Living in 2022 it is easy to take reproductive rights for granted. But as Happening shows, it wasn’t long ago that this wasn’t the case. This film serves as a timely reminder of how tortured a situation could become when a woman finds herself with an unwanted pregnancy. It’s a difficult and devastating situation that…
Read More
The Beetoota Advocate is as proudly Australian as a Southern Cross tattoo. They are full of national pride and lay claim to Australia’s oldest newspaper accolade. Those playful minds behind a publication that has fooled actual news outlets have released a new book called Beetoota-isms. It is a kind of companion piece to their previous…
Read More
Viewers are likely to know Timothy Spall even though he’s no household name. The actor is famous for his many character roles such as Mr. Turner and in many supporting roles. In his latest film he plays an everyday man in what is a quiet and slow-burning drama. The film is written and directed by…
Read More
Many people have living abroad on their bucket list. Australian media personality, Kate Langbroek is one of the few people that can say that she and her family have done it. In Ciao Bella! Six Take Italy she offers a travel diary about the two years her family (husband, Peter and their four children: Lewis,…
Read More
Dr Phil Kennedy initially seems like such a quiet and unassuming character. The maverick neuroscientist was born in Ireland and spent time working with the homeless before moving to the U.S. But as the film, The Father of the Cyborgs shows, that is really Dr Kennedy during the daytime. After hours, he has experimented with…
Read More
Once upon a time financial literacy involved little more than individuals hitting up their local bank manager for a mortgage. These days the global financial system is a confusing web of interconnected elements: shares, derivatives, energy and taxes. Hot Money is a documentary that aims to demystify this complex subject matter. Susan Kucera directs this…
Read More
In Polish-Swedish film Sweat, audiences meet social media influencer Sylwia. Fit, pretty, and young, Sylwia (Magdalena Kolesnik) motivates her 600,000 followers to work out and be healthy. But this dramatic character study is about more than just a pretty face; it’s a subtle look at the opposing forces between our public and private personas in…
Read More
Welcome to the post-biological world. We’re not there yet but we soon will be. Scientists, innovators, engineers and other experts foresee a time where humans could transcend immortality through technology. The answers lie in machine learning, artificial intelligence and robotics. It’s a place where we could download our memories to ensure our “essence” lives on…
Read More
For most people, the opening chords to Sesame Street theme song “Sunny Days” will bring back a surge of memories. Sesame Street recently celebrated its golden anniversary, and was a staple for many growing up. The revolutionary kids’ show has already inspired many documentaries, including Sesame Street: 50 Years of Sunny Days and the puppeteer-focused…
Read More
The last two years have been tumultuous ones and have left people reeling. You can either dwell on the hopelessness of it all, or try and seek out the light. Poet and writer, Maxine Beneba Clarke does both of these things, but mostly the latter, in her fourth poetry collection, How Decent Folk Behave. This…
Read More
John Safran is no stranger to stirring the pot. In his third book, Puff Piece, he asks and answers some of the burning questions aimed at Big Tobacco. The result is an enjoyable read that’s full of his trademark humour and is a clever examination on some ethical grey matters. Many readers will perhaps be…
Read More
Many of us have probably never contemplated a world where restaurants didn’t exist. The French film, Delicious traces the origins of those humble establishments with a heart-warming story involving French nobility. The result is a visual feast that will warm the cockles and sate the appetite just like a fine Christmas dinner. Éric Besnard directs…
Read More
The Killing of Kenneth Chamberlain is a film that will leave you scared and asking, “How could this happen?” It is based on a true event that took place in 2011. In the wake of the Black Lives Matter Movement and the continued senseless deaths by racists, it remains an achingly important indictment on society…
Read More
They call it the CSI effect. The TV show has become so popular that individuals on juries are questioning the experts because the evidence doesn’t resemble TV. Comedian and podcaster, Meshel Laurie’s latest book, CSI Told You Lies is an intriguing look behind the scenes at the professionals working in homicide and victim identification. Laurie…
Read More
If you’ve ever wondered what Sir George Martin – the legendary Beatles producer – did after the Fab Four split then Under the Volcano is the film for you. Sir Martin remained prolific in the music industry and opened up his own studio-cum-playground in Montserrat. This state-of-the-art workspace was the birthplace of many hits and…
Read More
If you want an example of the transportive power of dance then you need to look no further than Firestarter: The Story of Bangarra. This documentary packs a lot into its slender 96-minute run time, by tracing the origins of this First Nations dance troupe. This film draws together many facets and stories including the…
Read More
The tagline for Nick Hornby’s ninth novel should be “Love happens you least expect it.” On, Just Like You he’s fashioned together an interracial and intergenerational romance between two unlikely individuals. The result is a very sweet and realistic book that could offer a breezy form of escapism for readers during the world’s continued Covid madness. Hornby…
Read More
Laura Bates is an author, educator and the founder of the Everyday Sexism Project. In interviews she states that she’s witnessed a change in the young men she’s been teaching; and that she has more hostility and resistance to her lessons about feminism and sexism. In identifying this, she had the kernels of an idea…
Read More
Turns Out, I’m Fine sees comedian Judith Lucy making peace with different things in her life. The former star of The Late Show toured her comedy show, Judith Lucy versus Men across Australia in 2019. A number of the jokes and stories she told there form the basis of her latest book. Fans of her debut biography,…
Read More
Sydney will be treated to an enchanted fairy-tale in the form of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Cinderella. The Capitol Theatre will host the Australian premiere of a production presented by Opera Australia and the Gordon Frost Organisation, who previously partnered together for The King and I. Debuting in on Broadway in 2013, the award-winning Cinderella is…
Read More
In “Magnetic”, Dan Sultan sang, “I’m trying to keep it simple/But I’m a complicated man.” Never were truer words uttered. Sultan’s one-off show at the Enmore Theatre certainly saw him keeping things modest. With his commanding voce and an acoustic guitar, he charmed the audience. The songs were wistful about the past and also had a…
Read More
Six-time ARIA winner Dan Sultan will grace the stage with an exclusive, one-off performance at Sydney’s iconic Enmore Theatre. In a one-off show on Saturday March 27th, Sultan will entertain audiences with an evening of stories, reflection and music. Sultan is a brilliant raconteur so fans can expect laughter as well as all the heartfelt…
Read More
Lots of us know Free Willy but what about Free Smooshi? The latter campaign started after a former trainer at Canada’s Marineland water park went rogue. He took to Twitter to make allegations about animal abuse at his former employer. The documentary, The Walrus & the Whistleblower tells this sad story. Nathalie Bibeau directs this…
Read More
Screening as part of the digital Transitions Film Festival, we caught up with Director Julie Sokolow to talk about her new documentary Barefoot: The Mark Baumer Story. What first attracted you to making a film about Mark Baumer? Back in 2016, a friend of mine frequently shared Mark’s videos on Facebook. I finally clicked on…
Read More
Barefoot: The Mark Baumer Story was my first introduction to the eccentric writer and eponymous artist. Baumer went viral in 2016 after he embarked on a barefoot walk across America. This documentary takes in various beats along his journey of over 100 days. It’s a portrait that is as rich and detailed as an oil…
Read More
Zappa is a documentary that feels like one giant motherfucker of a film. At 129 minutes, director Alex Winter (the former lead actor of Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure) covers lots of ground about this enigmatic genius. They broke the mould when they made Frank Zappa. So, while the proceedings are detailed and capture his…
Read More
These crazy Covid times have most likely left people feeling as though they were living the wrong life. For those of you questioning and soul-searching, never fear as life coach, Kate James is here to help. She is an author who has worked in the realms of positive psychology and meditation practices for some time….
Read More
Comedy returns to Australia from March 2021 with news that Ben Elton is returning for his first stand-up show in 15 years. In 2019, Ben Elton announced a brand-new comedy show called Ben Elton Live, which was to tour Australia in 2020. That was postponed for obvious reasons. His tour has been expanded with new…
Read More
Rock and roll ain’t easy on the artists. It’s no picnic for the roadies either, as Tana Douglas’s memoir, Loud proves. Douglas was the world’s first female roadie. Her first book gives us a fly on the wall account of her life and career in music. She and her fellow crew members worked hard, played…
Read More
Vida Goldstein’s surname might have been used to denote a federal electorate, but she’s hardly a household name. This trailblazing woman was a steadfast women’s rights advocate who toiled away in Australia and abroad in the early 20th century. Jacqueline Kent‘s new biography chronicles this inspiring lady’s work in the social justice and political spheres. Kent…
Read More