Here Out West
A baby is kidnapped from hospital by a desperate grandmother. Her flight sets off a chain of events that bring together complete strangers over the course of one day.
Leah Purcell
Ana Kokkinos
Arka Das
Fadia Abboud
Vonne Patiag
Julie Kalceff
Lucy Gaffy
Nisrine Amine
Claire Cai
Bina Bhattacharya
Tien Tran
Matias Bolla
Duygu Dogan
Also Directed by Leah Purcell
Performer and writer Leah Purcell talks with five dynamic Indigenous women - Rosanna Angus, Kathryn Hay, Deborah Mailman, Cilla Malone and Tammy Williams - about what it means to be Aboriginal in Australia today. In a series of individual interviews and at one lively dinner party, the women share their experiences and opinions with extraordinary candour. The result is a passionate and challenging exploration of black identity and a celebration of five very different lives.
A part-time country pub singer has a chance meeting with a wealthy city hotelier which triggers a series of events that will change her life forever. Explore the worlds of 'the haves' and 'the have nots' with heart, humour, romance and music.
Also Directed by Ana Kokkinos
A half-hour narrative fiction short that explores the Greek experience in Australia. Memories, betrayals and secrets emerge from the past when Katina's mother comes from Greece to visit the family. The bitter embrace between mother and daughter is observed by Katina's own daughter, Sophia, who must play her own role in this moving drama of estrangement.
Seven lost children wander the night streets while their mothers await their return home.
Alex is in love with her best friend, Vicki, her mother has dissapeared and she sets fire to things in her spare time. Vicki comes from an abusive home and wants Alex to run away with her. Alex is a bit of a nerd and a teachers pet, so takes advantage of this by trying to seduce her drippy school teacher. Alex watches as Vicki, unable to escape her terrible homelife and an psychological wreck, sets alight to herself and burns to death.
An erotic mystery about power and sex, the entanglement of victim and perpetrator, and a man's struggle to regain his lost self.
When two high school teachers discover students are sharing explicit photos of their underage friends and peers online, the revelation has devastating consequences for the students and their families.
Nineteen-year-old Ari confronts both his sexuality and his Greek family. Ari despises his once-beloved parents, former radical activists, for having entombed themselves in insular tradition. Ari is obsessed with gay sex, although he does make an unenthusiastic attempt to satisfy the sister of one of his best friends. While all of this is going on, he's facing problems with his traditional Greek parents, who have no clue about his sexual activities.
Also Directed by Fadia Abboud
Two Lebanese girls find an old poster of two women dressed in suits in this depiction of Middle Eastern lesbian life.
Speaking in Arabic and English, Soliman Al-Halawani, Dr. Mahmoud Hourani, Fouad Charida, Dib El Chami and Rafica El Chami Batach tell of their life in Palestine before 1948 and give eye-witness accounts of the tumultuous days of 'Al Nakba' (the catastrophe), May 15th, and its aftermath. As children and young adults, they and their families were among 750,000 Palestinians fleeing for their lives, as Zionist terror gangs began seizing villages to enlarge the recently created State of Israel. The stories told by these speakers are poignant, unexpected and sometimes surprising, expressing not only the tragedies but also the small miracles which occur in a human catastrophe of such dimensions. Prevented from returning to their homes, the speakers lived as refugees, eventually making their way to Australia. Their continued longing to see their homeland eloquently expresses the feelings of the dispossessed everywhere, and gives this film a universal dimension.
Ali is a gay Lebanese probationary constable and kicking against her Muslim brother's controlling behaviour. When she attends a 'concern for welfare' and discovers the body of an elderly man who died alone and unnoticed, she realises the value of a loving family, even if they can be misguided.
Club Arak is a queer Arab dance party established in 2002 in order to fill a gap in the LGBTQI dance community - Arab queers did not have their own space and wanted to dance to the beat of their own drum. Club Arak played Arabic music and queers could dance to the songs they only ever heard at family parties and weddings - where it is not safe to be gay. This documentary tells the story of how Club Arak empowered and encouraged Arabs to gather and celebrate their sexual and Arab identity.
Also Directed by Julie Kalceff
"Starting From Now" is a lesbian web series that explores the lives of four inner-Sydney women as they struggle to work out who they are, find a place where they belong, and maybe even find someone to love along the way. After building an international viral following across the first three seasons and reaching 20 million views in less than two years on YouTube, seasons 4 and 5 were acquired for broadcast television and screened on SBS2 in March, 2016.
It's Hannah Bradford's first year of high school. As a transgender girl, Hannah not only has to navigate the challenges that come with starting a new school, but find the courage to live as her most authentic self.
First Day, tells a story about the fears associated with the transition between primary school and high school - but in Hannah's case, the stakes are even higher: this year, she will be attending school for the first time as a girl.
Also Directed by Lucy Gaffy
Trapped in a remote Caravan Park, little Elvis thinks up a scheme to break free, determined to make a better life for herself.