November 12, 2021
The star of an awarded documentary will be coming to Kingaroy next week for a special screening and a no-holds-barred Q&A with the audience.
Singer Wanita, who has been described as “the renegade Queen of Honkytonk”, will be attending the screening of the feature-length bio-pic “I’m Wanita” at the Kingaroy Cinema from 6:00pm next Friday (November 19).
The film follows Wanita’s journey from Tamworth to Nashville to record an album.
Wanita Bahtiyar had dreamt of being a star since childhood – and sang at Tamworth – but partying and parenting derailed her ambitions.
Is it now too late?
Director Matthew Walker made a short film about Wanita in 2015, “Heart of the Queen”, which won Best Australian Short at the Antenna Documentary Film Festival.
“I’m Wanita” – described as “raw, real, and unfiltered” – is his first feature documentary as writer/director.
“I’m looking forward to getting out to Kingaroy for two reasons,” Wanita said.
“One is to support the documentary in regional cinemas, and the other to see the recently launched Big Peanut! I prefer to be on stage in my element, but I do enjoy answering questions about the film.
“I’ve been talking to people across the world about my life via Zoom over the last year. It’s always nice to be in the room with good, country people.
“People seem fascinated by my story, and I really appreciate that considering I’ve worked bloody hard to get here.”
- Bookings are essential for the evening with Wanita. Phone the Kingaroy Satellite Cinema on (07) 4162-2336 or book online
UPDATE: “I’m Wanita” won the $10,000 Documentary Australia Foundation Award For Australian Documentary at this month’s Sydney Film Festival. The award acknowledges excellence in Australian documentary production and the winner is Academy Award eligible.
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Strong Language Warning:
[UPDATED]
