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Broadsheet: Luke Mazzaferro Talks ‘A Fire Inside’
The Film’s Co-Director Discusses the Feature Documentary
There is an image of the truly selfless person — pure, unflinching, and bold. And that’s an image that A Fire Inside expands and complicates.
The heroes of the film, a startling documentary about Australia’s 2019/2020 bushfire season, are certainly ordinary people capable of doing extraordinary things. Consider, for example, the story of Nathan Barnden, who put himself in life-threatening danger twice in one night.
But rather than mythic figures, the volunteer firefighters who sit in front of the cameras of co-directors Justin Krook and Luke Mazzaferro are deeply human. Long after the fires went out, they still struggled with the impact and aftermath of what they had seen, dealing with trauma, loss, and grief.
Mazzaferro spoke to Broadsheet around the time of the film’s release, telling that site’s writer Ariela Bard that it was important to him that the documentary be sensitive, but also bold in its depiction of PTSD.
“It really has an impact when someone like [volunteer firefighter] Brendan O’Connor, an ex-military man who is the quintessential Aussie male, opens up about his struggles with mental health and says it’s okay to not be okay,” Mazzaferro says.
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