Wintec grad Bob Fink, brings award winning doco to town
By: Ronella Felizardo and Mercy Chepkoech
Wintec School of Media Arts graduate, Bob Fink is back in town with the award-winning documentary film, Suburban Fury. The film will be making its New Zealand premiere at the Misty Flicks Film Festival on Saturday Nov 1, in Te Awamutu.
Fink is one of the writers and producers of the 2024 documentary, directed by Robinson Devor. The subject is Sara Jane Moore, the perpetrator of the 1975 assassination attempt on U.S President Gerald Ford.
Fink has been busy since the doco was released “The film has been doing very well, and I have been travelling to film festivals around the U.S.”
Fink first got involved with the film about 12 years ago when a major streaming network asked Devor to turn Suburban Fury into a six-part miniseries. Devor had previously directed the critically acclaimed Zoo, released in 2007. However, for a variety of reasons the series never came to fruition and the project was bounced back to them.
Fink said the same thing happened when a Hollywood studio offered to make it a feature film but it didn’t happen, as the studio was unable to hire an ‘A-list’ actress to play Moore.
During the covid pandemic, Fink, who had completed his degree and started post-graduate studies, had to leave Hamilton travel back to the U.S. Border restrictions had left his wife Patty in Seattle, and unable to rejoin him in Aoteoroa.
There was a silver lining however, as once home, Devor called and invited him to work on turning the story into a documentary.
Devor had 100 hours of footage of interviews with Sara Jane Moore, who agreed to make the documentary with a condition that she would be the only person interviewed about what happened in 1975. Moore did not want anyone else to cast doubt on her, or contradict her version of the truth. Fink said the context of the time is crucial to the impact of the film, “One must pay very close attention to the film to truly understand Sara Jane Moore’s perspective and the socio-political narrative back in the 1960s and early 70s is as important as Moore herself.”
In July 2024, when Devor, Fink and their team were almost close to finishing the film, a man shot at Donald Trump in Butler, Pennsylvania while giving a campaign speech. Fink said “We were horrified as someone was trying to kill a former president and current candidate. All of us believe that trying to kill someone you disagree with is not acceptable under any circumstance”
Fink is excited to be back in Aotearoa for Misty Flicks, “I am very excited to bring the film to NZ so I can show my friends, tutors and classmates what I have been working on since leaving Wintec.”
The premiere is at Regent Theatre Te Awamutu on November 01 at 4:15 pm, followed by a Q&A with Bob. Check Misty Flicks Film Festival for ticket info here
