The Bazura Project


The Bazura Project is a comedy show about the history of cinema, written and presented by Shannon Marinko and Lee Zachariah. It originally ran on Australian community television from 2006 to 2008, and on ABC2 in late 2011.

On the ABC

Guide To Sinema

In early 2011, the ABC commissioned a six-part series for ABC2. The series was subtitled "The Guide To Sinema", with each episode devoted to a different cinematic sin: Violence, Sex, Money, Profanity, Drugs and Fame. The series began on 29 September, airing Thursday nights at 9pm.
The series included appearances from Shaun Micallef, Kat Stewart, David Stratton, Tony Martin, Francis Greenslade, Julia Zemiro, John Safran, Bryan Dawe, Michael Ward, Luke Hemsworth, Abe Forsythe, Marc Fennell and Stephanie Bendixsen.

On Australian Community TV

The show originally aired on Australian community television stations on 7 December 2006. It ran for three seasons, ending on 18 December 2008.
It was nominated for multiple Antenna Awards, and won Best Comedy Program and Best Director in 2007, and Best Arts Program in both 2007 and 2008.
Every episode began with a pre-title sequence in which hosts Shannon Marinko and Lee Zachariah parodied a classic film scene. There would then be a news segment, a feature story, an interview with a key figure movie figure, then reviews of that week's releases.

Opening Sequences

These sequences are not strictly parodies, but rather hosts Shannon and Lee finding themselves in situations that closely resemble famous scenes. Notable openings included the season one finale The Graduate, season two's On the Town, the season two finale Back to the Future Part II, Plan 9 from Outer Space, Full Metal Jacket, and the series finale Fight Club.
Episode 1.01 – The Sixth Sense

Episode 1.02 – Clerks

Episode 1.03 – It's a Wonderful Life

Episode 1.04 – Say Anything...

Episode 1.05 – Apocalypse Now

Episode 1.06 – Fear and Loathing In Las Vegas

Episode 1.07 – The Usual Suspects

Episode 1.08 – Goodfellas

Episode 1.09 – Manhattan

Episode 1.10 – American Psycho

Episode 1.11 – The Graduate

Episode 2.01 – The Blues Brothers

Episode 2.02 – Trainspotting

Episode 2.03 – Faster Pussycat Kill Kill

Episode 2.04 – Ferris Bueller's Day Off

Episode 2.05 – Pulp Fiction

Episode 2.06 – Donnie Darko

Episode 2.07 – Adaptation

Episode 2.08 – The Untouchables

Episode 2.09 – On the Town

Episode 2.10 – Midnight Cowboy

Episode 2.11 – A Clockwork Orange

Episode 2.12 – King Kong

Episode 2.13 – Back to the Future Part II

Episode 3.01 – '

Episode 3.02 – Lolita

Episode 3.03 – Plan 9 from Outer Space

Episode 3.04 – On The Waterfront

Episode 3.05 – The Shining

Episode 3.06 – Singin' in the Rain

Episode 3.07 – Goldfinger

Episode 3.08 – Blade Runner

Episode 3.09 – Psycho

Episode 3.10 – Full Metal Jacket

Episode 3.11 ' – Fight Club''

Interviews

People interviewed on the community TV iteration of the show included Richard Wolstencroft, Pete! Ford, George Miller, Melanie Coombs, Rohan Michael Hoole, Anthony Lucas, Sarah Watt, Chris Noonan, Everett De Roche, James Hewison, Jack Sargeant, Danny Boyle, Geoffrey Wright, Pixar's Jerome Ranft & Paul Topolos, Roger Donaldson, Robert Connolly, Sue Maslin, Jonathan King, Scott Hicks, Rolf de Heer, Jason Schwartzman, Gillian Armstrong, Brian Trenchard-Smith, David Eggby, Mark Hartley, Steven Berkoff, Leigh Whannell, Bud Tingwell, Nathan Phillips, Jan Sardi and Clara Law.

Election 2007: Countdown to a Letdown

In 2007, the crew moved away from movies to apply the Bazura style to the Australian Federal Election. The one-hour special aired on the eve of the election, Friday 23 November, and featured a look back at the campaign, an instructional video about whom to vote for, a guide on how to be a politician, and an interview with the Australian Democrats' Laura Chipp. In addition to Marinko and Zachariah, the special was also hosted by Emma Race and Adam Knox.

The Bazura Project presents Saturday Night Cult Movie

Beginning in March 2008, The Bazura Project began introducing Saturday night movies on Channel 31 Melbourne. This ran for three seasons until 2010, and included such classics as the 49th Parallel, Hercules Against the Moon Men and Voyage to the Planet of Prehistoric Women.