I’m a sucker for a great two-hander, and Australia makes so many of them. But how many two-handers have you seen in which the two leads each share an additional role — a third character? That’s what we get with Samuel Van Grinsven’s excellent and atmospheric sophomore feature film, Went Up the Hill. The film…
Few Australian filmmakers are creating social impact documentaries with as much heart and urgency as Sue Thomson. Over the past seven years, her work has explored issues around ageing, community, and dignity, giving voice to people whose stories are too often overlooked. Her 2018 film The Coming Back Out Ball celebrated LGBTI+ elders and the…
For more than 40 years, John Clarke made Australians and New Zealanders laugh with his sharp wit and brilliant satire. Whether on stage, screen, or in his long-running political sketches with Bryan Dawe, Clarke had a way of exposing hypocrisy while making it entertaining. When he died in 2017, he left behind not just a…
Film and cultural icons in this country don’t get any bigger than David Gulpilil – one of Australia’s most loved and respected actors. His career began with his debut in Walkabout (1971), and this seemingly unstoppable force went on to star in many classics, including Storm Boy (1976), Crocodile Dundee (1986), The Tracker (2002), Ten…
Welcome to the latest episode of the Cinema Australia Podcast. In this episode, I’m joined by writer, director and producer Adrian Ortega to discuss the making of his new film, Westgate – a poetic exploration of family, culture, and the weight of past traumas. Set in 1999 in the shadows of the Westgate Bridge collapse,…
Filmmakers have been using the time-loop genre as a narrative device for decades, but none have come close to matching the nostalgic adoration of Harold Ramis’ Groundhog Day, starring Bill Murray as a depressed and cynical weatherman forced to relive a bad day. In Australia, we’ve had our own share of time-related films, from the…
Veteran Australian actor Arthur Angel has taken on many roles over his decades-long career—convicts, bushrangers, mystical warriors, and more. But in his latest film Fear Below, Angel dives into dangerous new territory… literally. Set in post-war Australia, Fear Below follows a rag-tag team of divers attempting to recover a sunken car from a river, only…
In the haunting new short film Zombie, Claire (played with mounting intensity by Jessica Husband) sits alone on a wind-beaten Victorian cliffside, listening to a voicemail from her partner Ted. What unfolds is an impressive meditation on love, grief, and the blurry line between holding on and letting go. Written by Jessica and co-directed with…
Welcome to the latest episode of the Cinema Australia Podcast. Over a decade in the making, the fully independent science fiction feature film Space/Time is now available via VoD release after a successful but limited cinema run around the country. In this episode, I’m joined by the film’s director and co-writer, Michael O’Halloran, and co-writer…
If you’re a younger Australian currently wading through this country’s nightmarish property market, you’d be forgiven for mistaking Birthright for a documentary. Of course, that’s a stretch—but only just. Zoe Pepper’s razor-sharp debut feature is a satirical black comedy that’s as hilarious as it is confronting. With its biting commentary on the Australian housing crisis…
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