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KIM & HARLEY & THE KIDS (Family Foibles)

Year: 2001

Classification: Exempt - Ronin Recommends: M

Runtime: 27 min

Produced In: Australia

Directed By: Katrina Sawyer

Produced By: Steve Thomas

Language: English

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Vimeo on demand

Family Foibles is a series of five half-hour documentaries that examine contemporary Australian families. Each story revolves around a family confronting a problem. These range from the relatively benign issue of omission in the telling of a family history to domestic violence and the threat of family break-up.

KIM & HARLEY AND & KIDS

Kim and Harley and the Kids looks at how hard family life can be when resources are limited. Kim has four children including four-year-old twins. Her partner Harley is father to the youngest three kids and his heart is in the right place. They all live below the poverty line in a Ministry of Housing home in outer Melbourne.

Kim and Harley are determinedly keeping their family together against the odds. They live in a Ministry of Housing estate with their four little girls, including 12-year old Gabby, the eldest.

The family show great resourcefulness and humour in surviving below the poverty line but Kim suffers from hepatitis C and this added complication makes it hard for Harley to hold down a regular job.

Sometimes the pressures of life become too much and the family threatens to fall apart as their frustrations turn inward.

This confronting portrait of a family with no support confounds all simplistic explanations of poverty.

Written and directed by Katrina Sawyer
Producer – Steve Thomas
Associate producer – Kim Anning
Editor – Rosie Jones
Cinematographer – Jenni Meaney
Editing consultant – Sue Brooks
Developed with the assistance of the Australian Film Commission
Produced with the assistance of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation
Produced with the assistance of Film Victoria
Financed with the assistance of the Australian Film Finance Corporation
© 2001, Flying Carpet Films Pty Ltd

From the series, FAMILY FOIBLES. The other 4 episodes in the series are: MICK'S GIFT, MY MOTHER NANCY, THE WOODCUTTER'S SON and UPSTAIRS DOWNSTAIRS, also available from Ronin Films.

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