Meet the Wallers

Meet the Wallers is a voyeur's dream, a literal fly on the wall at every crucial moment, and every dark turn – nothing is hidden, or manipulated.

Can love survive art and marriage? Meet the Wallers, a feature documentary by Jim Stevens is screening at Byron Theatre on August 5th at 7pm.

Filmed over 20 years, Meet the Wallers is a remarkable peek through the keyhole into family life and a meditation on art, mortality, philanthropy and happiness. 

“It was like I wasn’t in the room observing their domestic meltdown with my camera, I had become part of the furniture. Just what I wanted.” – Jim Stevens, Director

“Meet the Wallers shines with a strong message of resilience, trust and hope - things we all need right now.” – The Echo

Mark Waller loves to paint the seascapes around beautiful Lennox Head. He is a dreamer who sees angels in the street. His obsessive belief that charity begins at home doesn't jibe with his vivacious wife Nicole, who wishes she were the charity. But Mark, the painter, can’t understand Nicole’s trepidation. Nicole suffers from depression as paintings don't sell and the bills keep coming.

Their daughters, Jasmine and Emily - babies at the outset and graduates by the end of our story – negotiate their parents' issues while juggling their sibling rivalries. When Mark finally achieves success, overnight tragedy changes everything, and the fault lines in the Waller family erupt with surprising results that make their story an uplifting, universal revelation. 

The screening is followed by a Q&A with panellists including Mark and Nicole Waller and Director, Jim Stevens. 

Mark Waller is a successful Australian artist and cancer survivor, but it wasn’t always like that. His wife Nicole Waller allows herself to be vulnerable and trust the process, but it wasn’t always like that either.

Few people understand the struggle and journey of a living artist, or the pressure it places on their immediate family. With the power of retrospect offered by the film we see that diamonds only form under unique and specific conditions.

So how does a modern day artist and his young family survive in a world geared toward mortgages, bills, marriage, children and success? Join us in watching this amazing story that was filmed over 20 years in Lennox Head, Australia.