Doco maker Safran gives Hamilton crowd insight into work

Around 230 people gathered in Hamilton yesterday to watch video clips of an Australian man being crucified and making out with his ex-girlfriend’s mother.

The man was documentary maker John Safran who was a guest speaker for Spark week in Wintec’s Atrium.

Safran gave the audience personal insight into aspects of his documentaries: John Safran vs. God, Music Jamboree, and Race Relations.

TV3’s David Farrier hosted the event and said Safran was a good guest for the festival.

“[John Safran] is someone who I have always enjoyed watching on TV.

“Hearing him talk live in person, it’s great, it’s like you’re in the documentary with him being able to put whatever you want to him and all his answers were as you’d expect, great.”

He said Safran’s work is hard to imagine a lot of other people doing.

“He also rides the balance between, as he said, journalism and entertainment where he can make a serious point and investigate serious issues but do it in a reasonably interesting way.”

Spark intern Jess Molina agreed and said Safran was not your typical journalist.

“He’s definitely an entertainer but in the sense that he does have that truth to him, so he’s still a journalist but just does it in his own way, which makes it so fascinating.”

Safran will release his first book about a Mississippi murder case next month.

Farrier said he would be excited to read it.

“I’m looking forward to seeing what sort of content he gets out of people when there aren’t cameras around.

“I’d imagine he has some pretty good stuff, which should make for a pretty good book,” he said.