Sabour dives Head First into danger

“Nothing makes you feel more alive, knowing that you can die at any minute,” Sabour Bradley says of his most exhilarating documentary for ABC.

“It was probably the most exhilarating because you’re out there at night with lions, hyenas, buffalos –animals that can kill you at any minute. And there were poachers with guns, too.

“The crew and I were constantly reminding ourselves to stop, blink, open out eyes and look around.”

Sabour Bradley lives on the edge, but takes it all in his stride for his series Head First.

The ‘Blood Rhino’ episode, in which he joined para-miltary rangers in Zimbabwe as they combat animal poachers, is one of 5 documentaries he has made for his second season.

“The Australian at the centre of it, Damian Mander, is leading a movement against (poaching) across Africa with a military approach to conservation. He is forming para-military ranger groups that take on the well-armed poachers at their game, and it’s working.

“We were going out on patrols at the most dangerous time of the year, with the full moon. Damian Mander was going out with us, so it was an incredible insight, but it was also action-packed. It’s probably the most exhilarating documentary that I did –and there were a lot of them.”

He is nothing if not committed to his storytelling, which he brands as ‘gonzo’ journalism. Bradley’s style is to immerse himself with his subjects, but only as a vehicle to telling their story.

He cites Morgan Spurlock, Nick Broomfield, Michael Moore and Jon Ronson as inspiration more than Louis Theroux.

“A lot of people talk about Louis because his stuff is on right now, but I look further back to Nick Broomfield as the ‘father’ of it,” he says.

“The difference between these and Louis’ style is that each documentary has a narrative element to it, a genre that we follow. There’s the immersion aspect and the character we are following.

“With my fiction background and a love of movies and all things narrative- we bring a genre element to it.”

Other subjects this season include ‘orphan’ traffickers, tailor-made bodies, pornography and the first episode, stem cell tourists, in which he follows 2 Australians to India.

What unfolded during their desperate search for a miracle cure has already divided those close to the production and within the ABC.

“50% of people thought we were being too fair, and 50% too sceptical,” Bradley suggests.

“But I believe your take on it will depend on whether you have someone in your family or a friend with an incurable, terminal disease. If you do then you will probably want to believe more in what these stem-stell doctors are doing.

“The audience I think will be split.

“This series has a real theme of bodies, and I only noticed that after they were all put together.

“The body is becoming a real battleground for a lot of people. It’s one of the few things we can have a lot of control over.”

Bradley is hands-on with his docos. 5 episodes were filmed across 5 months in various countries, followed by 4 months of post-production. By the end of it he was proud, but exhausted.

“I write the scripts and direct the edit, so I am hands-on from the beginning. I take a short-list of ideas to the ABC that I’d like to do. I have a personal connection to the stories and there are usually 10 that I hand to them, which they whittle down to 5,” he explains.

“At the end of 9 months you’re so drained. I got home one night and tried to open up my front door with my credit card. That’s how tired I was.”

This year the show also steps things up, switching from ABC2 to ABC1.

“It’s always difficult to get a big audience for a multichannel like ABC2 because people don’t like to move around. So there is an audience on ABC1 for things like this. But the audience will be the judge of whether they want to see this particular show, or me in it.”

Last season some perceived Bradley to be indulging in ‘extreme journalism,’ but it’s a tagline he rejects.

“I went to Syria yes and Ghana yes, but I also dived into the world of transgender which you wouldn’t call dangerous. I went to Arnhem Land for an intervention story, and America for celebrity sex tapes, which you also wouldn’t call dangerous,” he insists.

“So we do a lot of stuff where I dive into worlds and if it happens to be a dangerous area then I make that decision or not. But people remember the danger.

“Let’s stop looking at the form just because somebody is part of the story. I would say there’s a greater truth to being out in front of the camera and admitting that you’re part of the story than necessarily denying the maker behind the camera is part of the story. Because they are. Every single documentary maker and journalist is part of the story.

“As Jon Ronson says ‘It’s more honest to admit that you’re being a gonzo journalist and admit that you’re having an affect on the story.’”

But in telling fascinating stories from different corners of the globe, Sabour Bradley agrees he has ‘the best job in the world.’

“At the centre of every episode is not me. I’m just a vehicle into the story.

“It’s the people, the characters that we follow on their journeys.”

Head First airs 8:30pm Wednesdays on ABC1.