Melbourne, Australia — Composer, sound designer and music producer Jacquie Joy will present Documentaries Rescored, a project commissioned by the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival, as part of the festival’s Screen Talk Evening at Henkel Street Cinemas.
The event features a screening of the landmark Australian silent film The Story of the Kelly Gang, footage supplied by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia, with Joy’s newly created rescore soundtrack. The screening will be presented alongside Joy’s recorded 30-minute presentation and masterclass, exploring how composition transforms narrative meaning, deepens emotion, and reinterprets archival and historical film through contemporary sound design.
The event will take place at Henkel Street Cinemas, Factory 10/102 Henkel Street, Brunswick, as part of the Screen Talk – Masterclasses and Screenings program within the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival.
Widely recognised as the world’s first feature-length narrative film, The Story of the Kelly Gang remains one of the most important works in Australian screen history. Although only fragments of the original 1906 film survive, its mythic subject matter, striking imagery and cultural legacy continue to resonate. In this special screening, Joy’s contemporary score and sound design reimagines the silent fragments for a modern audience while honouring the film’s historical significance.
Joy’s masterclass offers a behind-the-scenes look at the creative and technical process of scoring a fragmented silent film, including the challenges of shaping story, momentum and emotion when dialogue, production sound and complete visual continuity are absent.
Her approach combines cinematic scoring, period-inspired textures, sound design and thematic composition to help bridge the distance between early Australian cinema and today’s screen audiences. The rescore examines how music can clarify story structure, heighten dramatic tension and invite viewers to experience silent film not as a museum piece, but as a living cinematic work.
For Joy, the project is also a reflection on the power of sound to reshape the way audiences connect with history.
“Music can transform archival film by giving emotional context to images that might otherwise feel distant or fragmented,” says Joy. “With The Story of the Kelly Gang, I wanted to create a score that supported the story, respected the film’s place in history, and helped audiences feel the danger, myth and humanity within the surviving footage.”
Tickets for Screen Talk – Masterclasses and Screenings are available via Universe.
Event: Documentaries Rescored — Screen Talk Evening
Festival: Melbourne Documentary Film Festival
Featuring: The Story of the Kelly Gang, supplied by the NFSA, with new rescore soundtrack by Jacquie Joy
Venue: Henkel Street Cinemas, Brunswick, Melbourne VIC
Tickets: Universe — Screen Talk: Masterclasses and Screenings