SHARKO
Genre: Documentary Drama
Duration: 100 min, 60 min, 52 min
Production: 2021
Producer: Luke Graham, Kylie Pascoe
Executive Producer: Jonathan Shteinman
Executive Producer: Jonathan Page
Director: Luke Graham
Writer: Luke Graham
Cast: Mark Graham, Luke Graham
Sales Agent: Bonsai Films
Development:
Screen Queensland
Arts Queensland
Gladstone Regional Council
Flying Arts
The Solid State
The Post Lounge
Widely regarded one of the greatest Rugby League players ever, kiwi hard-man Mark Graham was feared off and on the field, though little knew the real man or the destruction behind his success. Sharko, portrays an intimate look at the life of a father, a son and the cost of greatness.
Sharko is a feature-length participatory documentary drama in the tradition of THE IMPOSTER (2012) and STORIES WE TELL (2013) about rugby league legend Mark Graham’s personal and professional life told through the skewed perspective of his filmmaker son, Luke Graham.
Deemed one of the most inspirational and feared footballers to grace the game, SHARKO is a universal story about a failed father, a distant son, generational patterns and family grief. It is also a very Australian story about how men were raised to be hyper-masculine, and the importance of sport, how it defines us as a nation.
Featuring appearances from Graham Lowe, Wayne Bennett, Wally Lewis, family archives and recreations, as well as footage of a career spanning three continents, Sharko will show us how to overcome the past in an honest, humanising and touching portrait about New Zealand’s greatest Rugby League player... ever.
