Gracie Otto began a film about her dad’s one-man show. A diagnosis changed the story

Otto on Otto features interviews with many of Barry’s creative collaborators, including Baz Luhrmann, Gillian Armstrong, Cate Blanchett, Neil Armfield and Claudia Karvan.

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“I showed him Strictly Ballroom recently and he didn’t know that was him, which was weird,” Otto said. “Then it got to the end and he started clapping and it was just so sad. He heard the song [Love Is in the Air] and he knew what it was.”

The filmmakers realised while making Otto on Otto how many families had been affected by Alzheimer’s. While they kept Barry’s diagnosis quiet for a while, partly so he could keep working, Otto thought the film could help others dealing with the disease.

“Obviously, every family goes through it in a different way and there are tough times and angry times and frustrating times,” Otto said. “But you can go through it and also see the comedy.”

So how emotional was making the film?

“Ten out of 10,” Otto said, brushing away a tear. “A hundred out of 10.”

O’Donohue expects there will be many more tears when Otto on Otto screens at the festival. They both thought it would be too overwhelming for the subject of the Stan Original Documentary to attend. (Stan is owned by Nine Entertainment, publisher of this masthead.)

“He goes out to the park and back and that’s about all he can manage,” Otto said.

Festival director Nashen Moodley, who announced the program at the State Library of NSW on Tuesday night, said as well as films that reflected the turmoil around the world, international directors had been making a surprising number of love stories and comedies.

Among the comedies in the festival’s competition are Kinds of Kindness, a dark comedy from Poor Things director Yorgos Lanthimos, Kneecap, a raucous comedy about a Belfast rap trio, and Puan, a sharp comedy about two Argentinian philosophy professors vying for the same job.

The 71st festival, which runs from June 5 to 16, opens with the world premiere of the documentary Midnight Oil: The Hardest Line.

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