Discover Movies

A look back at the film-maker's career, via the use of out-takes, unused scenes, scenes from uncompleted films, home movie footage, etc.

UNDER THE RED MOUNTAIN: CHIFENG AND FURTHER NORTH documents a hitchhiked, trained and walked journey from Shanghai to the city of Chifeng and then from there, further north into Mongolia. Shot during the middle of winter, the film connects the decrease in the temperature with the increasing isolation and militarisation of the places, spaces and people of China and its “autonomous regions”.

What does it take to play for your country? That’s the dream of course. It is 2022, the FIFA World Cup Qatar™ is due to commence in November, and the Australian Socceroos have finally managed to qualify after an epic struggle. Do our young players also have challenges on the world stage? Can a group of Aussie football players from Sydney Olympic FC take on the best in Europe?

A short documentary about Ahmed Hagi, a gay Somali artist who fled his war torn country to Sydney, Australia where he now spends his days painting idealized visions of Mogadishu before it fell under the control of gangs and warlords.

Documentary film on the plight of Western Australia's forests and their real value in drawing down and storing carbon.

Amelia and Lorie have to decided to get married. Amelia's friend Jocelyn thinks this may be a bad idea- so does Tony, Lorie's best friend. They're going ahead anyway.

Music student Tom takes a stand against the abuse of power by his teacher.

Sinbad relates the story to his son of his adventures in trying to reclaim the Caliph's magic lamp from the Old Man of the Sea.

In the deep forest there are the hunters, the hunted and those with mixed agendas

The serenity of another quiet evening is shattered for an amateur photographer when a desperate woman takes refuge in his humble suburban home. Reluctantly, he is pulled into a cat and mouse game with her pursuers. Only dawn will reveal the blood-soaked fallout of being alone in the middle of suburbia.

A young man begins to question his relationship with his friends following a harrowing incident.

After weeks of sleepless nights, 19 year-old insomniac Dorothy Allen begins to see hidden messages in the night sky.

Falling out of touch with his wife, a jaded community playwright secretly exploits the private affairs of his marriage in an attempt to finally create something authentic.

Reclaiming wise sayings from movies and TV shows like Drunken Master (1978) and Avatar the Last Airbender (2005–08), Analects of Kung Phu presents a moving image philosophy for surviving contemporary life. Taught by action stars but inspired by classic Chinese texts like Lao Zi’s Dao De Jing, the work questions whether these life lessons are genuinely useful. The film explores how wisdom can be oversimplified and misused, how film subtitles miss the mark or even present a completely different narrative, and how we are guided in our day-to-day life by the movies we watch.

A pizza boy on his rounds becomes embroiled in a crazed customer’s monster hunt.

Liz just wants to host the perfect dinner party but an unexpected guest sends the evening into chaos, with potentially apocalyptic consequences.

A young girl loses her job, prompting a day of mundane and surprisingly deep conversations.

A bold, twisted, cross-cultural fusion which calls in the Spirit of the Destroyer Goddess Kali Maa for a new era, protecting women from all cultures across the globe. Jai Kali Maa!!

This delightful ballet tells the story of Dr Coppelius, an eccentric toymaker, who attempts to bring life to his beautiful doll Coppélia. He is foiled by the mischevious Swanilda, who masquerades as Coppélia and saves her love, Franz, from the Doctor's magic. Recorded live at the Sydney Opera House, this acclaimed production by Dame Peggy van Praagh, the founding Artistic Director of the Australian Ballet, is a triumph.

Filmmaker Sam Matthews sets out to meet other gender-diverse Australian artists, challenging each of them to create a new artwork based on the theme "Unboxed".

One day, One room, One take. After her spinal surgery, she was always in pain, intense pain, unendurable pain. Painkillers have been her refuge for a long time, but one day, she decided to stop.

An RMIT graduate short film by Andrew Onorato

A child explores her changing relationships with friends in an industrial town.

In an attempt to reconnect after the loss of their child, Harry takes Kim away for a weekend of healing. Suffering through isolation on many different levels compounded by Kim's mental state the couple realise that their problems have only just begun.

Famous drag queen Holly and her scheming sister Beryl (both played by Doug Lucas) battle over the wishes of their recently deceased grandmother, who wants to be buried with her canine companion, Dingo. Defying all health codes and decorum, Holly and her long-suffering manservant hatch a plan to fulfil her grandmother's wishes, while Beryl plots a much darker fate for her deluded sister.

12 year old Nouria's life is full of personal defeats and disappointments. But she sees the world a little bit differently from those around her, particularly when it comes to matters of the heart.

Onus On Us began as a cinema verite movie of my own life, but ended as a film-performance staged at events such as the annual Super 8 Film Festival in Melbourne in 1986 and 1987.

Floating in a timeless space 5 Victorian community members contemplate what if a treaty was signed in 1788? Differences aside there is common unity.

The victims of a killer are distracted by a hideous face peering through the window.

Explores the life and work of Gordon Bennett, a young artist from Brisbane whose paintings break away from established images and concepts and instead have their perspectives shaped by Australian and European cultural influences.

The way of life for people living along the tropic of Capricorn in Queensland 1965. Farming and mining are the main industries in this area of Australia and the only way to get around is by road train, train or plane. The hard way of life for these people is portrayed in this film.

A seemingly mundane evening in suburbia is disrupted by an unforeseen event.

What happens when Dorothy the Dinosaur meets Santa Claus? There's singing, dancing, reindeers and fun! Here's Dorothy's first animated adventure featuring Santa Claus, Washington, Dorothy, and a host of friends from the North Pole. Washington thinks Santa needs a rest and so uses a computer to sort toys for the children of the world, but things don't go as planned. It takes Captain Feathersword, Dorothy, and Santa's little helpers to sort things out. So follow these Christmas stars to a land of Yuletide magic as Dorothy meets Santa Claus.

Key mountain catchments in the Australian Alps are under increasing threats of climate change and human impacts. In shared knowledge, there is hope for practical actions to restore, recover and regenerate our mountain landscapes.

Following the story of transmasculine Brother Boy Kai Clancy, as he navigates the traditional roles and his identity within his culture. Brotherboy is a term used by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to describe gender diverse people that are born a male spirit. Kai share's his life now, 9-years after his top surgery and transition on YouTube when he was 17 years old.

In Colonial Australia, three Irish convicts decide to commit murder in order to avoid the lash but when their plan to kill a guard goes horribly wrong, their only hope is to draw straws to take control of their fate.

A family attempt to connect with the murderer of their daughter after he's spent 20 years in prison for the crime.

A woman who has been given a box to deliver to a destination which doesn't exist

Ruben Creed tells us How To Survive a Kidnapping in this hilarious satire

Shot as a series of stunning vignettes across three countries, Polish-Australian artist Kuba Dorabialski’s extraordinary film conjures the mystique and mysticism of the former Soviet Union. A champion ski jumper collides with ball lightning. Witches conduct wartime sabotage. Ecstatic dance resurrects a revolutionary leader. While party apparatchiks promoted socialism as a technologically advanced, ‘scientific’ project, Dorabialski uncovers a world in thrall to everyday magic and miracles. Narrated in a fictional pan-Slavic language with absurdist flair, Connections of the Sticks transports us to the Eastern Bloc as it lives on in retro-futurist fantasies, diasporic nostalgia and half-remembered family legends.

Taylah is a rebellious and destitute teen from rural Australian suburbia. After a brief sexual encounter, Taylah must scrape together money for the morning-after pill before it’s too late. As she hustles for the cash, she is also stuck babysitting a wild and uncooperative five-year-old, Vegas. Taylah’s wits are tested as she navigates a suburban wasteland, determined to not let poverty strip her of her bodily autonomy.

Adult film starlet Vixen Velvet wants to be a real actress - she gets her chance when the remote town she's filming in finds itself in the grip of a zombie apocalypse.

The personal story of a young woman in her early 20's who escapes societies expectations and becomes a sheepherder for a summer season.

While ex-Mormon-lesbian-atheist Sue-Ann Post has carved out a name for herself as a stand-up comic in Australia, she has been estranged from her family ever since she decided to abandon her Mormon upbringing. When she publicly demanded to be excommunicated from the Mormon church on a national TV talk show, she got what she asked for—leaving her completely ostracized from her Mormon community. This highly engaging doc follows Post as she journeys to Salt Lake City where she has been invited to speak at the Affirmation Conference—an annual gathering of gay and lesbian Mormons and ex-Mormons who are trying to reconcile their faith with their homosexuality. As cynical as she has become about her former religion, Post finds herself struggling with conflicting emotions that she had buried for years, while realizing that she has finally found her own lost tribe.

A creative figure must reckon with others more powerful than them and forces beyond their control. Intended as a depiction of the tension between machines and man, the natural and the unnatural, especially in relation to art and sociality.

A short film documenting a day out with artists practicing their craft through plein air style paintings.

Andy and Jen have mind-blowing sex, and in good ‘ol lesbian fashion, their connection is much deeper than they thought it would be. Pun intended.

A crooning rat with an accoutrement of gifts tries to woo the lady of the lair - a cat no less. Will he succeed where others failed, thanks to his loving ballad?

Akmal presents a sample of some of the best acts to appear this year’s comedy festivals around the country. This is your chance to sit back and sample some fine acts to help you make your decision before parting with your hard earned. The show features Arj Barker, Kitty Flanagan, Lawrence Mooney, Jimeoin, James Smith, Bev Killick, Simon Taylor, Cameron James, The Stevenson Experience and of course, Akmal himself.

Meet Clarissa, Oskar and Sidney - three punk rockers inside the virtual space of Chatworld. When two tycoons threaten to rebrand their digital home, they must band together to save their community, making an unlikely friend along the way.

Charts the causes and course of the Persian Wars from the Ionian Revolt in 499 BCE through to the Battle of Plataea in 479 BCE.

A young man has a secret crush on his teacher and rather than admit his feelings to anyone, he takes his own life. He tells his "last secret" in a suicide note to his sister, because his parents would never understand. The final tragedy occurs when we find that the teacher has a secret crush of his own.

A little girl has an adventure with a spirited boy from the sky in a place beyond gravity where magic rules.

Documentary about innocent people confined to prison on remand. John Pilger reports that more than half of the 500,000 people remanded in custody by magistrates each year are eventually found not guilty, fined or, as in the case of “Helen”, given a conditional discharge. Helen, charged with stealing a pair of slippers but with no previous convictions, recalls her day in Holloway Prison, London, which started at 7am when she joined 96 other prisoners in a rush to use four toilets whose conditions were “disgusting”. Between then and lunchtime, all prisoners were locked up, with just half-an-hour’s walk round a large yard for exercise. Lunch was eaten in cells, with tea at 3.30pm, before they were locked up until the following morning.

Mommy and Daddy have a problem

In 1989, the landowners of Central Bougainville closed one of the world's largest copper mines that was destroying their land. It remains closed to this day. In response, a blockade was imposed around the island. From scratch, the Bougainvilleans built their own schools, they revived their traditional bush medicines, they used solar and hydro power to generate electricity, but the most fascinating invention was the use of fermented coconut oil as a substitute for fuel. "An Evergreen Island" is a story of courage, survival and persistence - of inventiveness, imagination and creativity on a little-known Pacific island.

MARKS/MARKS examines the relationship between the mark making of optical lens technologies (writing with light) and the mark making of painting within the context of digital technology and mass data. The film maps the movement of painter Dr Harrison Waed See in the studio painting to generate the tempo and trigger audio and visual effects. Similarly digital image sonification and digital data sonifcation of still and moving images of Dr See were used to generate further noise and visual effects. Alongside this, the soundtrack also includes amplifcations of the sound of his movements and paint brush.