever, we need some relief form the uncertainly of what is happening in the world”.

Australian Mark Dooley is an independent filmmaker currently based in Melbourne. Having worked in broadcast television since 2000, Mark has extensive credits to his name working in factual, documentary and reality television and has worked around the world on some of the world’s biggest television franchise brands.

According to Mark, “Making a feature documentary alone is not an easy task. It either takes hundreds of thousands of dollars, or it takes Ame”. The idea for Repeat AGenders was born in 2012 when Mark first decided he wanted to create a documentary about a subject he knew a lot about (theatre), but a subculture he did not (repeat aGenders). In many ways, REPEAT ATTENDERS is a love letter to Broadway superfans everywhere.

Some of Mark’s recent factual and documentary program credits include Filthy Rich and Homeless (Blackfella Films/SBS), Student Swap (SBS), Gogglebox (Endemol Shine/Network 10/Foxtel), Everyone’s a Critic (Matchbox Pictures/ABC) and both Keeping Australia Alive and Keeping Australia Safe (ITV Studios/ABC).