Discoveries from Australia World Cinema

A short film about Men's Mental Health awareness.

Dot and her Dolphin friends are playing along the shore one day. Soon they come across a very sad Whale named Tonga, who has washed up onto the beach. Tonga is in danger of being harmed by evil Whale-hunters and a cruel fish shop owner! Seeing that her new friend is in trouble, Dot just might have a few clever ideas to go about helping.

Stab Magazine’s annual search for the world’s best surfboard, starring 3x World Champion, Mick Fanning.

Katie is an 11-year-old girl, being held for questioning by police in an interrogation room. She is silent and scared. But after being pushed, the details of her story are slowly revealed. Perceptions of reality are tested, as Katie details her encounter with a Stranger, at a playground, at night.

On a trip to Bangkok, an American businessman finds himself out of his depth when he inadvertently crosses the border in Vietnam.

Kat gets an unexpected call from her ex, saying he’s coming to her band's gig that night. With this on her mind, she sets out for the evening ahead.

A hardened bounty hunter, a gang of outlaws in his trust and a preacher are forced to work together and battle their way across the old west of the 1870s when the zombie apocalypse begins.

Amid the glamour of Hollywood, Los Angeles, a woman finds herself on a transformative journey as she nurtures wounded hummingbirds, unraveling a visually captivating and magical tale of love, fragility, healing, and the delicate beauty in tiny acts of greatness.

Award-winning film director and actress Rachel Ward is the last person you’d expect to join a farming revolution. Following the birth of her first grandchild, Rachel is confronted head-on by the impact of our climate crisis as Australia’s Black Summer fires descend on her farm. Besieged by drought and ecological despair, Rachel finds hope in the soil beneath her feet and embarks on a journey of discovery to regenerate the land on her farm, and herself.

Margaret O'Halloran sets out to discover whether a dog killed her friend and mentor, Harry Bowman. To do this, O'Halloran must delve into the dark secrets of her home town and what she finds not only turns her world upside down, it could cost her life.

The Kink is the suburban story of a past-his-use-by-date, sex obsessed conman who is blackmailed by his lawyer’s overprotective mother to do the unthinkable. When he employs his lover’s husband to assist, his world becomes literally, a farce. Swingers, swindlers, gold diggers and mummy’s boys…It’s all about The Kink!

Imagine what it would be like if black settlers arrived to settle a continent inhabited by white natives? In 1788, the first white settlers arrived in Botany Bay to begin the process of white colonisation of Australia. But in Babakiueria, the roles are reversed in a delightful and light-hearted look at colonisation of a different kind. This satirical examination of black-white relations in Australia first screened on ABC TV in 1986 to widespread acclaim with both critics and audiences alike. This is the story of the fictitious land of Babakiueria, where white people are the minority and must obey black laws. Aboriginal actors Michelle Torres and Bob Maza (Heartland) and supported by a number of familiar faces from the time, including Cecily Polson (E-Street) and Tony Barry, who starred in major ABC-TV hits such as I Can Jump Puddles and his Penguin award-winning Scales of Justice. Babakiueria was awarded the United Nations Media Peace Prize in 1987.

Danny and Frank, two bumbling pest exterminators, cross paths with the enigmatic Lien, a Taoist guardian hunting an ancient Chinese jiangshi in Dublin. Together they set out deal with this menace the only way they know how: extermination.

Image of Death is a 1978 Australian TV movie about a woman who likes to live off other people's money.

Dedication is the story of a maid working in a hotel in the 1940's who uses a black magic spell in the hopes of harnessing the talent of one of the hotel's frequent guests - an eccentric writer - and passing it on to her unborn son. She also suffers at the hands of her abusive criminal husband who does not want children.

Colebrook Blackwood Reconciliation Park is where the Colebrook Training Home once stood. It is now a permanent memorial for the Aboriginal children of the “Stolen Generation” and their families.

For Gothic Callie, her deaf sister Ariel, computer nerd Chris, popular Sarah, and misogynist Ricky, their evening plans are about to be re-written. Taken to an abandoned military training school, they finds themselves the target of 5 sadistic killers, each with their own unique and different style of killing. They fight for their lives against sociopaths who know their environment intimately, becoming increasingly outnumbered as their friends are killed.

"On a Full Moon could be described as a poem to my mother who had died not long before. I wanted it to be as beautiful and contemplative as I could possibly make it. But I also know it had to be absolutely honest about what it's like to be a mum." -Lee Whitmore

In a bid to extend his adolescence, Gordon convinces his reluctant fiancée to allow his best-friend Jez and himself to live in the house they have just bought in a bachelor pad situation for the year before they get married.

Film biography of Eileen Joyce, the celebrated Australian pianist, concentrating on her childhood in the Tasmanian bush and the Kalgoorlie goldfields. Opening and closing scenes showed the pianist herself performing at a concert.

Film biography of Eileen Joyce, the celebrated Australian pianist, concentrating on her childhood in the Tasmanian bush and the Kalgoorlie goldfields. Opening and closing scenes showed the pianist herself performing at a concert.

A Nigerian refugee struggles to integrate into Australian society after escaping the clutches of Boko Haram, until he meets a woman who opens her home, and ultimately her heart, to him.

A teenage girl discovers her male friends’ secret group chat, forcing her to question her friendship with them.

Hayride to Hell is a 1995 Australian short subject directed and written by Kimble Rendall. It tells the story of salesman George Weygate, who comes across a girl begging for his help. Only shown in late night art houses, the film has never been widely released. It is believed that Kylie Minogue became involved in the project as a favour to the director, whom she would work with five years later on the film Cut (2000).

A lonely cult-member tries to recruit an old friend - a nihilistic drifter from her childhood church. But it becomes unclear if she’s trying to save his soul, or if she herself wishes to be saved.

Michael, a timid butcher’s apprentice, believes his quick-to-anger boss is killing and serving misbehaving customers as product. The thought drives Michael to insanity where he will question his childhood dream of becoming a butcher.

A wannabe Gangster gets what's coming when working an ATM.

Olivia Martin McGuire (China Love) parallels a grandfather’s journey to safety during the Cultural Revolution with his granddaughter’s fight for freedom in Hong Kong today. Interweaving unflinching testimony of the elder’s exodus from the Chinese mainland, exquisitely animated recreations of the perilous escape to Hong Kong through land and sea, and vivid, evocative archival footage of both mid-20th-century China and the Hong Kong protests today, Freedom Swimmer emerges as a gripping and timely account of the struggle for survival across generations.

Coming-of-age story about an Italian-Australian teenager making his way in the world.

Heartbeat Love is a miniseries that chronicles the love story between two travellers (Show and Rainie) who happen to share a hotel room in Australia by accident. Rainie initially mistakes Show for being gay, but eventually discovers that he is straight, resulting in a very angry Rainie! However, through the whole trip, the two of them grow close and end up confiding their innermost thoughts and emotions to each other.

The story of an old man torn from his slumber by a horrible and unshakable vision.

Dan, a closeted homosexual, goes to a cruising area under a bridge to confront his darkest secret. It isn't until he meets a younger and more confident Paul that he realises his biggest fear is just the beginning of something much closer to home.

Helga would give anything to meet Stanton Gareth, the star of '80s Sci-Fi show Time Fighter. Simeon would give anything to get out of his costume.

In the near future, a cargo contractor on a dying Earth is hired to recover a buried drive containing secrets that could threaten what remains of civilisation, pulling him into a decade-old conspiracy and the mystery of a man missing for years.

This instructional film is an outline of how rehabilitation programs are administered in Australian Commonwealth Agencies, with specific reference to the role of the case manager.

Three lonely people trying to find solace in each other and mend misunderstandings rooted in trauma, cultural taboos and old regrets.

A lonely house-wife’s plan to end it all takes an unexpected turn when her last hurrah begins a radical journey of sexual exploration and personal re-invention.

Teenage boy Roy and his ailing mother Elizabeth live an aimless life on the road, shuttling between gas stations, temp jobs and cheap motels. When they end up at a desolate caravan park, fractures begin to appear in Roy's relationship with his mother as he starts to fall head over heels for park manager Maurice.

The western half of the island of New Guinea has been known by many names including Netherlands New Guinea, West Papua, Irian Jaya and Papua. It is an extraordinary place where snow-capped mountains drain into massive rivers and 250 languages are spoken. For centuries, the world has jostled for control of this rugged, isolated region, with its abundant natural resources and strategic position. Through eyewitness accounts and rare archival film, this fascinating documentary paints a picture that is intimate in detail but epic in scope. It is a sweeping saga of colonial ambitions, cold war sellouts and fervent nationalism, which highlights the role of players such as Australia and the UN at crucial points.

Situated in a carpark of a cafe in Sempahore...

You may recognise Charlie from Talkin' 'Bout Your Generation or The 7p.m Project. But before he became one of Australian TV's most famous faces he built an international reputation as one of Australia's best stand-up comedians. With sold-out shows around the world and every city in Australia Live At The Time Of Recording is a collection of Charlie's favourite stories and hilarious jokes from his years on the stage.

During the time of the Stolen Generations, thousands upon thousands of Aboriginal girls were taken from their families and pressed into domestic servitude by the Australian Government. They were supposedly employed as servants, but with total control over their movements, wages and living conditions, their lives all too frequently became an inescapable cycle of abuse, rape and enslavement, with consequences that echo powerfully to this day. Recounting the stories of five of these women – Rita, Violet and the three Wenberg sisters – Servant or Slave is a commanding piece of first-person testimony to a dark and unacknowledged corner of Australian history. Shot with admirable craft and humanity by documentarian Steven McGregor (Croker Island Exodus, MIFF 2012), Servant or Slave is a work of great sadness and urgency, bringing to forceful life the human tragedy of Australia's Indigenous history in the unadorned words of those who lived it.

Sixteen-year-old Mars wants more from her life than just a fistful of flies which, to her, is a fistful of nothing. Stifled and dominated by her family, Mars just wants to be free. Denied relationships with the people who truly understand her, Mars battles her family on her own, and in her quest to be treated as a grown-up she gives her mother the courage to act and forces her father to make the choice of his life. A story about how a young girl finally finds the courage to have faith in herself.

Mike and Carla are hard-boiled journalists, shackled by government-issued laptops prone to violent methods of censorship. They're forced into a tight squeeze when the mob corners them with an offer they can't refuse.

This film contains three short stories about life in Australia in the 1950's.

An aspiring horror movie writer searches for love in a world of heartache, desperation and fluffy toys.

As the Supreme Court refuses to grant marriage equality, Queering India captures a pivotal moment in the world’s largest democracy. Through the eyes of journalist and actor Swapnesh Dubey, the film weaves a powerful narrative, combining his coming-out journey with voices from across India. This multilingual documentary doesn’t look outward for validation, it looks inward, reclaiming a forgotten truth: that queerness in Indian culture was once revered, not erased. It confronts colonial hangovers, societal silences, and the class and language divides that shape who gets to participate in the national conversation.

Premier Joh Bjelke-Petersen reigned over Queensland for 19 tumultuous years (1968–1987). Hugely popular, he presided over enormous growth, but corruption raged under his tenure, as did electoral manipulation and often violent suppression of dissent. This film tells Joh’s story through rare archival footage and revelatory interviews, exploring a life shaped by a hard yakka, god-fearing upbringing on his family’s farm. Trump’s spectre is evoked in Joh’s famously mangled and meandering way of speaking – brilliantly dramatised by Richard Roxburgh – alongside his unyielding execution of power and the desperate denial of his final days in office.

In order to protect his father's discovery, Lucas and his five friends go on the adventure of a lifetime to find the piece of a passing Comet that crash lands near their hometown in the 1950's.

Brothers Asher and Charlie are very different – Asher likes fishing and swearing, Charlie likes tea parties and crafts. In the summer of 1987 – the first since their father walked out of their lives – their relationship undergoes a test of almost mythic proportions when Asher’s confusion and anger boils over into a mindless act of cruelty.

A little girl must suddenly confront her isolation due to puberty and the death of her father. She gradually sees her childhood relationships slip away as her life and life around her change.

Seldom seen and very rarely filmed in their natural environment, Lumholtz tree kangaroos are the ghosts of the north Queensland forests. This film follows the intimate lives of these tree-climbing specialists in the wilderness of the Atherton Tableland.

A Holocaust survivor was ready to give up his life until he met a young and curious boy.

For the first time since their farewell "The Last Waltz" concert seven years ago, THE BAND - Levon Helm, Rick Danko, Garth Hudson and Richard Manuel - are together again, live at Vancouver's Queen Elizsabet Theatere. TRACK LISTING: 1 Introduction, 2 Rag Mama Rag, 3 Up On Cripple Creek, 4 The Shape I'm In, 5 It Makes No Difference, 6 Milk Cow Boogie, 7 The Weight, 8 King Harvest, 9 Long Black Veil, 10 W.S. Walcott Medicine Show, 11 Mystery Train, 12 Ophelia, 13 Levon And Garth Jamming, 14 Java Blues, 15 Chest Fever, 16 Back To Memphis, 17 Blaze Of Glory, 18 Willie And The Hand Jive, 19 End Credits.

Small minds in a small town attempt to ostracize the local Muslim postman and their actions divide the town. When the postman's co-workers rally behind him the residents are forced to face the same exclusion they imposed on him.

A casual gesture of friendliness quickly spirals into a paralysing moment for a woman on a train.

When a desperate kid goes on the run, a probationary officer and her senior constable have one night to track him down before he throws his life away.

Left for dead on an abandoned earth, a struggling man must accept his situation and reconcile with his unsettling past.

In the early 1990s, a Japanese samurai detective series was aired in Australia and became a cult success. Titled in Japan Ronin Suiri Tentai (meaning roughly Deductive Reasoning Ronin), it was soon known in the West as Top Knot Detective. The original series was legendary in Japan, a cultural train wreck led by Takashi Tawagoto, a crazy writer, producer, director and lead actor; one who could not act, fight or write at all.

A live album and video by English rock band Black Sabbath. It features performances from their 2013 world tour. Recorded live at Rod Laver Arena, Melbourne Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia on 29 April and 1 May 2012.