As a child growing up in Ballarat, musician Warren Ellis often found inspiration and comfort in creativity and imagination. His father Screamin’ Johnny Ellis, a Country musician himself, imbued Warren with a love of music that shaped his life. Along the way Warren experienced artistic and emotional highs and lows with The Dirty Three, the Bad Seeds and his own struggles with addiction. And then in 1999, Warren jumped on stage at one of Nina Simone’s final concerts, taking her used chewing gum from her piano. In the intervening years, the gum transformed in Warren’s mind, taking on the form of a holy relic, inspiring his work, his personal life and ultimately leading him to a friendship with Femke Den Haas, a wildlife warrior in the rainforests of Sumatra. Here they built Ellis Park, a refuge for abused and trafficked animals.
