THE STORY
They’re one of hundreds of show families in Australia, and they’ve been on the road for six generations. The Bell family haul their convoy of 30 trucks, carnival rides and their workers across Australia, where they face the elements, lockdowns and bushfires - all while battling to keep their family empire on the road. This colourful, multi-generational family drama explores the nostalgia of the carnival, but underneath is a darker side: one of huge expectations, rivalries and a dominant patriarchy. The empire is expected to be handed down to the next boy in line, 18 year old Roy Bell, who faces his own uncertainties about the future he wants. Meanwhile Roy’s sister, 21 year-old Elle, longs to find love but is trapped with her family on this never-ending odyssey around the continent. Being on the road year-round with your family can be tough, but facing the thought of leaving them can be harder, and as lives unfold and the next generation comes into its own, a family unites under the harshest circumstances.
Filmed over the course of seven years and capturing the most intimate moments with the Bells, THE CARNIVAL is an epic road-trip with a family in crisis, battling an unstable economy and the changing modern times. Set against the bush and desert landscapes of the outback, this is the country like you've never seen it before: it’s Australia through the eyes of The Carnival.
The Filmmakers
Isabel Darling is an award-winning director with a background in documentary and tourism films. In 2023, Isabel was shortlisted for a prestigous Walkley award for Excellence in Journalism for her work on The Carnival, alongside producer Tom Zubrycki.
Isabel was also part of the Director Pathways Program in 2020 and achieved recognition as a finalist at the AIDC Viceland 'Australiana' pitch in 2018. Her 2015 film, Being Frank, which tells the story of a Czech immigrant and Australia's oldest living Olympian, was screened internationally and her 2017 film, Corey the Warrior, was a finalist at both the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival and the Cannes International Film Festival on Disability.
Based on the South Coast of NSW, Isabel is passionate about Australian subcultures & immersive stories, and is an advocate for regional filmmakers.
Tom Zubrycki is a filmmaker and producer whose award winning documentaries have earned an international reputation for their truthfulness, realism and humanity. For the last 40 years, his work has mapped Australia’s changing social and political landscape. He has written and directed 15 documentaries, most of them feature-length, and produced another 22 with mostly early career filmmakers. He also has been actively involved in a number of industry organisations including the Australian Directors Guild and OZDOX, the Australian Documentary Forum.