Heathen Films · in hot pursuit of the ineffable
Bold, cinematic films about people who defy the status quo, push the envelope and define reality on their own terms.
Heathen Films is the creative home of award-winning director Heath Cozens: work that runs from intimate to infinite, gritty to transcendent. Subcultures, unsung heroes and iconoclasts. Strange beauty, profound humanity and unexpected humor.
Why heathen? The old story is that the word comes from the heath: the wild ground past the edge of town, and the people out there who never took the official line. That’s who these films are about. And Heath’s name was already in it.
01 / 05
The Extended State
Stealing fire from hyperspace.
A small network of scientists, nurses and psychonauts, trying to map the DMT realm.
Enter the film02 / 05
“It made me a better person.”
A renegade Tokyo wrestling league where the disabled fight the able-bodied. Ten years on, it still hits.
Enter the film03 / 05
Ex Luna
Who was the man? What can we really know?
As NASA fights to return astronauts to deep space, three sisters uncover the hidden legacy of their father, Arturo Campos—the Mexican-American engineer who helped save Apollo 13 but was nearly erased from history.
Follow Ex Luna04 / 05
Beyond Real
One thread through his ideas, and the man behind them.
Hundreds of hours of podcasts explain Donald Hoffman’s ideas. None of them show you the man.
Enter the film05 / 05
The Long Way Home
Osaka nights. Human rights. Spandex tights.
The rise, fall and redemption of Alfred Weinzierl, the legendary “Equalizer” of Osaka.
Enter the filmPhotographs · Heath Cozens
I’ve always had a soft spot for those who live life on their own terms.
Disability, foreignness, sanity or social expectations—to me, more often than not, labels are limitations. Who gets to decide anyway? They seem pretty arbitrary. In the immortal words of Miami Sound Machine’s Gloria Estefan, words just get in the way. But they do. So, cinema.
Sometimes defiant, sometimes transcendent, the people in these films stand at the threshold—or don’t even see one in the first place.
Richard Whittaker of The Austin Chronicle wrote: “Great documentaries don’t just change how you look at the world. They change how you think about yourself. That’s Doglegs.”
That’s my goal: to take you on a fun journey that might just change everything.
Heath
Honours
- Best Director, Fantastic FestDoglegs
- Grand Prize, Agency for Cultural Affairs Film AwardsOnly I Can Hear
- Five Tellys and four Communicator AwardsFamily Strong
Featured by
BBC · The Guardian · The Economist · The Wall Street Journal · The Washington Post · Los Angeles Times · The Hollywood Reporter · VICE · Reuters · AFP · Al Jazeera · NHK · CounterPunch · Bloomberg · Discovery Channel · History · Radio New Zealand · TVNZ
“Fearless, challenging, provocative, and touching in ways you will never see coming.”
Richard Whittaker, The Austin Chronicle, on Doglegs
“Always involving and sometimes deeply moving.”
John DeFore, The Hollywood Reporter, on Doglegs
“One of the most powerful blasts of empathy and humanity I’ve ever experienced.”
Jason Lapeyre, director of I Declare War, on Doglegs
Work with Heathen
Distributors and broadcasters
Doglegs turns ten this year and is ready for new homes. Four more films are on the way.
Festivals and programmers
We make films to be seen together. Bring one to your city, and we’ll come for the talk after.
Partners and co-producers
Four films in production, each looking for the right people to make it with.
Funders and donors
Help the work move faster. It starts with a conversation.
Contact
Distributors, programmers, partners, funders, collaborators: let’s connect.