A trip, a missed handshake, going in for an uncomfortable hug, accidentally treading on someone’s toes, forgetting someone’s name, or having no idea how to pronounce it. We’ve all been there when meeting or being introduced to someone we’ve never met before. For filmmaker Branden Wittchen, his most uncomfortable experience came when he was first…
Filmed across Australia and The Netherlands over almost two years, the powerful new Australian documentary Invisible Injuries explores the unseen wounds carried by soldiers long after service. Directed by Western Australian filmmaker Kelly Bergsma, Invisible Injuries follows Australian veteran Andy Fermo as he confronts the invisible wounds of military service. Far from the battlefield, Andy’s…
They say you can start over. But if the music in your head sounds different, the smells aren’t the same, and everything that once felt familiar exists only in memory, where exactly does that new beginning start? That question sits at the heart of Morning Afternoon Night, a new short film from Perth-based filmmaker, Dasha…
Of the Australian sports feature documentaries released over the past decade, it’s no surprise that such a large number of them have focused on AFL, the biggest sport in the land. At least nine have centred on the sport, including two documentaries released in the same year about the same person: Adam Goodes (The Australian…
If you were around during the late ’90s and early 2000s, and you enjoyed driving around for hours with more people in the car than there were seatbelts, wagging school, partying until dawn every weekend, or taking part in any activity that involved bongs and buckets, dropping tabs, popping pills, or funnelling full bottles of…
Welcome to the latest episode of the Cinema Australia Podcast. In this episode, I’m joined by Harvey Zielinski – writer and director of Sweet Milk Lake who also stars in the film as two twin brothers, Jake and Sam. I won’t repeat my adoration for Harvey and his career here, because you can hear a…
I love a film that evokes the same symptoms as a fever dream, or if you’ve dabbled in acid in your past, an acid trip. That’s how I’d describe the feeling of watching Adam C. Briggs’ weird and wonderful new film, Phillip Philadelphia. It’s difficult to put into words exactly what the film is about,…
One of the great pleasures of my job is getting to watch so many debut feature films from exciting new talent, and right now the Australian film industry is absolutely brimming with it. What makes that even more rewarding is when a debut feature leaves you completely floored by its quality, and that’s exactly what…
Horses are among the most majestic of creatures. While their immense strength and power have long been exploited throughout Australia’s history, particularly within the racing industry, which carries many negative associations, Professor Juli Coffin has found perhaps the most meaningful use for them: as a therapeutic tool. Through life-changing bonds with wild horses, she helps…
Welcome to the latest episode of the Cinema Australia Podcast. On this episode, I’m joined by writer and director Mia’Kate Russell to discuss her very excellent, highly entertaining, violent and bloody cat-and-mouse horror, Penny Lane is Dead. Set in 1986, during a scorching Aussie summer, Penny Lane is Dead follows three best friends who’s celebration…