A fiercely independent Western Australian documentary celebrating one of Perth’s great rock ’n’ roll characters has taken another major step onto the international stage, with GREEN: The Fight for Rock and Roll now available through Amazon Prime Video, distributed by HALO Films.
Written and directed by WA filmmaker Luke C. Griffiths, GREEN: The Fight for Rock and Roll tells the extraordinary, funny, confronting and deeply human story of veteran Perth musician Wayne Green, the charismatic frontman of Wayne Green and the Phantoms.
Stills from the Perth-made documentary GREEN: The Battle for Rock and Roll.
Green spent decades tantalisingly close to the big time.
From the sweaty Perth pub circuit and a stint with The Boys to Nashville and beyond, his career is a story of talent, opportunity, excess, missed chances and an enduring determination to keep making music.
For Griffiths, seeing the film reach a platform with the scale of Amazon represents a significant moment for both the documentary and the independent team behind it.
“My excitement is beyond words! I’m stoked to finally have this film out in the world for everyone to see. It’s a rare opportunity to take something you’ve worked so hard on and put it on the world stage, in front of so many eyeballs all at once,” he says.
“I’m incredibly proud of the work we did on GREEN: The Fight for Rock and Roll, and I feel privileged to have been able to share Wayne’s incredible story.”
The milestone continues an impressive journey for Griffiths’ feature documentary debut. The film has screened to audiences in WA and attracted strong critical attention, with FilmInk describing it as “as much a character study as it is a music doco” and praising Green’s candour and Griffiths’ empathy for his subject.
Griffiths has also represented the film internationally, including his selection as the only Australian filmmaker to participate in the American Film Showcase, an experience that helped strengthen his focus on taking Australian stories to global audiences.
Produced in Western Australia by Luke Griffiths, Ian Hale, Susie Conte and Suzanne Worner, GREEN: The Fight for Rock and Roll is an example of what can be achieved by independent filmmakers determined to take a distinctly local story to a much wider audience.