The British Film Festival celebrates the best of British with a line-up of 31 films, many of which are screening for the first time in Australia. This year’s event includes the best in contemporary cinema, documentaries and some of the most significant British films of the 1970s on the big screen. The Festival opens with…
Following Nordic tradition, Lamb is a mystery that becomes more and more compelling the longer it goes. It’s a slow-moving, supernatural drama that only comes into its own after an incident more than a quarter of an hour in. Maria (Noomi Rapace) and Ingvar (Hilmir Snaer Gudnason) are a hardworking, childless farming couple in remote,…
As we approach another hot, dry summer here in Australia, this inspiring documentary is both timely and relevant. A Fire Inside was filmed largely during the bushfires that devastated much of Australia’ east coast in the so-called “Black Summer” of 2019-20, the worst fire season ever recorded. An area the size of the UK was…
Screening from 20 October (with Canberra and Melbourne to follow on 17 and 19 November respectively) Palace and ST. ALi coffee have announced the full line-up for the 2021 ST. ALi Italian Film Festival. After another disrupted year, this hallmark event celebrating Italian culture, stories and language hits screens around the country just in time…
The 27th Brisbane International Film Festival (BIFF) has unveiled its program. BIFF presents a Brisbane-wide program of international festival favourites, Australian content, award-winners and critical darlings over 11 packed days from 21 to 31 October 2021. The program this year includes 81 feature films – including 4 world, 26 Australian and 33 Queensland premieres –…
A love story against a backdrop of civil war, Skies of Lebanon has a decided artistic and poetic bent. It is the 1950s and despite not speaking a word of Arabic, Alice (Alba Rohrwacher) leaves her straitlaced existence in Switzerland for a nannying job in Beirut. In a café she meets and falls for a…
I’m starting to suspect at some point during the 2020 lockdowns, a bunch of screenwriters all had the same idea: a highly trained assassin is redeemed through a connection with a child. Cut off from regular contacts, they all pitched this same idea – and many were accepted. That could explain the slew of movies…
Not to be confused with Barry Levinson’s 1994 erotic thriller of the same name, the provocative and intimate drama Disclosure looks at the darker side of suburban life in contemporary Australia. Two sets of parents gather together to discuss an incident involving their children, but things turn ugly as the impromptu meeting progresses. Natasha Bowman,…
Inspired by real events, Persian Lessons is the story of one man’s heart-wrenching struggle to survive the Holocaust. Gilles (Nahuel Perez Biscayart) is a Belgian Jew, captured in France in 1942 while trying to make his way to Switzerland. He’s is bundled into the back of a truck along with many others. They expect to…
The Norwegian comedy Diana’s Wedding really puts family values to the test. This small film offers some hard truths, wrapped in that peculiarly Scandinavian sense of humour. Director Charlotte Blom doubles as the screenwriter. She brings a sharply observational style to what is essentially a kitchen-sink dramedy, but doesn’t seek to inject any great flair…
