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WHOOPEE BLUES
Year: 2025
Classification: M
Runtime: 123 min
Produced In: Australia
Directed By: Alan Rosenthal
Produced By: Fiona Cochrane
Language: English
PRE-ORDER DVDs NOW - available for delivery from 6 May 2026.
Brothers Mic and Jim Conway have been making music together since their school days, when they formed the Jellybean Jug Band, which later morphed into the wildly popular Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band. In the early 1970s, Captain Matchbox became a phenomenon, delighting audiences with My Canary Has Circles Under His Eyes and Fats Waller classics as well as quirky originals such as Wangaratta Wahine.
Mic's passion for vaudeville and creating instruments from anything at hand has driven his work across countless bands over the last 40 years, blending performance, circus, and humour. Jim found his voice in Captain Matchbox as a harmonica player, later becoming one of Australia's foremost blues harp players, playing with the likes of Brownie McGhee as well as long-term bands The Backsliders and Jim Conway's Big Wheel.
At the age of 30 Jim was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS), and this has
gradually progressed over the last 40 years to the point where Jim is now confined
to a wheelchair and can no longer play harmonica.
It has been said of them that the Conway brothers make sibling rivalry an art form,
but they are also very close. Although their musical paths diverged for a while they have remained firmly side by side throughout the years in their personal lives.
With a mix of present-day interviews and extensive archival footage, Whoopee Blues celebrates the brothers' shared passion for music. Film-maker Fiona Cochrane captures the zany exuberance, sibling rivalry and genuine love generated by the brotherly collaboration in this captivating bio-documentary.
VIEW TRAILER HERE: vimeo.com/1167503121
'There's pathos, romance and a homicidal girlfriend in the mix, guaranteeing your undivided attention.' – FilmInk
AWARDS and SCREENINGS
Best Music Doc-Feature at 2025 Bare Bones Film Festival, USA
Award of Excellence: 2025 Accolade Global Film Competition
Award of Excellence: Documentary Feature at 2026 IndieFEST Awards, USA
Award of Excellence: Women Filmmakers at 2026 IndieFEST Awards, USA
Award of Excellence: Arts/Cultural/Performance at 2026 IndieFEST Awards, USA
Winner for Performing Arts at the 2025 Swedish Academy of Motion Picture Awards
Nominee at 2026 Maverick Movie Awards, USA
Honorable Mention at 2025 Richmond International F/F, USA
Finalist at 2025 World Music & Independent Film Festival, USA
Finalist at 2026 Blow-Up Chicago International Arthouse Film Awards
Premiere at 2025 Antenna Documentary Film Festival
2025 Melbourne Documentary Film Festival
2025 Revelation Perth International Film Festival
2025 Strobe Music Film Festival, Film Festival
2026 Newcastle International Film Festival
2026 Adelaide Fringe Festival
2026 Colortape International Film Festival
2026 Anatolia International Film Festival, Turkey
12th Music Film Festival in 2026, USA
Screened theatrically around Australia – season at the Nova in Melbourne
and screenings in Sydney, Castlemaine, Geelong, NSW coast, Queensland and Canberra.
Producer-director – Fiona Cochrane
Cinematographer – Mark Street
Sound recordist – David Muir
Editor – Sioux Currie
Legals – Bryce Menzies, Marshall & Dent
(c) 2025, F-reel Pty Ltd