Richard Lowenstein
Michael Hutchence was flying high as the lead singer of the legendary rock band INXS until his untimely death in 1997. Richard Lowenstein’s documentary examines Hutchence’s deeply felt life through his many loves and demons.
The story of the first comprehensive display of colour field painting and abstract sculpture in Australia, following the efforts of NGV curators as they attempt to re-stage the original show for its 50th anniversary.
Australian film editor Jill Bilcock is one of the world's most sought after film editors, having edited beloved films such as STRICTLY BALLROOM, ROMEO+JULIET, MURIEL’S WEDDING, ELIZABETH, MOULIN ROUGE!, ROAD TO PERDITION and THE DRESSMAKER. This documentary looks at her craft and charts how an outspoken arts student in 1960s Melbourne became one of the world’s most acclaimed film artists. Featuring interviews with Jill and many of today's leading filmmakers and actors, such as Baz Luhrmann, Jocelyn Moorehouse, Sam Mendes, Shekhar Kapur, Fred Schepisi and Cate Blanchett.
Provocateur, artist, performer: Peter Vanessa "Troy" Davies was a chameleon. Using layers of identity at will, Davies charmed his way through a lifetime of secrets and lies, prostitution, art, HIV, abuse, incest and gender subversion, leaving a legacy of unanswered questions, influential performances and reams of enigmatic home video. Ecco Homo is a psychological detective story and a testament to a social history rarely documented on film
Having faithfully served his South Melbourne parish for nearly four decades, the cantankerous, controversial Catholic provocateur affectionately called Father Bob is well known and loved, as much for his incorrigible media savvy and battles with Church hierarchy as for his staunch advocacy on behalf of the disadvantaged and disenfranchised. In Bob We Trust goes behind the scenes with Bob, documenting his everyday trials during one of the most turbulent times in his career: his forced retirement and eviction from the church he called home for 38 years.
Charming, intelligent and iconoclastic, Ben Lee is an Australian singer-songwriter whose creative growth since his early adolescence has undergone almost relentless media scrutiny. This is a playful yet deeply intimate portrait of Lee, exploring his meteoric rise to pop stardom and the issues of celebrity and spirituality that arise when launched into the spotlight.
From myth to legend Rowland Howard appeared on the early Melbourne punk scene like a phantom out of Kafkaesque Prague or Bram Stoker’s Dracula. A beautifully gaunt and gothic aristocrat, the unique distinctive fury of his guitar style shot him directly into the imagination of a generation. He was impeccable, the austerity of his artistry embodied in his finely wrought form, his obscure tastes and his intelligently wry wit. He radiated a searing personal integrity that never seemed to tarnish. Despite the trials and tribulations of his career, in an age of makeover and reinvention, Rowland Howard never ‘sold out’. With recent and moving interviews, archival interviews and other fascinating and original footage, AUTOLUMINESCENT traces the life of Rowland S Howard. Capturing moments with the man himself and intimate missives from those who knew him behind closed doors; words and images etch light into what has always been the mysterious dark.
Rowland S. Howard, the Primitive Calculators, Ollie Olsen, Phillip Brophy and many others proffer their recollections and air their animosities in a tribute to the underground music scene of '77-'81 in Melbourne, Australia.
A search for love, meaning and bathroom solitude. Danny goes through a series of shared housing experiences in a succession of cities on the east coast of Australia. Together these vignettes form a narrative that is surprisingly reflective.
Seymour is a loner. A small, shy, introverted eleven year old whose parents are separated. By chance Seymour meets the beautiful, effervescent but drug-addicted Angie, who is also lonely and trapped in her own unhappy world. The relationship that develops offers strength to them both and through the highs and lows of a long hot summer they gradually learn to face the truth about each other and themselves.
Australian Made: The Movie is a 1987 live concert film of the Australian Made tour from December 1986 to January 1987. The tour featured internationally performing Australian acts, INXS, Divinyls, Models, The Triffids, The Saints, I'm Talking, and Jimmy Barnes. Concert segments were linked by Troy Davies interviewing audience members and musicians.
The place is Melbourne, Australia 1978. The punk phenomenon is sweeping the country and Dogs In Space, a punk group, are part of it. In a squat, in a dodgy suburb, live a ragtag collection of outcasts and don't-wanna-be's who survive on a diet of old TV space films, drugs and good music. And the satellite SKYLAB could crash through their roof at any moment...
Via the New York Times: "...reconstructs the true story of a coal miners' strike in the small town of Korumburra in the mid-30's... based on the real-life story of two remarkable characters, Wattie Doig, a miner who became a militant Communist activist, and his wife, Agnes, who progressed from staunch Presbyterianism to membership in the Salvation Army and, finally, to labor organization."
