Doctor’s Wife promises to shave head

The filmmaker behind the award-winning gay documentary The Doctor’s Wife has promised to have his head shaved this week in a bid to raise funds for the film’s sequel.

The Doctor's Wife 2: Our Big Gay Country Wedding is a follow up to the independently produced, award-winning film by Queensland-based filmmaker Jonathan Duffy which saw him document his move a few years ago to country town Mundeberra from Brisbane after his partner, Vincent Cornelisse, decided to become the town’s GP.

The original Doctor’s Wife film was made for under $10,000 and had its first public screening at the Hollywood Fringe Festival in 2011 before also being shown at the Perth Pride Film Festival, Mardi Gras Film Festival and SpringOut in Canberra. A screening of The Doctor’s Wife in Brisbane in 2011 also raised nearly $3,000 for the Gay and Lesbian Welfare Association.

The sequel will explore the issue of marriage equality with interviews featuring well-known people while also following Duffy and Cornelisse from their new home back to Mundeberra for their own “big gay country wedding”.

“[It’s] a gesture that we believe will show – especially to politicians and legislation makers –  that many non-gay Australians are indeed in favour of reforms to the marriage act and equal rights,” Duffy says.

Duffy is currently attempting to raise $10,000 for the film through crowd-sourcing site Pozible and has promised to shave his head tomorrow “by a sexy shirtless Frenchman named Niko” if the campaign reaches $5,000.

“According to crowd funding experts, most campaigns slow in the middle,” Duffy says.

“I would rather keep the momentum going. I had discussed with a number of people at a function in Brisbane recently that I had thought of shaving my head.

“I was very surprised to hear an overwhelming response of things like ‘why would you do that?’ and ‘but that’s what you’re known for’.”

Duffy says he may also take part in more ‘out-there’ activities before the funding campaign ends on December 2.

“I believe in this project and I’m willing to do just about anything to get it made,” he says.

“I’m passionate about this balanced exploration of marriage equality in Australia and can’t wait to finish the funding campaign so we can really get stuck in to it.”

To donate or for more information, visit http://www.pozible.com/drswife2