Discoveries from Australia World Cinema

A missionary’s wife questions her needs to "save souls" after finding solace in her new friendship with a Ngarrindjeri woman.

Coming of age is difficult for any young boy, but it is a little harder for Jono Smith. His secret fetish for kitchen appliances has caused him to lose his manhood in a flight of passion. Fortunately the recent death of a porn star makes a transplant possible and with the help of his crazy friends Jono just might get laid again.

Three foster siblings come together for a weekend to confront their alcoholic mother and face some hard truths as they attempt to mend the family - hanging by a thread.

A shy university student gets caught up in a robbery at an Asian grocery store as he attempts to ask out his crush.

After participating in an anonymous survey at the request of a mentor, a high school graduate begins to uncover the predatory reality of their relationship.

A global crisis. A lockdown. Three housemates. One ice cube.

Young and single Sarah has just moved into her new apartment, only to discover her next-door neighbor is an old flame, Peach. Is this Sarah’s second chance to get the girl that got away? Sarah impulsively asks Peach to her housewarming dinner with her a few friends (who are all exes). Over dinner, Sarah’s friends quickly clash with Peach and her questionable life views. But is Sarah too doe-eyed to see this might be a recipe for disaster?

A lonely sixty year old woman finds a new perspective on her life when an unexpected teenager appears on her doorstep. This troubled young man forces her to confront and question her personal history.

In the heart of Newtown, Sydney, the summer brings all sorts of people out. As night falls, everyone comes together to relish in the revival of social drinking after the lasting impacts of Covid-19.

The eight ladies in this film come from Alyawarr Country in the Sandover River region in central Australia, about 250km north of Alice Springs. The filmmakers joined them on a five-day journey into the bush to hunt echidna and gather bush foods such as the bush potato. As they hunt and gather, and as they sit around their campfire at night preparing the food, they talk about the old days and how life has changed.

A dramedy based on actor/writer Cameron Hurry’s real life experiences as a homosexual Christian.

James' aspirations of rebuilding his former life with girlfriend Kelley, are short-lived when her brother confides him with a volatile secret.

When gunshots ring out at school, library geek Alex finds herself hiding with popular girl Ruby, Alex’s secret crush. Will Alex find the courage to reveal her true desire amid the overwhelming fear and confusion?

When a Ukrainian actress arrives in Melbourne for a festival performance, her off stage antics reveal the true nature of her visit.

When something goes bump in the night, time begins to unravel in a strange way.

A woman in a lonely relationship turns to her favourite house plant for the connection she desires.

The events took place in June/July 1973 and the film was made with the help of the Mowanjum Community

A wonderful animated version of the First Christmas. Filled with prophets, wise men, warriors, kings and messengers.

GREED tells the story of an Indian man who gets deeper and deeper involved in the Australian gangland underworld. He only wants to get enough money to go back to homeland to rescue his parents from abject poverty, but is forced to make increasing difficult decisions that go against what's left of his conscience. How far is too far when one tries to reach his noble goal? GREED is an epic film tribute to Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather, a story of family relationships, intrigues and betrayals set against a violent world where nothing is legal, but where everything is possible.

When Taylor moves away from her family home her past grief begins to haunt her. Taylor must now confront this stifled pain in order to begin her life anew.

Van is a homeless young man, living in a car park. When he encounters a free-spirited Carla, he senses the opportunity for friendship and connection. Des is homeless as well but faces different issues: a pregnant girlfriend and trouble with a neighbourhood gangster. Tommy is a junkie trying get his life on track and get a job after personal tragedy. These three young men endure an impoverished existence in Southwest Sydney, Australia.

Loon is a dystopian horror short that follows Freya, a young woman born to the apocalypse. After being imprisoned in a steel cage by a disgruntled ex soldier, she must fight her bloodthirsty captor, before all hope is lost.

Warru, or black-footed rock-wallaby, is one of South Australia's most endangered mammals. In 2007, when numbers dropped below 200 in the APY Lands in the remote north-west of the State, the Warru Recovery Team was formed to help save the precious species from extinction. Bringing together contemporary science, practical on-ground threat management and traditional Anangu ecological knowledge, this unique decade-long program has celebrated the release of dozens of warru to the wild for the first time.

Titsiana works at a suburban supermarket and is ridiculed by her fellow 'Check-out' girls for her slightly hirsute upper lip. She finds a new confidence and acceptance when she discovers a hair removal treatment.

Haunted by a past abusive relationship, Ella tries to psych herself up for her third date with Harry.

In a small corner of the world a pointless opera occurs.

When a man thinks his day can't get any worse, he discovers he is driving a bomb.

A reformed thief (Douglas Stuart) marries a wealthy socialite but is tormented by a former accomplice who tries to frame him for murder.

Violet and Daisy have been best friends since they were five. Best friends forever. Joined at the hip. How close can two best friends get? What would they do if anyone tried to separate them?

A Pixilation Sci-Fi Short Film about an old man's haunted VCR. This entire film is stop motion animation and was shot on a Canon EOS 400D SLR. 1,283 individual photos were used.

Following a troubled history with organised crime, a helpless young man is forced into doing one final job.

Originally completed in 2018, the film was largely self-funded, Mr Yen Ooi worked on the script, refining the vision of the film for over a decade, with multiple iterations of the story under names such as 'Beetle Ramen', in which the completed draft of this screenplay was finalised in 2005, this would become the basis of inspiration and 13 years later the final production "Spaghetti Ramen" would be completed. It was then distributed to different indie and international film festivals. Unfortunately due to the passing of the director in the same year, the final processes were incomplete and the film did not get screened anywhere due to not getting the rights clearance. In 2023 however, the film was cleared to screen at WORM, Camera Japan in Rotterdam. This allowed for the first and only screening of the film in the world.

Emma and Peterson encounter their fierce predator Voyte Parker, a cop confronts his son's murderer, and a man finds his wife is cheating on him. Intersecting story lines; murderers, coppers, teachers and teenagers.

One day in the squat, Wolf finds an abandoned baby and she is faced with a decision that changes both their lives.

Reflecting on her culpability, a woman recounts the traumatising assault she witnessed of a young man in a small Australian coastal town.

On June 3rd 1992, six months after Eddie "Koiki" Mabo's tragic death, the High Court upheld his claim that Murray Islanders held native title to land in the Torres Strait. The legal fiction that Australia was empty when first occupied by white people had been laid to rest. Mabo-Life of an Island Man tells the private and public stories of a man so passionate about family and home that he fought an entire nation and its legal system. Though his greatest victory was won only after his death, it has forever ensured his place - on Murray Island and in Australian history.

A biopic based on the life of Nozhan Behzadi

The Go-Betweens: Rock Arena 1987

The end of school party allows one last chance for Kevin to repair his broken friendship with Jim before this chapter of their lives comes to a close. Did Kevin learn from what broke them apart in the first place? or does he repeat the same mistake – breaking their friendship apart for good.

Nina is a caring, loving, but exhausted mum & wife who has tried to be everything that everyone needs. Responding to the coming out of her transgender teenager, Nina battles with the choices that she and her family have to make and how these choices will affect her child! …. but timing is everything!

Connor, secretly in love with his best friend Rach, has gotten her a pretty cool birthday present. Something that's sure to knock her off her feet. But, when things take a sharply peculiar turn, Connor begins to wonder whether he would have been better off just getting a gift voucher.

Tony goes out for a few drinks when his lover, Steve goes on a business trip. Feeling lonely, he is picked up by another young man and they have semi-public sex only to be interrupted by gay-bashers. Although Tony is really hurt, he is more worried about how he'll explain this to Steve.

In 2008, allegations emerged that Malka Leifer, the headmistress of the girls' campus of an ultra-Orthodox Jewish school in Melbourne's inner south-east, had committed grievous crimes against three young students under her care, sisters Dassi Erlich, Nicole Meyer and Elly Sapper. It was the catalyst for a reckoning; but before police investigations could get underway, Leifer fled overseas under the cloak of darkness with the assistance of the school. Thus began an extradition battle that would last for the better part of a decade, and a broader quest for justice that revealed a web of international intrigue, legal loopholes and political corruption as well as a deeper culture of silence around sexual abuse.

Losing yourself in your phone has never been more terrifying.

Craig's journey continues as he teams up with Fatty to kick ass and take names.

Raed Melki is a troubled musician struggling with his own mortality and his inability to affect change in the music industry. He soon discovers that speaking truth to power can be a dangerous game.

Who’s in The Wiggles’ house? All your favourite friends, Emma, Lachy, Simon and Anthony, and twenty-six new songs! Join the fun of ‘The Laughing Doctor’, taste the delights of ‘Pappadum’, ’Do the Hawk’ with America’s Lee Hawkins, ‘Have a Good Day (Kia Pai to Rā)’ with New Zealand’s Robert Rakete, and so much more. So open the door to a house full of fun as we raise the roof with Wiggle House!

Magick is a brief pilgrimage through a strange fictional world.

Facing the Principal’s clippers for having ‘extreme’ Afro-styled hair, JamarzOnMarz is a dragged by the hair into the Principal’s office to have his hair shaved, however his friends rise to the occasional and twerk and krump the mean Principal into a dazed stupor! With lavender-tinged uniforms, alluding to the colours historical queer use, the students revolt with satisfying consequences!

TISM performing at the Sidney Myer Music Bowl in Melbourne as part of the Death to Art tour, 9 November 2024.

A burnt-out white-collar worker stumbles upon a plastic bag in a bustling city. As suffocation drags him out of an anxiety attack toward fleeting peace, an unexpected encounter offers something more than a breath of relief.

As a young child, Frederic had been apprenticed to a pirate by mistake when he should have been apprenticed to a pilot. Now, having reached his 21st year, Frederic's indentures are at last over and he happily leaves the service of the pirates. When Frederic meets the beautiful Mabel, one of the many daughters (or wards in Chancery) of Major-General Stanley, they fall in love and decide to marry. However, complications arise when the pirates decide to marry the rest of the Major-General's daughters, themselves - and Frederic's birthdate turns out to be not all it seems. Filmed live in Australia at the Victoria State Opera in 1993.

Four boys survive on the seedy night streets of St Kilda’s red-light district in Australia in the 1980s, turning tricks for a feed and drugs. The fragile balance is broken when an act of betrayal pushes the boys to take action.

A journey through different processes of capturing light using pinhole cameras (pinhole camera in Super 8 format), accompanied by a cassette recorder during the director residency at Nanolab (Daylesford, Australia). It represents a step between the interior and the exterior, between moving forward and going back. It is about the space the director inhabit, the one she walk through and capture over and over again.

An old folk singer returns to a small seaside village, visits past people, plays to moments, and holds a small untidy concert.

I'll be Home for Christmas cuts through social taboos to explore the subculture of people commonly dismissed as ‘derelicts'. In its portrayal of five homeless men, the film challenges conventional views of alcoholism and homelessness by depicting these men as members of a social network with a highly developed sense of mutual concern and camaraderie.

In the working-class suburbs of Melbourne, three friends are in the process of putting together the ultimate rock band; INN OF THE DAMNED. The only thing is they are missing is the perfect drummer. Over the course of one night, at their local pub, they meet a series of drummers but none of them live up to their lofty expectations.