Discoveries from Australia World Cinema

After the chance meeting between reformed addict Ben & resident influencer Emily, a great darkness begins to take form within the creatives scene of Melbourne.

Djaambi is a First Nations coming-of-age story dealing with racism, identity, anxiety and death through a spiritual journey.

An intergalactic alien race invades Earth, challenging the planet to a game of Basketball Slam Dunk. With the game receiving little web traffic in its 2 years of operation, the race begins to find the players to save Earth.

Pat the Cat - Don Spencer White Pyjamas - Franciscus Henri Monster Mash - Ross Higgins Newspaper Mama - Peter Combe On Top of Spaghetti - Joe Dolce Fairy Penguin Strut - Don Spencer Get Ready To Wiggle - The Wiggles Singin' in the Rain - Glenn Butcher Spaghetti Bolognaise - Peter Combe Eating on the Plane - Robyn Archer Down on the Corner - Malcolm McCullum, Chris Lloyd, Armando Hurley & Jamie Rigg

After a drug deal gone wrong, the deteriorating friendship of two best friends turned drug dealers reaches its breaking point when one of them announces his intention to leave their business.

Australia loves competitions, but which competition is Australia's best competition? Comedians and triple j hosts Lewis Hobba and Michael Hing travel the country entering as many as they can to find out.

A year-long, intimate and loving study of a primary school in one of Sydney’s most diverse suburbs. At its heart is an exploration of how a community comes together to ethically educate children for the contemporary world.

Amidst a cacophony of strange languages, a quiet little boy struggles to connect with his multicultural family.

Two drunk flies drink beer, smoke from a giant cigarette and become attracted to a bright light in this adult claymation comedy.

After roaming the streets of his neighborhood one morning, Malcolm, a troubled and somewhat delinquent teen, decides to steal a pair of sunglasses from the local shop. An act that is later revealed to be part of a much bigger plan.

"Saving Our Land", a follow up from “Panguna Mine Dilemma” on the struggle of the Indigenous population of Mekamui/Bougainville against the re-opening of Panguna mine by Rio Tinto's subsidy Bougainville Copper Limited. Panguna mine brought many problems to Mekamui and the war and ten year military blockade which followed its closure in 1989 has cost the lives of 20,000 people, which was a fifth of the population. None of the indigenous people living on the Land and from the Land want the mine re-opened. They have opposed the principles of large-scale- mining already in the 60's before the mine was opened and just want to live in peace and harmony without the intrusion of international companies ripping them of their resources and destroying and polluting their island.

Unlike many spirit mediums, Jero Tapakan practices as a masseuse once every three days, when possession is not auspicious. This film focuses on Jero's treatment of Ida Bagus, a member of the nobility from a neighboring town. Jero has been treating her client for sterility and seizures. She begins work this day with religious preparations and the assembling of traditional medicines. Treatment includes a thorough massage, administration of eyedrops, an infusion, and a special paste for the chest. The dialogue, which is subtitled, includes a detailed discussion between anthropologist Linda Connor, Ida Bagus, and Jero, about the nature and treatment of the illness, as well as informal banter between Jero, her other patients, and people in her houseyard. In an interview, Ida Bagus and his wife speak about the ten-year history of his illness and a variety of diagnoses

City transplants Eva and Rose are invited to volunteer at their local town hall. After meeting all of the town’s folk and a game show host like Mayor they are excited about being part of this odd little community. Unfortunately their new home has some strange traditions and sinister undertones. When the mayor reveals a bingo cage they are excited about playing but they soon realise that their number being called could have catastrophic consequences. Tension builds while everyone waits to see who will be the next town sacrifice.

“Bilderbuch für Ernst Will” is an electronic rendering of a form of proto-televisual iconomania: the creation of haphazardly sourced private pictorial scrap books or 'bilderbuch'. Often intended for the surprise, delight and edification of grandchildren by grandparents, these books had the analogical potential to become flamboyant transmogrifigations of the detritus and sequestered oddments of the great age of print in the later half of the 19th century.

"A meditative film on the Holy Eucharist."

Set over three days, Goody Goody Gumdrops is an absurd, comic observational musical documentary cum live album launch for Tropical Fuck Storm’s new album Deep States. Situated deep in Central Victoria on the banks of the Goulburn River at TFS HQ, we follow the band as they prepare for a rock show in their barn. Referencing the feel of the Australian Western and Australian Gothic (see Wake in Fright, The Cars That Ate Paris and Picnic at Hanging Rock) we travel with the band through their abject, weird and beautiful space. The weekend starts as the band welcomes you into their studio/cocktail lounge and teach you how to make their signature drink, The Tropical Fuck Fizz, then entertain you, Rat Pack style.

Frida is excited about a date with a hot young spunk, but her friend accidentally gives her the wrong Ned's number. A creepy old man shows up who won't take no for an answer, he is a stalker and becomes obsessed with her.

Urine therapy is one of the oldest forms of health care. Both fascinating and taboo, this documentary explores the confronting subject of drinking urine for medicinal purposes.

Made by the National Film Board 1949. Directed by Bern Gandy. The expanding activities of the Post Office to cater for communications in an ever growing nation. This film also deals with the rapid expansion to cater for post-war demands, especially in supplying more telephones and exchanges. Australia’s vast distances make an efficient system of communication most necessary and this film stresses all the main factors involved in maintaining its efficiency.

Set to excerpts from Gustav Mahler’s “Song of the Earth”, this film explores the relations between human activities and the deep time of the Earth, journeying through the Petroleum Data Repository at Geoscience Australia, a vast storehouse of core-samples drilled for oil and gas exploration over the past hundred years.

“When you walk through the Bush, you hardly ever see any animals—they tend to take cover long before you actually come anywhere near them. Like a lizard, or a wallaby, which sees you and disappears. So I decided to make a film where I’d insert them… from photographs…into footage of the Bush. To make this work physically and filmically I had to invent and construct my matte-box image shifter. I wanted the animals, the sentinels of the Bush, to appear and disappear…the Bush to be living and moving. With the image shifter I matted them in and matted them out…what they now call ‘morphing’. This film was very popular with people who didn’t know much about avant-garde film—it was easy to watch, and they could get a lot of information about the type of flora and fauna in this country.” (Paul Winkler)

“You can have a weatherboard house, a fibro house, or a brick and tile house. Here in Australia real estate is very strong, and ‘brick and tile’ is what we call a solid house. In this film I experimented with optical printing for the first time [i.e. re-combining images after shooting, rather than in-camera]... pretty much purely for my own aesthetic pleasure. I showed the film at a documentary festival in Germany but the audience were less than impressed when I explained that the film would hopefully assist potential home builders to select their desired brick and tile combination.” (Paul Winkler)

Made with self-turned personal archives, Super 8, 16mm, and video, performance capture, photographs found on glass plates. Digital editing. A film poem, to try to express a single memory through the palimpsest made of the multitude of images collected over the years.

This film is rooted in the archetype of the feminine. It is composed of self-turned archives, filmed and amassed over time. The title of my film is a play on words to imply two states of being: Free Women and Women still to be freed from the discrimination they have suffered for so long.

An op shop worker encounters a strange paranormal phenomena latched on a pair of recently donated shoes as they mysteriously move around without any form of contact.

Rosario, an Italian transient, drifts throughout Australia seeking employment and connection. Struggling with addiction and a derelict spirit he becomes attached to two young folk musicians, with whom he embarks on an obscure journey across Europe. A search for a deceased mother soon dissolves into a dream of solace that may not exist.

A haunted clock brings out the anxieties of a newly moved-in couple.

Hours after her mother’s cremation, Andrea steals the ashes in an attempt to say her last farewell and emancipate herself from her toxic twin.

Set in the industrial town of Whyalla, this is an intimate portrait of John Croall, a Glaswegian immigrant to Australia, and the father of long-time Adelaide Fringe director, Heather Croall. John Croall delivered three generations of babies and planted thousands of trees in the town. He was also a great letter writer, and this very personal documentary uses these letters as its point of departure. Heather Croall films with her father as a way of coping with his approaching death and reflecting on the close, and often very funny, relationship between a father and a daughter.

With over half a million fans online, performing to thousands of fans yearly and numerous sold out comedy tours, Luke Kidgell’s long awaited debut comedy special ‘The Whitest Boy That Ever Lived’ is finally here.

A delirious adolescent wakes in the middle of the day to find his mother dead and little to no recollection of the past.

As dusk approaches and workers stream out of the city, thousands of individuals are about the begins their day’s work. They shuffle through subterranean car parks, sprawling shopping centers and soaring office towers, leaving behind a trail of gleaming floors and emptied waste paper baskets. They are the cleaners – an invisible and underpaid army whose necessary work goes unnoticed.In Lessons From The Night we spend a night with Maia, who reflects on life, work and toilet bowls as we follow her nightly cleaning round through silent empty spaces. As she works, she reveals some of the secrets of the city – the traces of human presence that we leave behind each day – and of her former life in Bulgaria. Lessons From The Night is both a homage to the menial worker and an existential film about cleaning.

An avant-garde audiovisual essay riffing on the work of Marshall McLuhan.

Kumi travels to Japan to deliver news to a family she hopes still exists, about a father she never really knew. Her identity is challenged as she tries to understand why she feels so at home in this intoxicating country.

This rare collection of videos hosted by the legendary radio DJ Ken Sparkes; Jukebox Saturday Night plays many never before seen music video clips from the greatest artists of our time. Most of the songs featured were previously only “heard” on radio, but, they have searched around and found the video clips for them, putting a face to the performers.

Young Australian Aiden Blyton revisits his experience of growing up as a gay, transgender boy at an all girls' high school. He reveals the impact of the pressures to stay silent about his pain, even around his closest friends.

A horror tale about Sandy, a young and energetic student finishing her first shift at a new job. Little does she know that this would be her last night of freedom as this temporary employment threatens to be a bit more permanent than expected.

During the Sydney Olympics, a young drag queen runs her own race.

Kathleen doesn't know what else she wants. Ola knows, another nang.

Dani performs onstage as Dani Boi, a non-binary 'dragtivist' with a mission to fight back against oppressive gender norms.

Narrated by former rugby champion, Ian Roberts, Walk Like A Man traces the journey of two of the world's best gay rugby teams - reigning champions, San Francisco Fog and feisty upstarts, Sydney Convicts as they prepare to battle in the World Cup of gay rugby - the Bingham Cup. This ultimate prize is named for 9/11 hero, Mark Bingham, a passionate gay rugger and a passenger on Flight 93 who courageously stormed the cockpit and prevented the hijackers from turning their flight into a terrorist weapon. Character driven, emotionally charged and socially compelling; Walk Like A Man is a real life drama about real life issues punctuated with blood, sweat and queers!

Creating a Monster is about reality television and sub-textually confronts a bigger ethical question about the psychological impact on the contestants; is the fault placed on reality television producers or the audience who consume it?

A refugee from the Sudanese civil war, Zacharia (one of the ‘Lost Boys' of Sudan) lives in Sydney with his wife and daughter. He desperately wants to do something for his former village, now in the newly created nation of South Sudan. His dream is to build a much-needed school, enlisting the backing of numerous Australians. Janet, a dedicated supporter, joins him on a 40-day fundraising walk from Tweed Heads to Sydney along with filmmaker Tom Zubrycki. But will this strategy raise the funds they need? Thwarted by escalating conflict back in South Sudan, and shocked by a broken relationship, Zac must decide what's important in his life.

A female life-model sits for a class of male artists.

For the first time ever, Australia's hottest comic musicians come together in Australia's leading musical comedy showcase - Laugh-A-Poolooza. All comedy. All music. All under the one roof. See the whos who of the funniest performers to ever pick up an instrument, with a line-up featuring: Paul McDermott and GUD, the Scared Weird Little Guys, Eddie Perfect, Tim Minchin, Andrew Hansen, Sammy J, The Bedroom Philosopher, Josh Earl and The Renegades of Folk. Filmed at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Laugh-A-Poolooza brings you Australia's best musical comedy acts.

Mommy and Daddy have a problem

A nostalgic piece involving a classic horror character, commencing with an intense build up and concluding with a sudden twist of humor.

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.

“Somewhere I read a headline ‘One million trees will be chopped down’ and I was absolutely horrified. My association with the Bush goes back a long time, and thinking that one day it might not be there tied my stomach in knots. I felt physically sick...like seasick...really off. Images were fermenting in my head, but I couldn’t see how to film what I was feeling. How do you film a blinding headache? A churning premonition? I tried shooting toothpaste glasses, filters, but nothing worked...until I found a way of doing it where I had these household glasses spinning at very fast speed in front of the lens. I didn’t want the film to be didactic, like Scars...more a veiled and brooding warning about impending loss.” (Paul Winkler)

Alter Ego is a documentary about virtual worlds on the internet, but ironically it’s really a story about people. Mind you, these are not just any people. You could call them eccentric. The more callous, when pressed, would say they were odd. But in each case we meet real people dealing with real challenges in an unconventional way – online in a virtual reality world called Second Life where their alter ego takes precedent.

A revenge fantasy about that jerk behind you in traffic.

Since reforming, Birtles Shorrock Goble have released a major live DVD and CD. Recorded over two nights at The Forum in Melbourne, Australia, before packed houses, Full Circle showcased all of the hits made famous by the singers and songwriters of Little River Band, together with album tracks performed during a mid-concert acoustic set. New songs written by each of the members were also introduced. Full Circle was produced by Birtles Shorrock Goble manager Paul Rodger and mixed by longtime supporter and friend Michael Costa at Stream AV Studios in Melbourne.

At the end of the Crusades, Robin Hood and his men have completed their forays and have separated leaving the shelter of Sherwood. But the Sheriff of Nottingham has run away with the valuable King's crown, encrusted with precious stones. The Sheriff, with the help of the Vikings, wants to overthrow the King and began a battle against him. Something that Robin and his men can not afford.

20th Anniversary Pop collection (15 videos) featuring Gary Numan's new wave classic "Cars" to Lionel Richie's smooth moves in "All Night Long" and Aqua's outrageous "Barbie Girl," Lisa Stansfield's "All Around the World," Smash Mouth's "Walkin' on the Sun," Tears for Fears' "Shout," Chumbawamba's "Tubthumping," Big Country's "In a Big Country," A Flock of Seagulls' "I Ran" and more.

THIS PHILOSOPHICAL DOCUMENTARY ANNOUNCES THAT WITHOUT CURIOSITY, EARTH IS JUST A FLOATING ROCK' IN A WORLD OF CHAOS AND CONFUSION, AS HUMANS WE ARE MADE TO BELIEVE THAT WE MUST FIGURE EVERYTHING OUT, BUT THAT'S NOT TRUE. WE GET TO CREATE OUR OWN QUESTIONS, FIND OUR OWN ANSWERS. AND WRITE OUR OWN STORIES. WE GET TO DO ALL OF THIS THROUGH THE HEAVENS OF THE UNKNOWN.

A one minute film about two friends having a day out in Melbourne

Dark secrets loom in rural New South Wales, near an isolated town. When podcaster and filmmaker Kade Moir starts receiving chilling calls, he and veteran documentarian Attila Kaldy head into the mountains to investigate. The further they go, the stranger the wilderness gets. Amid eerie sights and unsettling forces, they uncover disturbing evidence but leave with even darker questions.

Michael Myers takes Ghostface under his wing, training him to become the ultimate serial killer. Along the way, Ghostface forms his own deadly crew—Devilface, Rodney, and the Lakewood Slasher. His confidence grows with every kill… until he’s forced to face his greatest challenge yet: THE COLLECTOR!

Sometimes love never leaves us... even if the object of our desire does. INDEPENDENTLY BLUE dives into the heady decadence of the 1930s club scene to explore the impact of a lover's betrayal. Told through the memory of an elderly woman.

The prying eyes of town are quick to notice the growing friendship between a new teacher and the headmistress.