Jimmy Barnes’ ‘Working Class Man’ Is Coming to Melbourne International Film Festival

Jimmy Barnes is ready for his closeup.

The life and career of the Cold Chisel frontman will be explored in intimidate detail with Andrew Farrell's Working Class Man, one of the standouts from this year’s Melbourne International Film Festival.

The film is said to be a “comprehensive portrait” of Barnes, following on from 2018’s Working Class Boy, on which Farrell was a producer.

Like the autobiography of the same name, the doc follows the rocker’s transition from Glasgow’s tenements to Australian stadiums, capturing unprecedented access to trace his “journey from troubled youth to national treasure”.

Barnes' heroics are etched in the history books. A two-time inductee into the ARIA Hall of Fame, Barnes has the ARIA Chart record for the solo artist with the most No. 1 albums, with 16. As a member of Cold Chisel, that number rises to 22, also a record.  

With Barnes at the mic, Cold Chisel reunited last year for a massive 50th anniversary tour in support of the retrospective 50 Years – The Best of, shifting more than 250,000 tickets.

Working Class Man will get its world premiere at MIFF, now entering its 73rd edition. Its one of over 275 screen works confirmed for festival, which will splash across Melbourne’s big screens and into regional Victoria from August 7-24.

“MIFF returns to illuminate the dark depths of Melbourne winter with a globe-trotting array of exceptional cinema, incredible experiences, and the biggest festival celebration of Australian filmmaking on the planet,” comments artistic director Al Cossar.

The festival will open with Mary Bronstein’s If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, starring Rose Byrne, as part of the ten-strong Bright Horizons Competition.

Also, the festival features two extraordinary Sound and Screen events: Julia Holter: The Passion of Joan of Arc, combining Carl Theodor Dreyer’s 1928 silent masterpiece with a live score by the acclaimed LA composer, and Parasite Live in Concert with composer Jung Jae il conducting Orchestra Victoria through his score while Bong Joon-ho’s Academy Award-winner plays on screen.

MIFF is an “invitation to discover a world of film, and the world on film,” says Cossar, "to up-res your cinephile credentials, and to binge your way through an epic program brimming with imagination and ideas.”

Visit miff.com.au to explore the full program.