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…
Not that long ago, all you’d have to do to avoid being scammed was to trash an email from a Nigerian prince offering a family inheritance. Nowadays, we’re facing increasingly sophisticated and much more convincing scams, like the one at the heart of Maddelin McKenna’s debut feature film, Mad Rush, which is set to premiere…
Australia remains in the grip of a family, domestic and sexual violence crisis. I won’t go too deeply into the statistics here, but they’re confronting, and as a society, we simply must do better. Considering storytelling has always been one of the most powerful ways to reflect the realities of our society, these issues are…
With two films already released through film festivals this year, the feature documentary The Femme Fatales of West Australian Wrestling and the short film Through the Lens, filmmaker and educator Zeke Morgan-Hind is set to premiere his latest film, Prompt: Make a Documentary, which explores one of the most talked-about topics in modern filmmaking: artificial…
Welcome to the latest episode of the Cinema Australia Podcast. Australia really does punch above its weight when it comes to documentary filmmaking. Over the past 18 months alone, this country has produced a number of inspiring, world-class documentaries that sit comfortably on the world stage. Documentaries like Floodland, Yurlu | Country, In the Trenches,…
Australian filmmaker Dean Francis has never been interested in playing it safe. His latest feature, Body Blow, is a bold and unapologetic neo-noir thriller that draws inspiration from the provocative erotic thrillers of the 1990s while carving out a distinctive identity of its own. Set against the neon-lit backdrop of Sydney’s gay nightlife scene, the…
Filmmaker Aarushi Chowdhury follows up her recent short film Clown with a new, darkly funny and sharply observed short, Phorid, a story that explores self-help culture, masculinity, and the desperate search for validation. Set within the world of motivational books, social media influence, and personal growth gurus, Phorid follows Blair (Jesse Vogelaar), a struggling self-help…