In 12 minutes and 20 seconds, Australian director Kara Haarburger captures the life and philosophy of a fascinating free spirit named Adrian Jordan. At the same time, the filmmaker teaches the art of the bio documentary. For example, note how the co-star of the video—the Space Van—enters the opening frame just as Adrian introduces himself: “My name is Adrian Jordan and I’m an artist living in a space van, traveling around the planet Earth, having fun and making a lot of people smile.”

Because the video is so engaging, you may want to watch it the first time just for its entertainment value. Then play it again for its many lessons. Note especially how the filmmaker cuts back and forth from the interview to illustrative images.

A shorter version of the documentary is a finalist in the Global Mobile Film Awards. This new competition was co-created by International Mobil Film Festival (San Diego, USA) and SF3 (Sydney, Australia). You can see all the finalists here.

“Space Van Man” was produced by students at Swinburne University. In addition to the director, the team included John Lee, Corey Martin, Brenton Gardiner, and Anita Agathangelou.

The documentary was chosen as a Mobile Movie of the Week by the editors of MobileMovieMaking.com.