Discoveries from Australia World Cinema

Koala Rescue profiles the courage and determination of everyday Aussies that went out of their way to rescue, treat and rehabilitate the koalas who survived the Australian Black Summer bushfires, 2019-20.

Black Mountain National Park has long harboured a strange history, from masses of missing livestock that have wandered onto the mountain to unusual disappearances and reappearances of local townspeople. One such case involved members of the entire Wahldrov family, who were never found. Cassian Wahldrov returns back home to the town of Black Mountain, following the disappearance of his autistic younger brother Manny. Together with his sister Mae, both setout to find him. Their efforts are quickly overshadowed by a strange force that both splits them up and slowly picks them apart.

A distant son rejects reuniting with his father only to cerebrate their relationship and lack of memories shared.

It's May 27, 1967 - Australia's referendum on Aboriginal rights. Two women unite as a family come to terms with the prospect of change.

Ali Baba is a poor woodcutter who unexpectedly discovers the secret hideout of a gang of thieves. In a magical cave of thieves keep the immense treasures that have been usurped over the years.

Pun-based comedy show names are an automatic winner, and Ronny Chieng’s Chieng Reaction is a golden example of this. Coming off the back of record-breaking sold out shows at the last two Melbourne International Comedy Festivals, Chieng has had a smooth and well-deserved run into the forefront of Australian comedy.And he’s wasted no time in humorously exploiting this new-found fame - a big red sign spelling out “RONNY” complete with flashing lightbulbs serving as the backdrop for his MICF 2014 show.

A short doco following the mundane flow of Melburnians as they go about their day, recounting their most recent dream.

A man on the run tries to convince a hostage that a clone of himself assassinated the president.

In a series of intersecting story lines, a man and woman encounter a fierce predator, and a cop confronts his son's murderer.

A professional novelist struggles to resolve an increasingly burdensome family situation, and his relationship with his partner, all the while attempting to finish a new book that encapsulates his situation.

A man with a bounty on his head joins a game of high stakes poker against three strangers who bet with more than just money and have plenty of time to kill.

When an elderly woman sees a vision of Jesus on the shorts of a young African man at her swimming class, she befriends him, believing he's been sent by God to free her from loneliness. 'Followers' is a dark comedy drama about faith and loneliness. The short film explores how the two intertwine and is based on Tim Marshall's feature screenplay of the same name.

A story of struggle and tragedy, the film features harrowing underground disasters, heroic rescues and traces a history of strikes, industrial turmoil and the current push by global mining giants to destroy regional communities and replace local mineworkers with a subservient itinerant workforce.

Two doctors are observing a very "special patient" through the small window of her cell in the deep, dark corners of a mental asylum. Each morning, at exactly the same time, she performs the exact same extraordinary routine.

The Connection is a film about how frontier research is proving that there is a direct connection between your mind and your health.

An examination of the connection between relentless government intervention since colonisation to the trauma and disadvantage experiences by Indigenous Australians - the two key drivers of incarceration.

A night ride, a few beers with an old friend, memories of better times. One seemingly ordinary drive reveals the dark truths of men’s past and a sinister web of strange events.

Burlesque meets science-fiction, when a peepshow stripper has a close encounter of the voyeuristic kind.

Based on the true story of fiery, tempestuous actress, Olive Bodill. Soon after Olive and her actor/writer husband, Tony, celebrate their 16th wedding anniversary Olive discovers that she has a malignant breast cancer. Once so strong and independent, Olive now becomes dependent on Tony who himself relies so much on her energy and decisiveness. But with his help Olive confronts her death, and in what has been a marriage of opposites, with all the attendant difficulties, the partners are fused finally in a bond of love.

A young paper boy goes on a venture to deliver the daily mail but it takes an unexpected turn.

A story of resistance across generations, the power of family and the unrelenting struggle for justice in a country that remains in denial.

Our Agony Uncles and Aunts are back to discuss all things Christmas. If Christmas is meant to be a time for peace and love, then why does it throw so many lives into turmoil?

Behind the scenes production footage and interview of cast and crew of 2008 film The Square, with particular emphasis on the style and difficulties arose during the shooting and the experience of cast and crew during the making of film.

When a toddler goes missing in a car park, her mother fears she has been abducted.

16 year old Australian girl Belinda (Deanne Jeffs) wants to become a ballerina. To makes ends meet, she takes a job as an exotic dancer in a Sydney cabaret. Eventually, she is able to reach her goal, but not before experiencing humanity at best and worst of times.

Eddy does what he has to do to give his family what they want. For the last 25 years, he has secretly moonlighted as a "standover" man, purely to provide his aspirational wife with her dream house and a privileged upbringing for his only daughter. Eddy finds it hard to express how he feels, especially now that his "little girl" is engaged and will soon be leaving the family home. Chantelle believes her emotionally blocked father has only two feelings "angry" and "very angry" and feels her father just doesn't understand her. Eddy is perplexed: "What's to understand?" Herein lies the problem. Over eager to get on the same wavelength as his daughter and recapture the closeness they once had, Eddy starts reading Chantelle's diary. In the process, more secrets than anyone was prepared for, begin to surface with devastating yet hilarious results. Eddy rides the storm and once the dust settles, all is well... for now.

A visual companion to Flume's 2019 mixtape of the same title.

Through a combination of hand-held and hidden camera footage, Lucent explores the darker side of Australia's pig farming industry, highlighting the day-to-day cruelty accepted by the industry as standard practice.

When Emperor Louis offers a reward to the tailor who designs the finest outfit for him to wear for his upcoming celebration, two swindlers convince the Emperor to wear a special design made of a fabric they claim is only visible to the wise.

The magical story of a beautiful young girl named Beauty, whose family were at one time wealthy merchants and how through great family misfortune and drama she finds herself living in a palace, with a grotesque beast. During our tale, Beauty is visited by a kind fairy, but only in her dreams. Eventually Beauty breaks the spell which traps the beast and finds true love in the arms of a handsome Prince.

An adolescent girl's journey of self-discovery set in the garish twilight world of Sydney's late night shopping malls and rooftops.

In 1968, John Weiley shot 'Autopsy on a Dream' - a film about the Sydney Opera House detailing its construction process and the politics of Jorn Utzon's dismissal. Weiley's film was controversial; it was screened once and then he was told it had been destroyed. Forty five years later a copy was discovered in the BBC vaults by an ABC producer looking for archive footage of the Opera House. Weiley was contacted and told about a film that had no sound track. Weiley was overjoyed; for years he had kept the original sound. So began the painstaking process of restoring this record of a unique moment in Australian culture to its former glory, complete with updated voice-over from the original narrator, Bob Ellis. It is set in context by a 30 minute prologue entitled 'The Dream of Perfection'. Made by the same filmmaker, John Weiley, forty-five years on, 'Dream of Perfection' tells the story of the 1968 film - from commission to destruction, to surprise resurrection.

A woman rushing home to meet a date is blindsided by an unexpected intervention from friends and family, only to discover her bewildered Hinge match has also been roped into it too.

The once celebrated graphic designer Paul Andrews has fallen from grace. Battling against the demands of vacuous clients, deprived of his voice, he descends into an obsessive and distorted search for creative expression.

"Twelve Canoes" is a series of short films that paint a compelling portrait of the people, history, culture and place of the Yolngu people whose homeland is the Arafura Swamp of north-central Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory.

A fisherman and a wildife photographer both want the same fish.

Frackman tells the story of accidental activist Dayne Pratzky and his struggle against international gas companies. Australia will soon become the world's biggest gas exporter as more than 30,000 'fracked' wells are sunk in the state of Queensland where Dayne lives. He and his neighbours have unwittingly become the centre of a massive industrial landscape and they have no legal right to stop mining on their land. Dayne embarks on a journey that transforms him from conservative pig-shooter to sophisticated global activist as the Frackman. He meets the people drawn into a battle that is crossing the ideological divide, bringing together a peculiar alliance of farmers, activists and political conservatives. Along the way Dayne encounters love, tragedy and triumph.

In the midst of Melbourne's COVID-19 lockdown, Jamie finds reprieve from the monotony of isolation through their imagination, sensuality and some help from iconic onscreen queer characters.

In the thick of a controversial war of ideas, two enlightening figures, Sam Harris, an atheist and a critic of religion, and Maajid Nawaz, an Islamist-turned-liberal activist, partake in an engaging dialogue on the state of Islam, its potential reform, the militant ideology of Islamism, and where all this lays in a secular world.

A short film about the forever stagnant versions of ourselves that exist in the hearts and minds of the people we've left behind as we grow and move on with our lives.

The true story of a Sydney prostitute and her lesbian relationships and the unusual desire of one of her regular male customers.

In the early years of cinema, editors were usually women. This short documentary looks at how they wielded power, and how their work was made invisible.

Deep in a remote marshland, three young biologists conduct research but when they encounter an ancient evil, science ends and survival begins.

It's Tom's first day on the job. He's already having doubts about his career. Jimmy's not making life any easier.

The Run is a feature length documentary film which follows Australian Pat Farmer’s test of human spirit and behind the scenes drama as he runs the length of India – 80 kilometres a day for 64 days with the backdrop of colourful, enchanting, challenging, organized chaos of India, which will saturate your senses.

Visual observation of psychic phenomena including psychic surgery, prior life regressions, skin vision, metal bending, and tongue skewing.

There's an ocean of adventure as The Wiggles sail into Wiggle Bay for a picnic by the sea. The fun continues as they swim in the sea and dance in the sand with their friends, Dorothy the Dinosaur, Wags the Dog, Henry the Octopus and Captain Feathersword. But there's also a wiggly mystery to solve when they discover a magic shell, a curious note and beautiful mermaid! Will they solve the mystery? Will they return a golden key to its rightful owner? Find out when you join The Wiggles for lots of music, dancing and fun in the sun at Wiggle Bay!

Loud music, charismatic vocalists, broken guitars and drunk fans. The fervent and accepting Melbourne music scene in shown through local rock band Mindstain. Meet the magnetic members of the band. Encounter the sociable fans that thrive in the community. Feel the vigorous intensity that is the chaotic mosh pic. Hear the booming impassioned music and discover what makes this community so special.

Without a Shirt follows one crazy day in the life of two feuding brothers, Daniel and Anthony. A road trip to the country takes a turn for the worse when Daniel insists on stopping the car for a toilet break. The events that follow escalate with absurd comical results that eventually bring two brothers closer together and reinforce that fundamental rule of life that 'everything happens for a reason'.

In 1832 the government of Van Diemen’s Land sent the last Aboriginal resistance fighters into exile at Wybalenna on Flinders Island, bringing an end to the Black War and opening a new chapter in the struggle for justice and survival by Tasmanian Aboriginal people. Black Man’s Houses tells a dramatic story of the quest by Aboriginal people to reclaim the graves of their ancestors against a background of racism and denial. Documenting a moving memorial re-enactment of the funeral of the great chief Manalargenna, the film also charts the cultural strength and resilience of his descendants as they are forced to fight for recognition in a society that is not ready to remember the terrible events of the past.

A group of university dorm students tackle the ethical dilemma of whether or not to evict one of their own over a morally ambiguous offence. Does the punishment fit the crime?

It is 2017 in Sydney Australia, in the height of the Marriage Equality debate and the word 'Love' is everywhere. But for Peter, an Australian-born Chinese adolescent exploring his sexuality, it is the meaning of love and family itself that he is grappling with, against the background of his parents' constant bickering and his father's aloofness resembling nothing of the ideals he sees in the political campaigns. This is when a new piano teacher enters his life and changes everything. She inspires him to find his own meaning through his passion for music.

When a rich Indian international student falls for a working class Australian girl, who is crazily in love with him. How will he handle the cultural differences and succeed in his love, against his parents' plans for his future?

Stanley Dunstan is a young eccentric. The son and heir to a family fortune has eluded all attempts by his father to make him "normal", and escapes from attempts to incarcerate him in the family sanatorium. Stanley retreats to prove he can become "normal" on his own, and does so by tracking down Australia's most "normal" family with whom he moves in and on whom he models his behaviour. Stars Graham Kennedy, Nell Campbell, Peter Bensley and Michael Craig.

A masochistic dentistry student grapples with unrequited love and her manipulative father by pulling out her own teeth for addictive pleasure.

A mysterious rendezvous at a park goes awry.

This documentary explores the life and times of Russell Dean Willey, a neo-Nazi supergrass, in order to explain the presence of Jack Van Tongeren's Australian Nationalists Movement in Australia, and its spread, especially in difficult economic times.

Steve is still single and working as a taxi driver. Brianna Beagle-Thorpe, the Minister for Immigration, hatches a plan with her brother to exact their revenge on Steve for destroying their late mother Raelene's political career.

The worlds of journalism and politics collide in this story about an experienced journalist who desperately needs to scoop a big story in order to revamp his career. Deciding he'll take matters into his own hands, he frames a politician and arranges to be there when the story is leaked to the public. What he doesn't realize is that his own devious behavior is about to get him caught in the middle of a dangerous web of lies and murder.

With Australia at war in Vietnam in 1967, suddenly Prime Minister Harold Holt disappeared without a trace—an event unparalleled in the history of western democracy. Four decades later, a coronial inquiry confirmed that Harold Holt had accidentally drowned. Some people may still believe that Holt was a spy and fled to China in a submarine. But most suspect there was more to his disappearance than has ever been revealed. Reconstructed from eyewitness accounts, this dramatised documentary tells the story of the Prime Minister's secret world in the months before he disappeared — a world of betrayal, blackmail, political treachery, a poisonous feud, mounting physical and mental strain, and near-death experiences. Featuring Normie Rowe as Harold Holt, Nicholas Hope as William McMahon and Tony Llewellyn-Jones as John McEwen, this film reveals explosive new aspects of the case.