Richard Lowenstein (born 1 March 1959) is an Australian filmmaker. He has written, produced and directed feature films such as Strikebound (1984), Dogs in Space (1986) and He Died with a Felafel in His Hand (2001); music videos for bands such as INXS and U2; concert performance films, Australian Made: The Movie (1987) and U2: LoveTown (1989); TV adverts, and the documentaries We're Livin' on Dog Food (2009), Autoluminescent (2011), Ecco Homo (2015) and Mystify: Michael Hutchence (2019).
Biography
Richard Lowenstein was born on 1 March 1959 in Melbourne. His mother was the author, oral historian, and activist, Wendy Lowenstein (née Katherin Wendy Robertson, 1927–2006). His father is Werner Lowenstein, also an activist, who had fled Nazi Germany to United Kingdom and was relocated to Australia in 1940 as one of the Dunera boys. and had three children, Peter, Martie and Richard. In 1980 Lowenstein directed a music video, "Leap for Lunch", for the debut single by art punk band, The Ears – he shared a house with their lead singer, Sam Sejavka. In 1982 he directed one for "Talking to a Stranger", a single by rock band, Hunters & Collectors. He followed with "Lumps of Lead" for the same group and "Fraction Too Much Friction" for Tim Finn as his first solo single in 1983.
In 1984 he directed his first feature film, Strikebound, a dramatisation of a 1930s coal miners strike, which he wrote based on his mother's book, Dead Men Don't Dig Coal (unpublished), and his own research into unionism in the industry. In June that year he directed his first music videos for INXS with "Burn for You", and followed by "All the Voices" and "Dancing on the Jetty" (both in October). At the Countdown Music and Video Awards for 1984 he won Best Promotional Video for "Burn for You". He established a long term relationship with INXS and produced, edited or directed more of their music videos over subsequent years, including The Swing & Other Stories: Collection of Contemporary Classics from INXS (1985), a VHS-format video compilation with additional interviews and documentary. At the Countdown Music and Video Awards for 1985 he shared the award for Best Video for "What You Need" by INXS with Lyn-Marie Milbourn.
In 1985 he directed White City: The Music Movie, a 60-minute video, for former The Who guitarist, Pete Townshend. It was released with Townshend's concept album, White City: A Novel, and included him discussing the music.
In 1986 he wrote and directed a feature film, Dogs in Space, which highlighted late-1970s Melbourne's little band scene with the lead character Sam (portrayed by INXS' lead singer, Michael Hutchence) based on Lowenstein's experiences with The Ear's Sejavka. At the time, Sejavka was a member of new wave band, Beargarden, and objected to Lowenstein and Hutchence's "noxious caricature" of his earlier personality. In 1991 he applied for funding from Film Finance Corporation Australia to adapt Robin Klein's novel, Came Back to Show You I Could Fly, into the children's film, Say a Little Prayer, which he directed in 1993. In 1999 he contributed a chapter, "Telexes in Space: A Tale of Two Films", to the collection, Second Take: Australian Film-makers Talk, edited by Geoff Burton and Raffaele Caputo, which provides an explanation of his film-making style. Lowenstein co-produced the satirical music series John Safran's Music Jamboree (2002) as well as John Safran vs God (2004) for SBS independent.