Multi award winning (Australian made) guerrilla independent documentary. First Broadcast on SBS (Australia) 8:30pm 20 October 1995. It undertakes a highly entertaining tongue-in-cheek investigation into the impact of the sudden discovery of Magic Mushrooms growing in an 'Enchanted Forest', near the tiny rural town of Balingup, in south-West Australia. Pop 397. The Aztecs and many other ancient peoples used Magic Mushrooms in the worship of their deities. Vikings went berserk after eating them. Hippies across the planet have been using this 'forbidden fruit' for years. Meet the 'Shroomers, The Police, The local Balingup residents: Angry, nervous, and sometimes supportive; the medical professionals and a Mycologist (biologist specializing in the study of Fungi) who studied alongside Sir David Attenborough (literally)at Cambridge University. This film leads us far beyond the picturesque vistas of Balingup and into the international politics of the so-called 'War On Drugs'. * Broadcast on free to air TV in Australia, plus free to air (and cable) TV in Indonesia, Israel, France, and England from 1996 through to the present. Fact Is Often Stranger Than Fiction...

Fungimentary: The Magic Mushrooms of Balingup

Australia Day 2002. At the Woomera Detention Centre, protests by asylum seekers are erupting. A bare-chested young man climbs onto the perimeter fence. Below him are coils of cut-throat razor wire. He jumps. This image came to define one of the darkest chapters of Australian history.

The Man Who Jumped

In his youth Shaun Micallef almost joined the priesthood. Now he wonders if he may have missed his one shot at the answers to life’s big questions. Heading to India, a country where spirituality and the search for meaning is very much a national past time, he immerses himself in the Hindu world of Gods, Gurus and the Ganges. In a bid to get to the heart of the faith, Shaun pushes well beyond his comfort zone on a physical, mental and spiritual adventure. He journeys to the source of the Ganges high in the Himalayas - all the while offering his own unique observations on his quest to find the meaning of life.