Pathétique Film was founded by Spencer Vanderkley as a production house focused on creating narrative and documentary content centred on ‘art music’ and the musicians who celebrate it.

As a composer, Spencer's music has been recorded by orchestras, soloists and chamber groups in over fifteen countries, including studio recordings by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra, the Moscow Metropolitan Symphony Orchestra and the European Recording Orchestra. His works have been regularly broadcast by the ABC and BBC Radio 3. In 2018, he was nominated for a CINE Golden Eagle Award in response to his first foray into film scoring. In order to fund his most recent album of original orchestral music, ‘Night Music from Belfast to Biysk’, he performed as a soloist at piano recitals across Australia.