Born Thomas Schwaetzer in 1928 into a secular middle class Jewish family in Vienna, Max Watts was a citizen of the world.
Forced to flee Vienna to London in 1938 after the Nazi Anchluss of Austria, Tomi had to fend for himself from the age of ten. Burying deeply his childhood feelings of abandonment and despair, he learned how to defend himself with incredible tenacity.
This fuelled his political commitment to see that these dark forces would not prevail.
Living in England then the US, Israel, France and Germany he engaged in the key political struggles of the 20th century, in particular supporting GI resistance to the Vietnam war where he came in contact with Jane Fonda and Stokely Carmichael.
In Australia, Max reported on the wars in Bougainville, Iraq and Afghanistan.
There was not a mean bone in his body. He was a bundle of contradictions: selfless/self-absorbed; dominant/tolerant; dogmatic/sceptical.
A larger than life character.
Fabio first began working as a documentary cinematographer in the early 1970’s working with his brother, Alessandro. Since 1987 he has been working with Co -Director, Co-Producer and partner, Amanda King. They have produced a number of documentaries about stories based in the Pacific – Timor Leste, Papua New Guinea and Bougainville – shown on Australian broadcast networks as well as internationally. Titles include Time To Draw The Line, Colour Change, An Evergreen Island and A Thousand Different Angles.
Their recently completed films, CLEMENT MEADMORE and THE GREAT STRIKE 1917, both long form documentaries are at film festival entry stage and distribution. They co-produced the tele-hour documentary, BUWARRALA ARYAH with first time director, Gadrian Jarwijalmar Hoosan, a Garrwa man from Yanyuwa country, to be broadcast on NITV in 2019.
In 2017 they co-directed and produced, TIME TO DRAW THE LINE, a tele-hour documentary which screened in cinemas around the country with Demand Films.
