Australia

  • John Hillcoat – To Have and to Hold (1996)

    1991-2000AustraliaDramaJohn Hillcoat

    Murder, madness and delirious sexual jealousy in Papua New Guinea. The Proposition director John Hillcoat’s lost 1996 psychodrama, featuring a soundtrack by Nick Cave and Scott Walker

    Synopsis
    “Jack (Karyo) is a Parisian living in Papua New Guinea, where he runs a ramshackle outdoor cinema. Two years ago his wife Rose (Finsterer) died in mysterious circumstances. Now he’s self-medicated with booze and dope and obsessed with the memory of his wife, whose flickering, drunken image he revisits nightly on the TV screens in his rickety editing suite.Read More »

  • Soda Jerk – Hello Dankness (2022)

    2021-2030AustraliaExperimentalPoliticsSoda Jerk

    Quote:
    Hello Dankness is a political fable that bears witness to the psychotropic spectacle of American politics from 2016 to 2021, and the mythologies and lore that took root around it. Taking form as a suburban stoner musical, the film follows a neighborhood through these years as consensus reality disintegrates into conspiracy and other contagions. What unfolds is a rogue retelling of history in which hotdogs debate the culture wars, trashcans preach QAnon, zombies rally for revolution, and real events are refashioned as Broadway bangers from Cats, Les Miserables, Annie, and The Phantom of the Opera. Read More »

  • Colin Eggleston – Outback Vampires (1987)

    1981-1990AustraliaColin EgglestonHorror

    Plot Synopsis by Iotis Erlewine
    In this film, Australian rodeo men Bronco and Rick pick up hitchhiker Lucy on their way to a rodeo. However, after taking a wrong turn, their car breaks down in a spooky town and they are forced to ask for help at the decrepit Terminus Manor. When they discover that the manor residents are actually a group of hungry vampires, the trio must struggle to fight off the bloodsuckers and get out of town.Read More »

  • Roger Scholes – The Tale of Ruby Rose (1987)

    Drama1981-1990AustraliaHorrorRoger Scholes

    During the 1930s in the remote highlands of Australian Tasmania, Ruby Rose (Melita Jurisic – Mad Max: Fury Road) lives with her husband, Henry (Chris Haywood – Muriel’s Wedding), and stepson, Gem (Rod Zuanic – Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome).
    Ruby is alone for much of the time and, afraid of night’s darkness, she concocts elaborate mythical stories to survive, retreating into a private world. Eventually, she sets out to reconnect with her estranged father, and in the process recovers her past, and transcends the fear that had gripped her so tightly.Read More »

  • Wilfred Lucas – The Man from Kangaroo (1920)

    1911-1920AustraliaDramaWilfred Lucas

    “The Man From Kangaroo” was the first film of Australian athlete Rex “Snowy” Baker (1884-1953). It was filmed in September-October 1919 on location in the Kangaroo Valley and at Gunnedah, with interior shots filmed at Sydney’s Theatre Royal. It opened at the Lyceum and Lyric Theatres in Sydney on Saturday 24 January 1920, It appears to have escaped a detailed review in “The Sydney Morning Herald”, but the Adelaide newspaper “The Register” of 28 April 1920 enthused about it in the following terms:Read More »

  • John D. Lamond – Felicity (1978)

    1971-1980AustraliaDramaEroticaJohn D. Lamond 

    Young Felicity lives in a monastic school. The only way to live out her sexual fantasies is together with her girlfriend Jenny. But then she receives an invitation to her sister in Hong-Kong and can’t wait to finally do the real thing.Read More »

  • John Hillcoat – Ghosts… of the Civil Dead (1988)

    John Hillcoat1981-1990AsianAustraliaQueer Cinema(s)Thriller

    Quote:
    Central Industrial Prison is set in the middle of the desert. It’s the future of maximum-security containment and it’s been “locked down” after an explosion of violence. A Committee’s been appointed to report on the events that led to the violence but their findings are in stark contrast to the reality we see with our own eyes.. “Ghosts.. of the Civil Dead” is a powerful drama on modern methods of social control.Read More »

  • Kriv Stenders – Boxing Day (2007)

    Kriv Stenders2001-2010AustraliaDrama

    Kriv Stenders’ Boxing Day is a harrowing film, with moments of absolute release and relief.

    It is a low-budget work, filmed on digital video – with Stenders behind the camera – in a single location, with a cast of six. It takes place in real time, and it’s shot in long, sometimes relentless scenes that give the appearance of being a single, continuous take. It’s a film that puts its characters under pressure, and in some ways, its audience too. But it’s also a rewarding work to watch, a raw, vivid, risky movie that juggles intensity and excess, yet shows moments of restraint and grace.Read More »

  • Paul Cox – Lust and Revenge (1996)

    Paul Cox1991-2000AustraliaComedyDrama

    Once upon a time there was a spoilt, directionless woman called Georgina Oliphant (Claudia Karvan).

    To relieve the boredom associated with being an heiress, Georgina has commissioned a sculpture using her father’s money. Foreseeing a healthy tax deduction and a chance to honour his dead wife with a new wing in the state gallery, her father George (Chris Haywood) indulges her. Georgina’s friend, Lily Carmichael (Victoria Eagger), is engaged to create the work.Read More »

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