Blog

Steven Spielberg’s reimagining of West Side Story carries with it a degree of expectation few films ever experience. The 1961 adaptation of lyricist Stephen Sondheim’s Broadway smash, co-directed by Robert Wise and Jerome Robbins, is cinematic perfection; winner of 11 Academy Awards (including an honorary trophy for Robbins’ ‘brilliant achievement in the art of choreography’), it was a box office blockbuster and remains arguably the greatest musical ever made. Spielberg has sought the rights to the original stage production for close to two decades; scripting is Tony Kushner, Pulitzer Prize (Drama) winner for Angels in America and past Spielberg collaborator on Munich (2005) and Lincoln (2012). Of course, that’s all grist for the critical mill if those before the camera fail to spark like the iconic stars of the original…

MARIA: In her late teens, Maria has immigrated to New York hoping to start a new life with her brother, Sharks gang leader Bernardo. She soon meets and falls for Tony, a boy from a rival gang, setting in motion an increasingly desperate and dangerous romance…
1961: One of the most sought after roles at the time, the original stage ‘Maria’, Carol Lawrence, as well as actresses as diverse as Jill St John, Audrey Hepburn, Jane Fonda and Suzanne Pleshette, all tested for the part. The producers sought Warren Beatty for the lead role of ‘Tony’ and requested a show reel from his latest production, Splendour in The Grass, but it would be Beatty’s co-star, Natalie Wood, who impressed. Broadway star Marni Nixon would be used to redub Wood’s singing voice (a task she reprised, uncredited, for Deborah Kerr in The King and I, Marilyn Monroe in Gentleman Prefer Blondes and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady).
2019: Chosen from a casting call that saw 30,000 hopefuls tested across the U.S., 17 year-old Rachel Zegler is a singer/songwriter of Colombian descent hailing from New Jersey. Maria will be her debut film role. Zegler submitted a recording of her singing ‘Tonight and ‘Me Siento Hermosa’ before being screentested in July 2018. She is an experienced stage actress, having played ‘Maria’ in a production at the Bergen Performing Arts Centre in her home state. A YouTube star with over 150,000 followers, Zegler’s rendition of Lady Gaga’s ‘Shallow’ was a viral hit in 2018.

TONY: A former member of the Jets gang, Tony has moved on from the street tough’s life, though remains close to gang leader Riff. He is coerced into rejoining his former life by Riff for a clash with the Sharks, a decision that leads to a fateful meeting with Maria…
1961: Former child actor Richard Beymer found breakout success in 1959, earning acclaim for his role in George Steven’s The Diary of Anne Frank opposite Millie Perkins and a comedic support turn in Blake Edwards’ High Time (1960). In addition to Beatty, many of Hollywood’s leading men were considered and tested for the part of ‘Tony’, including Tab Hunter, Robert Redford, Richard Chamberlain and Burt Reynolds before Beymer was cast. He remained under contract with 20^th Century Fox but never found A-list stardom after West Side Story, despite working with such directors as Martin Ritt (Hemingway’s Adventures of a Young Man, 1962) and Daniel Mann (Five Fingers Exercise, 1962). He has worked steadily for four decades, recently reprising his role as ‘Ben Horne’ for David Lynch in the revival of the TV series Twin Peaks.
2019: One of the hottest young actors in Hollywood off the back of director Edgar Wright’s smash action film Baby Driver, Ansel Elgort is the sole box office name in Spielberg’s principal cast. Having debuted opposite Chloe Grace Moretz in Carrie (2013), he was teamed with Shailene Woodley to break hearts in The Fault in Our Stars (2014) and resist dystopian fascism in the YA-literary adaptions Divergent (2014), Insurgent (2015) and Allegiant (2016). He took on the prestige pic Billionaire Boys Club (2018) with fellow next-big-thing Taren Edgerton for director James Cox, only to have the film buried when the deeds of co-star Kevin Spacey became public.

RIFF: Leader of the Jets gang, Riff and Tony have been as close as brothers since Riff moved in with Tony’s family in tough times. A seasoned street brawler, having protected the Jet’s turf from the Emeralds and Hawks ahead of the threat posed by Bernardo’s Puerto Rican outfit, the Sharks…
1961: Russ Tamblyn was the most experienced of all the West Side Story cast members. A child actor since his debut as Rusty Tamblyn in The Kid from Cleveland in 1949 (with two uncredited roles already under his belt), Tamblyn would become one of Hollywood’s most likable screen actors in films like Gun Crazy (1950), Father of The Bride (1950), Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (1954), The Fastest Gun Alive (1956), Peyton Place (1957, for which he earned a Best Supporting Actor Oscar nomination), High School Confidential! (1958) and Cimarron (1960). Post West Side Story, he eschewed stardom and embraced the counter-culture movement, starring in B-shockers with titles like War of the Gargantuas (1966) and Dennis Hopper’s infamous The Last Movie (1971).
2019: Bridging the worlds of live theatre and feature films largely sums up the short but spectacular career momentum of Mike Faist. Having earned a Tony nomination for his role as ‘Connor Murphy’ in the hit musical comedy Dear Evan Hansen, Faist solidified his stage rep with standout performances in Days of Rage, A Month in the Country, Appropriate and Newsies. His movie moments include such indie notables as Dan Sallitt’s The Unspeakable Act (2012), Patrick Wang’s The Grief of Others (2015), Marc Lucas’ Our Time (2016) and Fritz Bohm’s Wildling (2018), opposite Liv Tyler.

BERNARDO: Attacked by the Jets on his first day in his new homeland, Bernardo becomes resentful of Americans and surrounds himself with countrymen who feel the same. Embracing his role as protector of Maria, he is destined for soul-crushing realisation when he learns of his sister’s love for his sworn enemy…
1961: The journey of West Side Story from its stage roots to the bigscreen would not be complete without George Chakiris, for whom the musical became an all-consuming, career-defining odyssey. Arriving in New York a year into the Broadway run of the musical, director Jerome Robbins auditioned Chakiris and rewarded him with the role of Jets leader ‘Riff’ in the London leg of the production. By the time the film was in pre-production, Chakiris had convinced the producers that he was better suited to ‘Bernardo’; he was proven right when he earned the Best Supporting Acting Oscar.
2019: Born in Montreal, David Alvarez made a very high profile debut on Broadway when he was cast as one of three ‘Billys’ in the stage adaptation of the film, Billy Elliot; the role would earn him and co-stars Trent Kowalik and Kiril Kulish a rare joint Tony Award for Best Actor. The young patriot then put his career on hold in 2010 to serve with the US Army’s 25^th Infantry Division. Graduating from Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at the American Ballet Theatre having attained a full merit scholarship, Steven Spielberg’s film will be his feature debut.

ANITA: Girlfriend of Sharks gang leader Bernardo, Anita is like a sister to Maria and loves her new life in America. When it becomes clear to her that Maria and Tony are in love, Anita hides her resentment towards the former Jet and is persuaded by Maria to help keep the secret from Bernardo…
1961: Emerging as the breakout star from the 1961 film’s huge success, Rita Moreno has since become an iconic figure in the American entertainment industry. Born in Humacao, Puerto Rico in 1931, she was five when her mother emigrated to New York City. By 11, she had found work dubbing American films into her native Spanish; by 13, she had been cast in her first Broadway production, Skydrift. From that point she would build a career that has led to her rare status as an ‘E.G.O.T Honouree’ – the winner of an Emmy (Variety and Music Performance, 1977; Guest Actress – Drama, 1978); Grammy (The Electric Company Album, 1972); Oscar (Supporting Actress for West Side Story); and, Tony (Best Actress for The Ritz, 1975). In 2004, she was awarded The Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honour for an American civilian, by President Bush. Spielberg has cast her in his remake as ‘Valentina’, a role created especially for the actress.
2019: To be asked to step into the shoes of Rita Moreno must be the most daunting task a young actress could face, so for Spielberg to anoint Ariana DeBose as his ‘Anita’ represents a seismic shift in the Tony-nominated actress’ career. Co-star of Broadway hit Summer and an original cast member of the phenomenon Hamilton, DeBose has scant film experience (a bit part in Lonny Price’s filmed stageplay Company, 2011; the lead in the little-seen indie, Seaside, 2018), but her stakes will soar if her ‘Anita’ is played with the same cinematic gusto as Ms Moreno.

Steven Spielberg’s WEST SIDE STORY begins shooting in June 2019 for release via 20^th Century Fox.

(PHOTO CREDITS: United Artists / Ilya S Savenok, Dia Dipasupil - Getty Images / Instagram)

Impacting our collective subconscious this Saturday June 22 will be the energy of Disclosurefest, a multi-tiered artistic celebration of progressive spiritual and social philosophies. While the focal point of the Disclosurefest weekend is the ‘Mass Meditation Initiative’, sidebar strands will explore new-age thinking with mindful yoga, music, healing arts and vegan culture. The Summer Solstice get-together will also feature The Disclosurefest Film Festival, to be held at the outdoor cinema facilities in L.A.’s State Historic Park, with four mind-expanding documentaries inspiring enlightenment…

HEAL (Dir: Kelly Noonan Gores; 106 mins; Official Website): Director Kelly Noonan's documentary takes us on a scientific and spiritual journey where we discover that our thoughts, beliefs, and emotions have a huge impact on our health and ability to heal. The latest science reveals that we are not victims of unchangeable genes, nor should we buy into a scary prognosis. The fact is we have more control over our health and life than we have been taught to believe. This film will empower you with a new understanding of the miraculous nature of the human body and the extraordinary healer within us all. HEAL not only taps into the brilliant mind's of leading scientists and spiritual teachers, but follows three people on actual high stakes healing journeys.

RENEGADE (Dir: Stephen Peek; Official Website): David Icke has been warning for nearly 30 years of a coming global Orwellian state in which a tiny few would enslave humanity through control of finance, government, media and a military-police Gestapo overseeing 24/7 surveillance of a micro-chipped population. He has said that 'physical' reality is an illusion and what we think is the 'world' is a holographic simulation or 'Matrix' created by a non-human force to entrap human perception in ongoing servitude. They called him 'crazy', 'insane', a 'lunatic', and he was subjected to decades of ridicule, dismissal and abuse. Oh, but how things change.

EXTRAORDINARY: THE SEEDING (Dir: Jon Sumple; 98 mins; Official Website)
Abductions. Reproduction experiments. Memories of seeing children off-planet. Are aliens involved in a complex hybridization project where humans are used to cultivate a hybrid population? Extraordinary: The Seeding tells these stories through one-on-one interviews with abductees—brave individuals sharing intensely personal and emotional stories. The film also explores hybridization, why it’s happening and the impact on humanity. The information presented is intended to educate, entertain and encourage audiences to ask one simple question: What if this is all true?

A PRAYER FOR COMPASSION (Dir: Thomas Wade Jackson; Official Website): A feature length documentary that strives to inspire and encourage those already on a religious or spiritual path, to expand their circle of compassion to embrace all life, regardless of species, and make choices in alignment with this value. The film follows the filmmaker on a quest across America, that ultimately takes him to Morocco for the UN Climate Conference and throughout the Indian subcontinent to ask people of faith the question, "Can compassion grow to include all beings?"

The SciFi Film Festival has announced a selection of its 2019 program that highlights its burgeoning international reputation as Australia’s predominant science fiction and fantasy film celebration. An unprecedented 17 countries will have visionary works play the 6^th annual event, which unspools from September 6-8 at the Event Cinemas George Street complex in Sydney.

Comprised of 9 features and a record 31 short films, the program boasts three World Premieres, four International Premieres and 27 Australian premieres. While the bulk of the program is locked in place, Opening Night honours and the prime Saturday evening session are still being negotiated; both will be announced in the days ahead. (Pictured, above; Gigi Edgley in Ben Alpi's Hashtag)

“The degree of innovation and imagination in this year’s submissions was truly remarkable,” says Program Director Simon Foster, who notes that genre filmmakers are addressing contemporary social and political issues at a time when smart commentary is needed more than ever. “We have a works that explore such themes as gender and sexual identity, family structure, the influence of technology, population control and social media reliance. One of the most challenging films in the festival is a Mexican short featuring a mega-robot P.O.T.U.S. enforcing border wall policy,” says Foster. “Of course, we also have spaceships, ray guns and alien visitors, both good and bad, too.” (Pictured, above: Coco Gillies in Dana-Lee Mierowsky Bennett's Sammy)

Session by session, here is what audiences can expect from the 2019 SciFi Film Festival:

Session 1: OPENING NIGHT, Friday September 6 at 6.30pm
Short: BROLGA (Dir: Adrian Powers; 15.37 mins, Australia): In a ravaged future-Australia, a solitary hermit guarding a priceless treasure is forced to offer sanctuary to a young girl who is fleeing murderous scavengers. With danger around every corner, can they learn to survive together?
Feature: TBA

Session 2: Friday September 6 at 8.30pm
Short: SOMNIUM (Dir: Mayed Al Qasimi; 14.21 mins, U.K.): An intergalactic postal worker on her final job with her laconic yet trusted ship must face unexpected challenges in the vast endless space.
Feature: THE FINAL LAND (Dir: Marcel Barion; 113 mins, Germany): Two dissimilar men in a small, old spaceship set off in search of a new home. Says Barion, “We made a film about two guys dealing with escape, search, freedom and home, just by designing their world from our very own point of view.” (Pictured, above; Torben Föllmer and Milan Pesl in The Final Land)

Session 3: Saturday September 7 at 10.30am
Short: SPICE FRONTIER (Dirs: Jalil Sadool, Adam Meyer; 8.10 mins, U.S.A.): Centuries after the destruction of Earth, Kent and his cyborg companion, C-LA, embark on a flavor-driven adventure across the dangerous intergalactic trade route known as the 'Spice Road.' (Pictured, below; a scene from the film Spice Frontier)
Feature: ERRATUM 2037 (Dirs: The Benoit Brothers; 77 mins, France): When two teens receive a message from the future, they become wide-eyed heroes in a world at the mercy of space-time paradoxes. By using old school visual effects, The Benoit Brothers adventure pays homage to the great sci-fi productions of the 80's that inspired them.

Session 4: SHORT FILM SHOWCASE, Saturday September 7 at 1.00pm
SPIRAL (Dir: Steven Kerr; 10.53 mins, Australia): Following WW3, a young woman working in an Australian outpost confronts prejudice as she attempts to save a Soviet cosmonaut marooned in space.
HASHTAG (Dir: Ben Alpi; 14.58 mins, U.S.A.): In a looming future where social media celebrities dominate our culture, X is the world’s supreme online icon— but how far must she go to hold on to her popularity?
PERFECT WORLD (Dir: Yuske Fukada; 11.17 mins, Japan): In 2121, citizens in the ‘City’ are judged based on a score of one's efficiency, called a SPEC. Doctor K faces a question between the law and morality when visited by his pregnant ex-lover.
CARCEREM (Dir: Jason Trembath; 6.40 mins, Australia): The lives of career combat officers who choose to remain on the remote desert planet of Carcerem.
IDEAL HOMELAND (Dir: Bo Wei; 15.26 mins, China): In the near future, A.I. controls the population of Earth. Joe, the carrier of AI's sexual experience, does the most mechanical task every day to obtain survival credits but yearns for the freedom of independence.
TRUTH.exe (Dir: Ricky Townsend; 18.30 mins, New Zealand): A young hacktivist is given a USB drive which contains an extraordinary truth; his mission is to upload it to the internet.
THUNDER FROM A CLEAR SKY (Dir: Yohan Faure; 21 mins, Canada): Ten years after the discovery of a remote planetary system likely to sustain the early stages of a civilization. the whole world answers the question: "Should we meet this civilization?"

Session 5: Saturday September 7 at 3.30pm
Short: THURSDAY NIGHT (Dir: Gonçalo Almeida; 7.36 mins, Portugal): An elusive stranger pays Bimbo a visit in the middle of the night to deliver a vital message.
Feature: A LIVING DOG (Dir: Daniel Raboldt; 94 mins, Germany): The war between mankind and intelligent machines has begun. In the vast emptiness of northern Scandinavia, deserter Tomasz meets Lilja, the last survivor of a resistance group, who is determined to fight the superior machines. With every minute that passes the machines get closer, their sensors programmed to detect human voice patterns. If you speak, even whisper - you die.

Session 6: Saturday September 7 at 6.00pm
Short: SLICE OF LIFE (Dirs: Luka Hrgović, Dino Julius; 14 mins, Croatia): Forced to live on the edge of humanity and morality, one lonesome, low-life drug dealer will try to change his life against all odds.
Feature: TBA

Session 7: AN EVENING OF ANIMATION, Saturday September 7 at 8.30pm
MONSTERS WALKING (Dir: Diego Porral; 1.05 mins, Spain): 'Monsters Walking' is a short film about monsters that walk.
TACIT BLUE (Dir: Wenkai Duan; 9.14 mins, China): Carl must rescue his daughter Alice, who has been kidnapped and turned into a killing machine.
GUSTAAKH (THE ARROGANT) (Dir: Vijesh Rajan; 3.49 mins, India): In a future cyberpunk city, a concerned citizen rises up to the occasion when an publicity hungry dictator fails to protect his people.
A DAY IN THE PARK (Dir: Diego Porral; 2.55 mins, Spain): A grandfather explains to his grandkid how things used to be... or maybe how they are now.
ODDS AND EVENS (Dir: Michał Czyż, 3.36 mins, Poland): A nameless astronaut’s journey through the universe and beyond human comprehension.
AVARYA (Dir: Gökalp Gönen; 19.58 mins, Turkey): Hoping to find a habitable planet, a human becomes trapped in his own ship after his robot overseer finds every single candidate planet unsuitable.
M.A.M.O.N. (Dir: Alejandro Damiani; 5.00 mins, Mexico): A war breaks out between a Trump-like mecha-robot and several stereotypical Mexican Latinos.
ATTACK OF THE DEMONS (Dir: Eric Power; 72 mins, U.S.A): For centuries, a demonic cult has been plotting the destruction of mankind. When a small Colorado town is overrun by a legion of mutating demons, three non-demon hunter friends must use every skill their minds can fathom to stave off the demon apocalypse.

Session 8: Sunday September 8 at 10.30am
Short: CURIOSITY (Dir: Lukas Pace; 10.20 mins, U.K.): A lonely 10 year old girl named Katie one day stumbles upon a forgotten robot of days gone by and mistakenly activates it.
Feature: MY GRANDPA IS AN ALIEN (Dir: Marina Andree Skop, Drazen Zarkovic; 79 mins, Croatia): Una and her new robot friend have 24 hours to find her Grandpa, who was kidnapped by aliens. (Pictured, right; Lana Hranjec in My Grandpa is An Alien)

Session 9: WOMEN IN SCIFI, Sunday September 8 at 1.00pm
PARIS YOU GOT ME (Dir: Julie Boehm; 9.15 mins, Germany): The street artist George lures Ksenia into his magic world of art illusions.
I-RIS (Dir: Leila Garrison; 12.11 mins, U.S.A.): In a world where people can get eye implants to adjust what they see, complications with one girl’s operation cause her traumas to manifest visually.
DEER BOY (Dir: Katarzyna Gondek; 15.00 mins, Poland): A hunter's son, born with antlers, learns that each man kills the thing he loves.
TRANSMISSION (Dir: Rebecca Gardiner; 14.45 mins, Australia): Desperate to find a missing research team, Commander Sterling and her crew venture deep into an unknown planet.
SAMMY (Dir: Dana-Lee Mierowsky Bennett; 14.00 mins, Australia): In a war torn Australia, 10-year-old Sammy must build a hot air balloon so she and her little brother can find their parents.
UNREGISTERED (Dir: Sophia Banks; 15 mins, U.S.A.): Los Angeles, the not too distant future: the government limits one child per home as a solution to overpopulation. The love between Rekker and Ata force them to question the state of society - as well as confront a secret of her own.
MOBIUS BOND (Dir: Emilija Riviere; 15 mins, Lithuania): A girl experiences strange body symptoms, which become an evidence of a Mobius-like topology of the Universe.
EINSTEIN-ROSEN (Dir: Olga Osorio; 9 mins, Spain): Teo claims he has found a wormhole. His brother Óscar does not believe him... at least not for now.
LAB RAT (Dir: Nour Wazzi; 15.28 mins, U.K.): A group of scientists trapped in a lab learn that one of them is an A.I..... and it has been deceiving them.

Session 10: Sunday September 8 at 3.30pm
Short: AUDIO GUIDE (Dir: Chris Elena; 9 mins, Australia): Says Elena, “It's about a woman in an art gallery listening to an Audio Guide that then tells her how everyone is going to die, revealing the real history of the world and the artworks.”
Feature: NORMAN (Dir Joel Guelzo; 105 mins, U.S.A.): Norman becomes trapped and isolated in the past, jeopardizing life in both realities. He must invent a way back to the future before the world collapses.

Session 11: CLOSING NIGHT, Sunday September 8 at 6.00pm
Short: FACE SWAP (Dirs: David Gidali, Einat Tubi, 5.01 mins, U.S.A.): Convincing his wife to try out a new A.I. technology to spice up their sex life, a husband ends up getting a bit more spice than he bargained for.
Feature: SPECIAL PRESENTATION - STAY TUNED (Dir: Peter Hyams, 88 mins, U.S.A.): A husband and wife are sucked into a hellish television reality and have to survive a gauntlet of twisted versions of popular shows. Criminally underseen when first released in 1992, this thrilling, hilarious satire explores media saturation and society’s obsession with ‘The Tube’. (Pictured, right; John Ritter and friends in Peter Hyams' Stay Tuned).

SCREEN-SPACE is a media partner of the SciFi Film Festival. Managing Editor Simon Foster is the Program Director of the festival.

Heading into the summer of 1989, there was no certainty that Dead Poets Society, the latest film from Disney’s adult-oriented mini-studio Touchstone Pictures, was going to be a hit. Australian director Peter Weir had scored big with his first Hollywood feature, the Oscar-nominated Witness (1985), but stumbled with his follow-up, the critically divisive box-office disappointment Mosquito Coast (1986). It had been two long years since Good Morning, Vietnam (1987), so Robin William's commercial clout as a dramatic leading man was in the balance. And would the rarefied tone of the upscale drama, about the inner struggles of wealthy white kids afforded private school educations, play at all with middle-America’s working-class movie-going masses…?

But Touchstone were confident enough to open it on June 9, an early summer slot that indicated they believed word-of-mouth would give it commercial legs. Test screenings had scored huge approval ratings; the trailer was playing ahead of the feel-good sleeper hit of early ’89, Field of Dreams; and, Williams was boisterously spruiking the life-changing journey he undertook with the young cast and his enigmatic director.

The 30th anniversary of the beloved film allows us to reflect on the journey of Dead Poets Society from page to screen...:

THE REAL LIFE ‘JOHN KEATING’: Screenwriter Tom Schulman (pictured, right) pinned his inspiration for Williams’ Mr Keating on Professor Samuel F. Pickering Jr, an English professor from the University of Connecticut. The then 15 year-old Schulman was attending Nashville’s Montgomery Bell Academy when Pickering taught a short course in classic literature. Pickering is on the record as being humbled but a little doubtful of the honour, stating, “Whatever of me is in that character has got to be small. I was a kid and (Schulman) was a child, 23 years go. How much of me could there be in the movie?"

THE REEL LIFE ‘JOHN KEATING’: Of the period’s biggest stars, Mel Gibson was the most sought-after by Disney, though he turned it down. Director Jeff Kanew (Revenge of the Nerds, 1984; Gotcha!, 1985; Troop Beverly Hills, 1991) was attached throughout pre-production, and fought hard to cast a buzzed-about young actor named Liam Neeson. Williams was eyeing the project at this point, but didn’t gel with Kanew. Both were sent packing when Dustin Hoffman began developing it as actor/director. Williams would finally sign on when Weir became attached. Other name actors that auditioned were a young Sam Rockwell and actress Lara Flynn Boyle, who scored a small role as one of the student’s young sister, but was all but cut from the final film.

THE AUSSIE AUTEUR: At the end of a long meeting, Weir was almost out the door when Disney boss Jeffery Katzenberg said, “I’ve got the film for you.” Weir told Premiere magazine, “It's the finest piece of writing I've worked with." Weir was thrilled to work with Williams, but had to set guidelines for the actor. "Robin and I agreed at the start that (the character) was not going to be an entertainer in the classroom,” Weir has said. “That would have been wrong for the film as a whole, so he had to put the brakes on at times." Robert Sean Leonard, cast as ‘Neil’, has said, “Robin would be the first to admit that he is not the star of the film. Peter is the star."

THE KIDS ARE ALRIGHT: Young actors Josh Charles and Ethan Hawke (pictured, right) had both been cast under Kanew’s tenure, but were kept waiting a year when director’s changed and ‘Keating’ was re-cast. It was only Charles’ second on-screen role, but said Weir of the young man, “Josh was the one to beat in auditions. No one came close to him in terms of charm and acting ability.” Hawke had starred opposite River Phoenix in Joe Dante’s Explorers four years prior, but bailed on acting to concentrate on study; Dead Poets Society was his return to filmmaking. “I thought getting this part would change my life, I had instilled it with that kind of importance," he has said.

THE WILLIAMS MAGIC: Schulman has admitted that 15percent of Keating’s dialogue is thanks to Williams’ improvisational skill, a force of nature that Weir used with precision and restraint. "When he's inspired, it would be a terrible thing to interrupt him," said the director (pictured, right; Weir, r, on-set with Williams). Some on the set recognized that behind the comedic bluster, there was sadness in Williams, made more pronounced due to his marriage breaking apart during the shoot. Actor Norman Lloyd, who locked horns with Keating in the role of ‘Mr Nolan’, told The Hollywood Reporter, “He masked the whole thing very carefully. It was never evident in the work. It was all kept under control." Ethan Hawke offers a different view, stating, “Even (to me) at 18, it was obvious he was in a tremendous amount of pain. Anybody who was watching knew."

CARPE DIEM: By the end of the summer of 1989, Touchstone’s faith in the film had been rewarded. On a tightly monitored budget of US$16.4million, Dead Poets Society faced off against the summer of Indiana Jones and The Last Crusade, Batman, Ghostbusters II, When Harry Met Sally and Licence to Kill to earn US$95.9million domestically – the 10^th top grossing film of the year. Internationally, it was a blockbuster, adding US$140million. Oscar noticed, giving Tom Schulman the Best Original Screenplay trophy and nominating the film for Best Picture, Director and Actor. So resonant were the experiences of the young men under Keating’s charge, the battle cry of the film, “Oh captain, my captain!” became a global hashtag in the wake of Robin William’s passing in 2014.

EVENT Cinemas are celebrating the 30^th anniversary of Dead Poets Society with rare big-screen sessions nationwide on August 7. Full venue and ticket information is available at their official website.

Acknowledged sources: E! News Online, Box Office Mojo, Robin Williams Fansite, The Hollywood Reporter, People.

The 6^th annual SciFi Film Festival wrapped in Sydney tonight with an informal award ceremony that honoured ambitious future visions from global independent cinema. Bestowing equal worth upon both feature- and short-film qualifiers, fifteen films from nine countries earned laurels in seven categories.

The German production Das letzte Land (The Final Land), a crowdfunded project written and directed by Marcel Barion, won Best Feature Film. The honour continues a successful festival roll-out for the gritty, thrilling deep-space two-hander, starring Milan Pešl and Torben Föllmer (pictured, above) as disparate personalities in a desperate situation; to date, the film has earned kudos at the Berlin Independent Film Festival and Italy’s Oltre Lo Specchio Film Festival.

The Best Short Film award went to Yohan Faure’s French-Canadian mini-feature Orage par ciel clair (Thunder From a Clear Sky), a riveting examination of the global existential crisis that one advanced civilization must consider when faced with an alien world similar to its own. Starring Fayolle Jean, Mathieu Lepage and Édith Côté-Demers (pictured, right), Faure’s richly cinematic, remarkably accomplished work is a thrilling commentary on media, morality and modern society.

Best Actress honourees went to two of the youngest leads in the 2019 festival lineup. As ‘Una’, the pre-teen adventurer determined to bring her family back together in the Croatian feature Moj dida je pao s Marsa (My Grandpa is an Alien), Lana Hranjec won for a warm, emotional portrayal that called upon her to appear in almost every scene of co-directors Marina Andree Skop and Drazen Zarkovic’s crowdpleaser. Australian actress Emma Wright earned top actress honours for Chris Elena’s short Audio Guide, her performance a largely silent one that captured bouts of wonder, glee, panic and dread with acute insight.

U.S. indie effort Norman, a time travel drama rich in complex narrative beats and DIY filmmaking bravado, was the night’s only double honouree. In his first motion picture lead performance, Stephen Birge took the Best Actor trophy as the title character, a desperate loner consumed with righting a multi-dimensional wrong

all his own doing. Fellow feature debutant Joel Guelzo, who spent more than seven years shepherding his passion project to the screen, earned Best Director, the filmmaker on hand to accept his bevy of local culinary delights in lieu of an actual gong.

Best Actor in a short film went to Yang Jin for his role as social agitator ‘Joe’ in Bo Wei bleak dystopic A.I. vision Ideal Homeland. Australian director Adrian Powers was named Best Director (Short Film) for the Indigenous-themed near-future thriller Brolga, which had its World Premiere on the Opening Night of the festival.

The hotly contested Best Animation category went to two diverse, left-field but richly deserving visions. Feature honours went to Eric Power’s paper-cut masterpiece Attack of the Demons, a giggly, gruesome reworking of the kind of 50s smalltown sci-fi tropes made famous by such B-classics as The Blob and Invasion of The Body Snatchers. Recognised in the Best Animated Short category was Spanish artist Diego Porral, whose caustic social commentary works Monsters Walking and A Day in The Park were highlights of Saturday evening’s Animation Showcase.

The technical categories rewarded works breaking new ground in their chosen field. Best Visual Effects (Feature) went to German auteur Daniel Raboldt’s exciting War of The Worlds-meets-A Quiet Place survival adventure A Living Dog. The VFX short film place-getter was too tight to call, with Luka Hrgović and Dino Julius’ Blade Runner-inspired practical effects spectacle Slice of Life splitting the honour with Alejandro Damiani’s Trump-takedown, M.A.M.O.N.

The mega-budgeted Japanese anime blockbuster Human Lost, from director Fuminori Kizaki, and Gonçalo Almeida’s mystical night-time canine odyssey short Thursday Night won feature and short-film honours respectively in the Best Sound/Music category.

The 2019 SciFi Film Festival was held September 6-8 at the Event Cinemas George Street complex in Sydney.

The experience of those who defend the shores and principles of their homelands will be honoured when the 6^th annual Veterans Film Festival unfurls in Canberra on November 6. The frontline realities lived by soldiers, survivors and first responders from 11 countries will comprise the 2019 program, with 18 short films and seven features to screen at such iconic venues as the Australian War Memorial and the National Film and Sound Archive.

In a major coup for the event, the Governor General of Australia, His Excellency General the Honourable David Hurley AC, DSC (Ret’d) and Her Excellency Mrs Linda Hurley have been announced as patrons of the Veterans Film Festival. This alliance continues a strong history of support between the festival and individuals and organisations representing the returned servicemen and women of Australia and their loved ones. On board in 2019 as Presenting Partner is The Australian Defence Force, with mental health advocacy groups Beyond Blue and The Road Home also providing support.

Opening night will see the Australian Premiere of Vladimir Potapov’s The Cry of Silence, an adaption of Tamara Zinberg’s bestselling story of survival set against the Leningrad Blockade of February, 1942. Shot for Russian television but exhibiting a scale and sense of time and place on par with the grandest theatrical features, it stars Alina Sarghina (pictured, above) as Katya, a teenage girl living alone in the war torn city, whose will to survive is rejuvenated when she finds an abandoned infant boy.

Direct from its Australian Premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival will be the French animated drama, The Swallows of Kabul. Co-directed by Zabou Breitman and Eléa Gobbé-Mévellec, this stunning, deeply involving film recounts the romance between Mohsen and Zunaira in Kabul in the summer of 1998, when life was ruled over by the Taliban militia. The Closing Night feature will be the U.S. documentary The Interpreters (pictured, above) from directors Sofian Khan and Andres Caballero, an insider’s perspective on the Iraqi and Afghan nationals who work as ‘the voice’ of American forces in foreign combat positions.

Australian films will be represented by encore screenings of Kriv Stenders’ recent box office success Danger Close, the powerfully immersive re-enactment of The Battle of Long Tan; the A.C.T. Premiere of Storm Ashwood’s PTSD drama Escape and Evasion, starring Hugh Sheridan, Firass Dirani and Rena Owen; and, Tom Jeffery’s classic 1979 story of military mateship, The Odd Angry Shot, which has been lovingly restored by NFSA staff to coincide with its 40^th anniversary. Also screening will be a selection of episodes of the online documentary series Voodoo Medics, from director Kristin Shorten.

Four Australian shorts will screen, including Jason Trembath’s scifi-tinged drama Carcerem and Joseph Chebatte and Julian Maroun’s intense Afghan-set morality tale, Entrenched. Also screening will be four films from the U.S., amongst them the breathtaking animated work Minor Accident of War (pictured, right), based upon the true story of B-17 navigator Edward Field, and Brooke Mailhiot’s ode to the military canine, Surviving with Grief.

Indicating the truly global perspective that the Veterans Film Festival encompasses, other countries represented in the short film line-up include Iraq (Ali Mohammed Saeed’s Mosul 980; pictured, below); New Zealand (Pennie Hunt’s Milk); Russia (Irina Kholkina’s Carpe Diem; Sergey Bataev’s Old Warrior); U.K. (Max Mason’s Their War); Iran (Amir Gholami’s The Sea Swells); France (Raphaël Treiner’s Sursis); The Czech Republic (Tereza Hirsch’s Beyond Her Lens); India (Ashish Pandey’s Nooreh); and, Bulgaria (Iva Dimanova’s War Machine).

All films submitted are eligible for the Red Poppy Awards, which will be presented ahead of the Closing Night Film on November 9 at the Australian War Memorial. The award derives its name from a passage in the wartime poem ‘In Flanders Field’ which describes the flowers that grow quickly over the graves of the fallen. The lauded passage was written during the First World War by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae after presiding over the funeral of friend Lieutenant Alexis Helmer, who died in the Second Battle of Ypres.

Inspired by 'In Flanders Fields', American professor Moina Michael resolved at the war's conclusion in 1918 to wear a red poppy year-round to honour the soldiers who had died in the war, a act of respect that has grown into a global movement today. Past winners of the Best Film Red Poppy include Joe Wright’s Darkest Hour (featuring Gary Oldmans’ Oscar-winning performance as Winston Churchill) and the LGTBIQ-themed documentary Transmilitary, from directors Gabriel Silverman and Fiona Dawson.

The VETERANS FILM FESTIVAL runs November 6-9 in Canberra. Full session and ticket iformation can be found at the official website.

Who’s laughing now?

2019’s most talked-about anti-hero odyssey Joker emerged as the unlikely front-runner from this morning’s Academy Awards nominations announcement. A film that many analysts called dangerously subversive, split the critical community and caused a social media storm upon its release was welcomed with open arms by AMPAS voters, scoring 11 nominations including Best Picture, Best Lead Actor for Joaquin Phoenix and Best Director for Todd Phillips. Add the accolades to a $1billion global box office haul and there is a lot to smile about over at Warner Bros.

Also grinning from ear to ear are the team at Netflix, with the streaming platform leading the nomination tally with 24 Oscar mentions. Martin Scorsese’s The Irishman (pictured, right) with 10 nominations, Noah Baumbach’s Marriage Story with six and Fernando Meirelles’ The Two Popes with three are flying the flag for Hollywood’s new kid on the block – a kid that is redefining the ‘mini/major’ studio system of old.

In the mix with 10 nominations apiece are Quentin Tarantino’s revisionist LA buddy pic Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood and Sam Mendes’ WW1 epic 1917. Alongside Marriage Story with 6 nominations each are Taiki Waititi’s anti-hate charmer Jojo Rabbit, Greta Gerwig’s literary adaptation Little Women and, continuing its extraordinary surge towards Oscar glory, South Korean superstar director Bong Joon-ho’s foreign film ‘blockbuster’ Parasite. The blackly funny home invasion romp will vie for both Best Picture and Best Foreign Language Oscars.

Those hoping to wrestle the trophy from Phillips for Best Director are Martin Scorsese (The Irishman), Quentin Tarantino (Once Upon a Time…in Holywood), Bong Joon-ho (Parasite) and Sam Mendes (1917).

Vying for Lead Actor honours with Phoenix are Antonio Banderas (Pain and Glory; pictured, right), Leonardo DiCaprio (Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood), Adam Driver (Marriage Story) and this year’s bolter, Jonathan Pryce (The Two Popes). Those that missed out in a wildly competitive year include Golden Globe winner Taron Edgerton (Rocketman), Adam Sandler (Uncut Gems), Eddie Murphy (Dolemite is my Name) and Christian Bale (Ford vs Ferrari, which otherwise did well with four nominations, including Best Picture).

Lead Actress contenders stuck closely to recent award season form, with Renee Zellweger’s transformative turn as showbiz icon Judy Garland in Rupert Goold’s Judy considered the favourite. Also in the mix are Saorsie Ronan (Little Women), Charlize Theron (Bombshell), Cynthia Erivo (Harriet) and Scarlett Johansson (Marriage Story). Johansson is the ‘Golden Girl’ of this year’s Oscar season, earning a second nomination in the Supporting Actress category for Jojo Rabbit.

Those snubbed in this category point to a noticeable lack of diversity in this year’s nominations, with Golden Globe-winning Asian-American actress Awkwafina (The Farewell) and African-American star Lupita Nyong’o (Us) cast aside for their lead roles. Despite his film’s six nominations, Parasite leading man Kang-ho Song was left out, as was Latino superstar Jennifer Lopez for her supporting role in Lorene Scafaria’s Hustlers; across the four main acting categories, Cynthia Erivo (pictured, right) and Antonio Banderas are the only torchbearers for ethnicity. Little Women director Greta Gerwig was bumped from the Best Director race, despite her film earning six noms in total (she was nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay).

Other notable omissions from the nomination roster are Disney/Pixar’s animated blockbuster, Frozen 2, which lost its place in the cartoon category to Netflix’s surprise hit Klaus; Beyonce, who’ll be home in her jammies on Oscar night due to her original song ‘Spirit’ from The Lion King missing out; Robert De Niro, the once perennial Oscar nominee, for The Irishman (despite co-stars Al Pacino and Joe Pesci earning Supporting Actor shots); writers Emily Halpern, Sarah Haskins, Susanna Fogel and Katie Silberman, who penned the smartest teen film since Clueless, Olivia Wilde’s Booksmart; and, everyone but Supporting Actor nominee Tom Hanks for Marielle Heller’s brilliant but underseen gem, A Beautiful Day in Your Neighbourhood (pictured, above; Heller).

The complete list of 2020 Oscar nominations is listed below. The 92nd Academy Awards will be held Sunday, February 9:

Best Picture: “Ford v Ferrari” (Disney/Fox); “The Irishman” (Netflix); “Jojo Rabbit” (Fox Searchlight); “Joker” (Warner Bros.); “Little Women” (Sony); “Marriage Story” (Netflix); “1917” (Universal); “Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood” (Sony); “Parasite” (Neon)

Best Director: Martin Scorsese (“The Irishman”); Todd Phillips (“Joker”); Sam Mendes (“1917”); Quentin Tarantino (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”); Bong Joon Ho (“Parasite”)

Best Actor: Antonio Banderas (“Pain and Glory”); Leonardo DiCaprio (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”); Adam Driver (“Marriage Story”); Joaquin Phoenix (“Joker”); Jonathan Pryce (“The Two Popes”)

Best Actress: Cynthia Erivo (“Harriet”); Scarlett Johansson (“Marriage Story”); Saoirse Ronan (“Little Women”; pictured, right); Charlize Theron (“Bombshell”); Renee Zellweger (“Judy”)

Supporting Actor: Tom Hanks (“A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood”); Anthony Hopkins (“The Two Popes”); Al Pacino (“The Irishman”); Joe Pesci (“The Irishman”); Brad Pitt (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”)

Supporting Actress: Kathy Bates (“Richard Jewell”); Laura Dern (“Marriage Story”); Scarlett Johansson (“Jojo Rabbit”); Florence Pugh (“Little Women”); Margot Robbie (“Bombshell”)

Adapted Screenplay: Taika Waititi (“Jojo Rabbit”); Steve Zaillian (“The Irishman”); Anthony McCarten (“The Two Popes”); Greta Gerwig (“Little Women”); Todd Phillips and Scott Silver (“Joker”)

Best Original Screenplay: Rian Johnson (“Knives Out”); Noah Baumbach (“Marriage Story”); Sam Mendes and Krysty Wilson-Cairns (“1917”); Quentin Tarantino (“Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”); Bong Joon Ho and Han Jin Won (“Parasite”)

Animated Feature: “How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World”; “I Lost My Body”; “Klaus” (pictured, right); “Missing Link”; “Toy Story 4”

International Feature Film: “Corpus Christi”; “Honeyland”; “Les Miserables”; “Pain and Glory”; “Parasite”

Best Documentary: “American Factory”; “The Cave”; “Edge of Democracy”; “For Sama”; “Honeyland”

Best Cinematography: Rodrigo Prieto, “The Irishman”; Lawrence Sher, “Joker”; Jarin Blaschke, “The Lighthouse”; Roger Deakins, “1917”; Robert Richardson, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”

Best Costume Design: Sandy Powell and Christopher Peterson, “The Irishman”; Mayes C. Rubeo, “Jojo Rabbit”; Mark Bridges, “Joker”; Jacqueline Durran, “Little Women”; Arianne Phillip, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood”

Film Editing: Michael McCusker and Andrew Buckland, “Ford vs. Ferrari”; Thelma Schoonmaker, “The Irishman”; Tom Eagles, “Jojo Rabbit”; Jeff Groth, “Joker”; Yang Jinmo, “Parasite”

Makeup and Hairstyling: “Bombshell” (Kazu Hiro, Anne Morgan and Vivian Baker); “Joker” (Nicki Ledermann and Kay Georgiou); “Judy” (Jeremy Woodhead); “Maleficent: Mistress of Evil” (Paul Gooch, Arjen Tuiten and David White); “1917” (Naomi Donne, Tristan Versluis and Rebecca Cole)

Original Score: Hildur Guðnadóttir, “Joker”; Alexandre Desplat, “Little Women”; Randy Newman, “Marriage Story”; Thomas Newman, “1917”; John Williams, “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker”

Original Song: I Can’t Let You Throw Yourself Away, “Toy Story 4”; I’m Gonna Love Me Again, “Rocketman”; I’m Standing With You, “Breakthrough”; Into the Unknown, “Frozen 2”; Stand Up, “Harriet”

Production Design: “The Irishman” - Production Design: Bob Shaw, Set Decoration: Regina Graves; “Jojo Rabbit” - Production Design: Ra Vincent, Set Decoration: Nora Sopková; “1917” - Production Design: Dennis Gassner, Set Decoration: Lee Sandales; “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” - Production Design: Barbara Ling, Set Decoration: Nancy Haigh; “Parasite” - Production Design: Lee Ha Jun, Set Decoration: Cho Won Woo

Sound Editing: “Ford v Ferrari” (Donald Sylvester); “Joker” (Alan Robert Murray); “1917” (Oliver Tarney and Rachael Tate); “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” (Wylie Stateman); “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” (Matthew Wood and David Acord)

Sound Mixing: “Ad Astra” (Gary Rydstrom, Tom Johnson and Mark Ulano); “Ford vs. Ferrari” (Paul Massey, David Giammarco and Steven A. Morrow); “Joker” (Tom Ozanich, Dean Zupancic and Tod Maitland); “1917” (Mark Taylor and Stuart Wilson); “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood” (Michael Minkler, Christian P. Minkler and Mark Ulano)

Visual Effects: “Avengers: Endgame” (Dan DeLeeuw, Russell Earl, Matt Aitken and Dan Sudick); “The Irishman” (Pablo Helman, Leandro Estebecorena, Nelson Sepulveda-Fauser and Stephane Grabli); “The Lion King” (Robert Legato, Adam Valdez, Andrew R. Jones and Elliot Newman); “1917” (Guillaume Rocheron, Greg Butler and Dominic Tuohy); “Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker” (Roger Guyett, Neal Scanlan, Patrick Tubach and Dominic Tuohy)

Documentary (Short Subject): “In the Absence”; “Learning to Skateboard in a War Zone If You’re a Girl” (pictured, above); “Life Overtakes Me”; “St. Louis Superman”; “Walk Run Cha-Cha”

Short Film (Animated): “Daughter”; “Hair Love”; “Kitbull”; “Memorable”; “Sister”

Short Film (Live Action): “Brotherhood”; “Nefta Football Club”; “The Neighbor’s Window”; “Saria”; “A Sister”

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences suggested a changing of the guard as the 92^nd annual Academy Awards unfolded tonight in Los Angeles. From the bestowing upon a foreign-language film its ultimate accolade for the first time to letting an ageing rapper finally belt out his Oscar-winning tune from 17 years ago, the ceremony provided further evidence of a strengthening of Generation X powerbrokers within the AMPAS membership.

The headline story of the evening was the trophy haul won by writer/director Bong Joon-ho’s darkly funny, contemporary South Korean thriller Parasite, which managed to hide away four awards by evening’s end – Best Film, Best Director, Best Original Screenplay and Best International Feature.

The year’s most acclaimed film, Parasite now holds the honour of being the first foreign-language production in Academy Award history to win Best Film. Twelve foreign-language classics have been nominated for the top honour previously, including such masterpieces as Le Grande Illusion (1938), Z (1969), Cries and Whispers (1973) and Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000).

Elsewhere, hot young stars from the 1990s were the key recipients of the four major acting gongs, signifying their transition into more stately industry standing. Lead actor and actress awards went to Joaquin Phoenix (Joker) and Renee Zellwegger (Judy) respectively (Phoenix emotionally quoted a passage written by his late brother, '90s icon River); supporting honours went to Laura Dern (Marriage Story) and Brad Pitt (Once Upon a Time…in Hollywood). The ageing ‘movie brat’ might of Martin Scorsese and his ensemble couldn’t secure The Irishman a trophy, while millennial poster-children Adam Driver and Scarlett Johansson had to sit and watch with Marriage Story director Noah Baumbach as, Dern aside, others aced that film’s chances.

Perhaps the ultimate nod to the 40-55 year age bracket that held sway over the 2020 ceremony was the appearance of rap star Eminem. Unable to perform his hit song ‘Lose Yourself’ from Curtis Hanson’s 8 Mile when it won the Best Song gong in 2003, the singer, belted out the tune with power and energy before an enraptured audience who nodded heads in tempo and approval. Adding to the air of Gen-X authority was a movie-song montage that played like a love letter to '80s cinema.

The night’s supremely awkward attempts at being relevant to the under 25 demo were also typically Gen-X. Having Janelle Monae cold-open as 'Mr Rogers' then pound out a song-and-dance number featuring dancers in outfits from cooler films that weren’t nominated (Midsommar; Us) was a mistake that veered close to Rob Lowe/Snow White tackiness. A rapping-recap at the half way point from one of the young stars of the upcoming urban musical In The Heights left most bewildered.

One generation’s love for the adventures of Woody and Buzz no doubt bolstered Toy Story 4 in the Best Animated Feature award, with Pixar’s mega-successful franchise entry beating out the more deserving Klaus and I Lost My Body. Also reflecting a more open-minded attitude than we’ve come to expect from the Academy was Taiki Waititi’s Best Adapted Screenplay win for the Nazi-themed satire, Jojo Rabbit. The love for brilliant international filmmaking did not extend to the Best Documentary Feature category, with American Factory beating the heartbreaking masterwork For Sama.

Technical categories skewed towards the industry’s older craftsmen, with 1917 (Visual Effects; Cinematography; Sound Mixing), Ford vs Ferrari (Editing; Sound Editing), Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (Production Design) and Little Women (Costume Design) sharing the below-the-line honours. Steven Spielberg introduced the In Memoriam montage, which included his mentor, Sid Sheinberg. The late Kobe Bryant was the first image, while Hollywood great Kirk Douglas was the last, the long list of those who have left us accompanied by a soulful Billie Eilish singing The Beatles’ Yesterday.

From its humble beginnings within Lucasfilm to its boom years as an independent Hollywood force to its 2006 purchase by one-time competitor Disney, Pixar Animation Studios has always been a marketplace juggernaut. From their first feature, the groundbreaking Toy Story, to their 22^nd and most recent effort, the contemporary fairy tale Onward, Pixar have dominated the box office, the award seasons and the forefront of technology.

So is every Pixar movie a masterpiece? Well, no. But under founder John Lasseter and with talent such as Andrew Stanton and Brad Bird on the lot, Pixar set themselves a high standard. So, if you had to rank the 22 Pixar films from worst to best, in what order might they fall….? (U.S. release dates; box office courtesy Box Office Mojo; # on Pixar’s box office chart)

22. CARS 2 (Dir: John Lasseter) Released: June 24, 2011
Pixar’s second sequel (twelve years after Toy Story 2) was the first to leave the brand tarnished. At 39% on Rotten Tomatoes, John Lasseter’s soulless sequel is the most critically unpopular by a long way. First (but not the last) time that the studio greenlit a project with an eye on the black ink.
Global Box Office: US$559,852,396.00 (#12)

21. FINDING DORY (Dir: Andrew Stanton) Released: June 17, 2016.
Peter Sohn’s The Good Dinosaur was proving a troublesome beast (see below), so Pixar fast-tracked this sequel to its hottest property to help meet profit projections. And it feels rushed, undercooked, manufactured, and manipulative. Thirteen years after Finding Nemo charmed the world, it’s waterlogged sequel tanked critically.
Global Box Office: US$1,028,570,889.00 (#4)

20. MONSTERS UNIVERSITY (Dir: Dan Scanlon) Released: June 21, 2013
Lasseter and his team are five years under the Disney roof, and the new owners want to see some of that Pixar cartoon coin. So properties like Monsters Inc besties Mike and Sully are marketed to the max, led by this strained college campus comedy. A few laughs, but doesn’t make the grade.
Global Box Office: $743,559,607.00 (#8)

19. CARS (Dir: John Lasseter) Released: June 9, 2006
Car-nut Lasseter was wooed over to Disney when they agreed to throw their distribution might behind his passion project. But something was off-key. Cars don’t anthropomorphise like fish or toys or bugs; the world building and unappealing characters rang false, even when the colours popped.
Global Box Office: $461,983,149.00 (#17)

18. CARS 3 (Dir: Brian Fee) Released: June 16, 2017
Promoted from within, director Brian Fee recaptures a little bit of that Pixar magic, albeit in the service of a formulaic hero’s journey. Bolstered by good racetrack sequences and a reduced role for the never-funny Mater, it’s ok.
Global Box Office: $383,930,656.00 (#18)

17. ONWARD (Dir: Dan Scanlon) Released: March 6, 2020
By 2020, Hollywood animation has developed a certain aesthetic, drawn from years of trying to emulate Pixar’s style (and success). Onward, a road-trip brother-buddy story set in a contemporary fairy-tale world, represents the studio finally chasing it’s own tail; it feels like a competing studio’s Pixar rip-off.
Global Box Office: $74,395,049.00 (#22; still in release)

16. TOY STORY 3 (Dir: Lee Unkrich) Released: June 18, 2010
Lee Unkrich’s first solo outing in the Pixar helming chair takes the deeper, sadder thematic subtexts of the previous franchise instalments and lays them on thick. Toy Story 3 is a miserable film, its dour colour palette and ‘existential dread’ narrative throughline a total bummer.
Global Box Office: $1,066,969,703.00 (#3)

15. THE GOOD DINOSAUR (Dir: Peter Sohn) Released November 25, 2015
Pixar’s first official ‘troubled production’. Original creatives Bob Peterson and John Walker were walked late into production; the film was reworked extensively, with many of the cast recalled to voice new scenes. Disney shuffled the release - November 2013 to May 2014 to November 2015. The end result is a jagged but not unlikable adventure, filled with nice imagery. Lost heaps of money.
Global Box Office: $332,207,671.00 (#21)

14. INCREDIBLES 2 (Dir: Brad Bird) Released: June 15, 2018
Highly anticipated, and not without ambition, Pixar’s latest long overdue Part II (this time, 14 years) ultimately can’t escape the Pixar ‘sequel curse’. Brad Bird, the studio’s ‘Golden Boy’ after The Incredibles and Ratatouille, needed to bounce back from his costly George Clooney misfire Tomorrowland; he directs Incredibles 2 like there’s a gun to his head.
Global Box Office: $1,242,805,359.00 (#1)

13. TOY STORY 2 (Dir: John Lasseter) Released: November 24, 1999
Giddy with the success of Buzz and Woody’s landmark first adventure, Lasseter directs their new film with contagious glee. All colour and movement, with Hanks and Allen leading the best voice cast ever, Toy Story 2 is old-school family-friendly animation that doesn’t break new ground and has a lot of fun doing it.
Global Box Office: $487,059,677.00 (#16)

12. BRAVE (Dirs: Mark Andrews & Brenda Chapman) Released: June 22, 2012
Much was made of ‘Merida’ being Pixar’s first female lead, and Brenda Chapman their first woman (co)director. And the first two acts of Brave deliver on the promise that pairing held – fiercely determined heroine, stunning visuals, strong narrative. It implodes in Act 3, when things turn a bit ‘Disney’-safe; well-documented ‘creative differences’ behind the scenes are obvious.
Global Box Office: $538,983,207.00 (#13)

11. A BUG’S LIFE (Dir: John Lasseter) Released: November 25, 1998
The more buoyant, family-friendly of the two ‘animated insect’ movies (though Dreamworks’ Antz holds up better). In 1998, Pixar were still enjoying the ‘New Disney’ warmth from industry and audiences alike. A Bug’s Life comes very much from that mindset – colourful, sweet natured, witty and warm.
Global Box Office: $363,258,859.00 (#20)

10. MONSTER’S INC (Dir: Pete Doctor) Released: November 2, 2001
Lasseter launched the brand, but arguably Pixar’s star director is Pete Doctor. He launched the first of his three Pixar classics in 2001 with Monsters Inc, a slice of near-perfect world building with two wonderfully ‘Odd Couple’ buddies out front of a deceptively moving story about friendship and innocence.
Global Box Office: $528,773,250.00 (#14)

9. TOY STORY (Dir: John Lasseter) Released: November 22, 1995
It is easy to look at Pixar’s first feature and not recall what a shift in the animation sector paradigm it represented. Buzz and Woody are to the Pixar empire as Mickey (and, later, Beauty and The Beast) were to Disney. Only advancements in technology keep Toy Story from a Top 5 placing.
Global Box Office: $364,545,516.00 (#19)

8. RATATOUILLE (Dir: Brad Bird, Jan Pinkava) Released: June 29, 2007
Much like it’s hero, a rat with Michelin-level kitchen skills, Ratatouille lives in a place on the Pixar roster that posits it as an underdog of sorts. It is more overtly adult in its story-telling and further enhanced the Pixar palette, with images as beautiful as anything the company has produced. It is adored, yet in an understated way usually reserved for works of art, which seems appropriate.
Global Box Office: $623,722,818.00 (#11)

7. FINDING NEMO (Dir: Andrew Stanton) Released: May 30, 2003
Another company-defining title, in the same league, both critically and commercially, as Toy Story. A truly funny character comedy, immeasurably enhanced by lead voice-actors Albert Brooks and Ellen DeGeneres (who both polished their dialogue), it also soars as a study in family bonds, fulfilling a destiny and the joys of a broader worldview. Just keep swimming…
Global Box Office: $871,014,978.00 (#5)

6. WALL-E (Dir: Andrew Stanton) Released: June 27, 2008
One of the greatest…well, silent movies, space adventures, love stories, take your pick. Stanton’s masterpiece is Pixar’s most far-out adventure, from it’s deep space setting and lil’ leading man, yet speaks to environmental devastation and mankind’s role in making it happen like few contemporary films ever have. Somehow makes mountains of garbage breathtakingly beautiful.
Global Box Office: $521,311,860.00 (#15)

5. TOY STORY 4 (Dir: Josh Cooley) Released: June 21, 2019
Plays with elements of dark and light – narratively, thematically, visually – like the richly developed, classical fairy tale it ultimately is. Not afraid to get spooky when it needs to (those dolls!) but doesn’t lose touch with the heart and humour that defined the franchise. New kid director Josh Cooley (who’d previously done voice work for Pixar) announces himself as a major storytelling force.
Global Box Office: $1,073,394,593.00 (#2)

4. UP (Dir: Pete Doctor) Released: May 29, 2009
The opening frames of Pete Doctor’s bittersweet slice of sublime melancholia are already recognised as some of the greatest in modern American film. Ten minutes in, audiences emotions are primed for the next ninety, which deliver laughs (“Squirrel!”) and tears in equal measure. Incredibly, this is not Doctor’s best Pixar movie.
Global Box Office: $735,099,082.00 (#9)

3. COCO (Dir: Lee Unkrich, Adrian Molina) Released: November 22, 2017
Detractors have occasionally pointed out that Pixar films have not always been the most ethnically diverse. Coco addresses that with a journey into a young Latino boy’s family history, a musical/fantasy odyssey that transcends its netherworld setting to convey the importance of legacy, creativity and spirituality. Is Remember Me the greatest ever Pixar movie song?
Global Box Office: $807,082,196.00 (#7)

2. THE INCREDIBLES (Dir: Brad Bird) Released: November 5, 2004
The greatest super-hero movie ever made. Which ought to be praise enough, but Brad Bird’s thrillingly kinetic, retro-outfitted wonder is also a razor-sharp dissection of modern family dynamics, middle-class morality and gender redefinition. And it’s the greatest super-hero movie ever made.
Global Box Office: $631,442,092.00 (#10)

1. INSIDE OUT (Dir: Pete Doctor) Released: June 19, 2015
The premise is cute – a little girl’s emotions (Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness) must help through a family relocation. In Pete Doctor’s hands, Inside Out becomes one of American cinema’s most profound examinations of anxiety, isolation and depression. Yet as it breaks your heart, it still remains a joyous experience. Inside Out is the perfect Pixar film – a flight of vivid imagination, beautifully realised, yet intrinsically human in every aspect.
Global Box Office: $857,611,174.00 (#6)

The year is 1983, and the crest of the ‘teen sex comedy’ wave towers over Hollywood. A confluence of factors created the ‘perfect storm’ for the genre - Porky’s, a likably smutty, ‘50s-set B-movie about a bunch of bros trying to get their dweeby friend laid, had been a sleeper hit in 1981; the influence (and hormones) of the teenage demographic dominated the box-office like never before; and, the booming VHS revolution meant that video recorders all over the world needed sellable content that was fast to produce.

It was from within this cauldron of coincidence that Joysticks emerged; an otherwise unremarkable film that can now be held aloft as a prime example of the low-IQ, high-energy, T&A-obsessed ‘80s teen romp. Directed by actor-turned-director Greydon Clark, a gentleman who ably helmed such romps as Satan’s Cheerleaders (1977) and Wacko (1982), Joysticks is soft-headed exploitation cinema very much of its time.

Clark and his three(!) scriptwriters tap the video game mania of the day, setting their loose narrative in ‘Jeff’s’, an oddly-cubic arcade parlour. Nerdy nebbish Eugene (Leif Green) is on his way to his first day of his arcade career when two sorority pledges, Lola (Kym Malin) and Alva (Kim G. Michel), coax him into their convertible with a nipple flash and the promise of a public threesome. What they really want is a humiliating photo of him, then it’s off to the parlour, where the girls can up the ante for some real self-serving flirting while Eugene dodges cool kids in search of his pants. (Above, from left: Scott McGinnis, Leif Green, Jim Greenleaf)

Clearly, everything about this opening scene is untenable to 2020 sensibilities; perhaps, aside from the teen males in line on opening weekend (Joysticks would earn a not-insignificant US$4million domestically), it was also untenable to 1983 sensibilities. But it was the kind of set-up that routinely kicked-off films with such titles as Screwballs (1983), Spring Break (1983), Hot Moves (1984), Hot Dog: The Movie (1984), Loose Screws (1985) and Fraternity Vacation (1985).

Clark largely abandons Eugene’s plight, focussing alternatively on arcade owner/hunky stud Jeff (Scott McGinnis), fat slob McDorfus (Jim Greenleaf), and a leather-clad punk/nerd hybrid called King Vidiot (Jim Gries). The plot takes some kind of shape when conservative blowhard Joe Rutter (Joe Don Baker, repping the old establishment just as John Vernon did in Animal House and Ted Knight did in Caddyshack) threatens to close down ‘Jeff’s’, abetted by his dumb goons, Arnie (the great John Diehl) and Max (John Volstad) and much to the bemusement of his free-spirited daughter, Patsy (Corinne Bohrer, stealing all her scenes) . (Pictured, above: from left, Volstad, Baker and Diehl)

Which all sounds likably goofy and instantly dismissable, which it is. When not pandering to its pervy base, Joysticks offers some fun slapstick and the odd zinger in its dialogue. But there are signposts along the way that won’t sit well with 2020 viewers, whether it is the enlightened teens of today or the aged teens of 1983 (i.e., me). Revisiting Joysticks a whopping 37 years* after its release is to reconsider the worth of the 1980s teen sex comedies in their entirety.

In arguably the film’s most distasteful moment, McDorfus forcibly encourages Eugene to lose his virginity to a dozing Mrs Rutter (Morgan Lofting), the middle-aged woman heavily sedated on sleeping pills. She stirs and, while still drowsy, believes it to be her husband initiating a bout of rare marital bliss. The heinous implication is that she is responding positively to Eugene’s awkward and accidental groping. The ‘randy dowager’ trope was a popular one back in the ‘80s (see the aforementioned Caddyshack).

Another entirely unnecessary sequence involves Lola and Alva playing Pac-Man...topless. Gratuitous nudity was a teen sex comedy staple, of course, but rarely was it so devoid of context or absence of reasoning. Unsurprisingly, Kym Malin, aka ‘Nola’, had been the May 1982 Playboy Playmate of the Month - the casting of nude models (see Lillian Müller, Shannon Tweed, Teri Weigel) a ploy used to ensure some degree of celebrity and a willingness to disrobe were addressed in the casting. (Trivia: Malin was later cast as one of the Nakatomi Plaza hostages in Die Hard). (Pictured, above: Jonathan Gries as King Vidiot, with Baker)

So, finally, does Joysticks and its ilk have any worth at all twenty years into the new millenium? Are they snapshots that provide insight into the teens of the time and the adults of today? Or lurid, sordid examples of artless exploitation, best condemned to time-capsule history? Are they any more than crassly commercial relics, conjuring sickening images of producers slavering over ambitious starlets being coerced into disrobing? Or, are they a legitimately expressive ‘artform’ that understood and spoke to an audience cross-section, eager for validation?

Teen sex comedies ran the gamut at the height of their popularity, and most have been reassessed with a new understanding of what is acceptable on-screen in the name of laughs. That reassessment works both ways; Paul Brickman’s Risky Business (1983) is a teen sex comedy now considered one the decade’s best films. Of course, giggly, smutty hijinks like those in Joysticks, once considered harmless, are now frowned upon, although it would be wrong, even pointless, to flay it at the altar of moralistic hindsight. (Pictured, above: Corinne Bohrer, as Patsy)

Instead, they should be seen as movie history artefacts, from a time when films began to give voice and vision to how teenagers interpret sexuality. Sometimes, that was (and still is) ugly and childish and offensive. But it wasn’t generally mean. Even in films like Joysticks, films in which the ‘Mrs Rutters’ have to endure the inexcusable, the message is ultimately a moral one - friendships are tight, common bonds form and grotesque old capitalists are defeated. That has relevance in 2020, when striving to understanding the truths that lie beneath so much ugliness is more important than ever.

* Regarding the passage of time and society’s shifting moral compass - films that came 37 years before Greydon Clark’s Joysticks include Frank Capra’s It’s A Wonderful Life, John Ford’s My Darling Clementine and, ahem, Disney’s Song of the South.

Read Greydon Clark's autobiography ON THE CHEAP: MY LIFE IN LOW BUDGET FILMMAKING, available from his official website.

Streaming video-on-demand provider Disney Plus will honour the legacy of founder George Lucas’ Star Wars universe from May 4th with a series of conceptual art banners on their dedicated page sites.

Last Friday, the home page carousel art was updated for the first time since the VOD giant launched in November. The iconic ‘droids in the desert’ image, one of several visions crafted in 1975 by the late, great illustrator Ralph Macquarrie, topped the welcome screen. From May 4th, aka ‘Star Wars Day’, the collection will expand to include works from Jason Palmer, Doug Chiang and Seth Engström, along with several others who have contributed to the design aesthetic of the blockbuster series over five decades.

The special artwork will be available for all titles in the core ‘Skywalker Saga’, including A New Hope (1977); The Empire Strikes Back (1980); Return of the Jedi (1983); The Phantom Menace (1999); Attack of the Clones (2002); Revenge of the Sith (2005); The Force Awakens (2015); and The Last Jedi (2017). The ambitious undertaking will also coincide with the streaming platform’s fast-tracked May 4 launch of Rian Johnson’s The Rise of Skywalker (2019).

Concept art headers have also been prepared for the spin-off features, Rogue One (2016) and Solo (2018) and the animated stories, Star Wars: Rebels and Star Wars: Resistance. Disney Plus’ original Star Wars series, The Mandalorian, will get a concept art makeover as well as its own eight-part docuseries, Disney Gallery: The Mandalorian. Overseen by director/producer Jon Favreau, who will host round-table talks with key contributors, the series will reveal never-before-seen footage and insider production stories.

The ‘Star Wars Day’ Concept Art promotion is likely to further boost subscriber numbers for Disney Plus, which has seen a three-fold increase in sign-ups over the course of the global Coronavirus lockdown. The corporation’s international subscriber level is close to 65 million users as of the provider’s latest release, including an astonishing 8 million new accounts in India over the course of 24 hours (linked to its broadcast deal with local platform Hotstar).

In the wake of COVID-19, Australia’s most dedicated film festivals have kept the moviegoing dream alive via online screening events. Festivals both old (Sydney, Melbourne, St Kilda) and new (Gold Coast) have relied upon sympathetic filmmakers, tech gurus and strong bandwidth to keep curated schedules and, importantly, commercial interests in place. As audiences have grown to expect, Perth’s iconic Revelations International Film Festival is expanding upon the 2020 film festival experience with their own online event, ‘Couched’.

A first wave of 13 titles have been announced - seven dramatic narratives, six documentaries - that represent a cross-section of cutting-edge local and international filmmaking, with a total of 25 to be on offer come the launch date of July 9. “We exist to show films, and that’s something we will continue to do,” says Jack Sargeant, Program Director. “Most films will be available Australia wide for the duration of the fest and several will be made available internationally. This gives us an opportunity to showcase movies across the world, and give people a small taste of what we do.”

The line-up includes the Australian Premiere of Bidzina Kanchaveli’s trippy German sci-fier 1000 Kings, a digital journey into a beehive-like society where light is the ultimate currency; Valentyn Vasyanovych’s Ukrainian drama Atlantis, a despairing drama about a scarred returned serviceman and the idealist he clings to; the spectacularly bizarre VHYes, director Jack Henry Robbins’ VHS-shot dissection of family and memory, produced by his parents Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins; and, Bob Byington’s mumblecore masterpiece Frances Ferguson, starring the wonderful Kaley Wheless (pictured, right) as a disengaged small-town millennial for whom scandal barely registers.

The Australian sector will be repped by Robert Woods’ rural-set comedy/horror An Ideal Host, a WA-shot indie about a dinner-party that goes apocalyptically off the rails, that will have its World Premiere via Couched. Also set for its festival debut will be The Florist, a feature-length adaptation of director Andrew Ryan’s short starring Rebecca Murphy. Two docs round out the local content - the sexuality-positive account of middle-class suburbanite-turned-sex-worker Morgana, directed by Isabel Peppard and Josie Hess, and Shaun Katz’s musical meander down a very loud memory lane in Underground Inc, a chronicling of the ‘90s post-punk alternate-music scene.

Other documentaries to debut on the ‘RevFest Couch’ are Adam Kossoff’s speculative WWII thesis Through The Bloody Mists of Time; Iván Castell’s retro-music electro-odyssey Rise of the Synths, narrated by John Carpenter; the career retrospective, Forman vs Forman, in which co-directors Jakub Hejna and Helena Trestíková track the extraordinary life of director Milos Forman; and, Danish director Mads Brügger’s thrillingly convoluted murder mystery, Cold Case Hammarskjöld (pictured, right).

Films will be available for rent for a 24 hour period through the fest, with titles available via the streaming service, Eventive. Patrons can buy single screening tickets, providing unlimited access to a film for 24 hours, or the more economical multi-film pass. With five years of the successful RevOnDemand streaming service behind him, Festival Director Richard Sowada has advantageous experience over the nation’s other festival heads, most of whom are new to the online space.

“We’ve been leading in that space for a fair while now,” says Sowada. “Fortunately that experience and reputation has allowed us to dive deeply into the contemporary international film scene and surface with a program of international features and documentaries presented on a platform that delivers a first class audience experience." That experience will resurface later in the year, with the real-world version of the Revelation Perth International Film Festival set to re-emerge, although the revised dates have not been confirmed.

Read the SCREEN-SPACE review of VHYes here.

Read the SCREEN-SPACE review of Morgana here.

"It is with a very heavy heart that I inform you that my beautiful wife Kelly has lost her two-year battle with breast cancer," posted John Travolta, after his wife of 28 years, Kelly Preston, passed away on Sunday, aged 57. The mother of Ellie, 20, Ben, 9, and Jett, who passed away aged 16, kept the diagnosis and the details of her treatment private; her final hours were spent at the MD Anderson Cancer Center in Los Angeles. Born Kelly Kamalelehua Smith on October 13, 1962, in Honolulu and having studied at University of Southern California, Preston would go on to captivate audiences with her natural charm, rare beauty and often underappreciated range on screen.

While she never attained A-list status, Kelly Preston was one of Hollywood’s most reliable and engaging ensemble players, invaluable to co-stars such as Robin Williams, Kevin Bacon, Ray Romano, Mike Myers, Gwyneth Paltrow, Michael Keaton and Eddie Murphy. In honour of the late actress, we recall six of her performances that will forever remain etched in the mind of movie-goers.

MISCHIEF (Dir: Mel Damski, with Doug Mckeown, Catherine Mary Stewart, Jami Gertz; 1985) Under the name ‘Kelly Palzis’, Preston guested on TV staples (Hawaii Five-O; Quincy M.E.; CHiPS) and earned her stripes in thankless movie roles (10 to Midnight, opposite Charles Bronson; the C-grade, 3D sci-fier Metalstorm: The Destruction of Jared-Syn) before announcing herself to Hollywood in John Carpenter’s 1983 Stephen King adaptation, Christine. Her true worth was established in her follow-up film, the bawdy teen romp Mischief, in which she turned her lusted-after, dream-teen ‘Marilyn’ into a far more nuanced and complex character than Mel Damski’s film perhaps deserved (then did it again in her next film, the otherwise forgettable C. Thomas Howel vehicle, Secret Admirer).

SPACECAMP (Dir: Harry Winer, with Lea Thompson, Kate Capshaw, Leaf Phoenix; 1986) Unsalvageable as a commercial prospect coming in the wake of the Challenger disaster, the teen adventure SpaceCamp is remembered by a very specific group of 80s teenagers for the thrill it provided at some very base levels. Preston shone in an unusually strong cast, exhibiting great chemistry with co-stars Lea Thompson and Kate Capshaw, though some dire dialogue and the pall cast by NASA’s darkest hour stymied her leading lady status at just the wrong time in her career.

TWINS (Dir: Ivan Reitman, with Arnold Schwarzenegger, Danny DeVito, Chloe Webb; 1988) There is no denying that a huge part of Kelly Preston’s acting legacy will be the lightning bolt of supporting-part energy she provided a slew of comedies - Only You (1992), with Andrew McCarthy; Nothing to Lose (1997), with Tim Robbins; Holy Man (1998), with Murphy and Jeff Goldblum; View from the Top (2003), with Paltrow. It all began with hard yards she put into bolstering Ivan Reitman’s Twins with an adorable performance that drew the ‘lovably funny’ out of ‘The Austrian Oak’ himself.

JERRY MAGUIRE (Dir: Cameron Crowe, with Tom Cruise, Renee Zellwegger, Cuba Gooding Jr.; 1993) Crowe, Cruise and Zellwegger got all the nominations, but the handful of scenes that Preston played as ‘Jerry’s ultra-ambitious, dangerously sexed-up fiancee ‘Avery Bishop’. She is the ‘romantic’ reflection of the cynical, heartless corporate culture that Jerry is fleeing; with no Avery, there'd be no Dorothy. Kelly Preston, as the ‘anti-Dorothy, is unforgettable.

SKY HIGH (Dir: Mike Mitchell, with Kurt Russell, Michael Angarano, Danielle Panabaker; 100 mins) Kelly Preston always made being an actress look like capital-F Fun. Whether it was baring all in the camp horror pic Spellbinder (1988), goofing off in the period comedy Love at Stake (1987) or just positively glowing as Kevin Costner’s love interest in Sam raimi’s For the Love of the Game (1999), Preston looked like she was loving every minute of making movies. This is nowhere more apparent than in her spirited turn as ‘Josie Stronghold, aka Jetstream’ in Disney’s superhero romp, Sky High. Alongside Kurt Russell’s ‘The Commander’, Preston was the most perfect mom/wife/superhero archetype this side of Helen Parr/Elastigirl.

GOTTI (Dir: Kevin Connelly, with John Travolta, Pruitt Taylor Vince, Stacy Keach; 2018) Her films with husband John are not considered Hollywood’s finest. The 2000 science-fiction epic Battlefield Earth is, in fact, considered one of Hollywood’s all-time worst. The film they met on, Dave Thomas’ 1989 cold-war comedy dud The Experts, has long since been forgotten (but was actually pretty funny). Their 2009 pairing, opposite Robin Williams in Walt Becker’s Old Dogs, was a tough watch. By the time they got together for Kevin Connelly’s pilloried 2018 hagiography of brutal crime boss John Gotti, it’s fair to say their collaboration offscreen had proven far more profound and ultimately immortal than their efforts in front of the camera.

COVID-19 forced organisers to abandon the physical event, but the 2020 Sydney Underground Film Festival forges ahead as an immense online program as only the typically defiant ‘SUFF’ team could muster. Another round of the Take48 filmmaking challenge, the academic forum Inhuman Screens and new films from Guy Maddin, Yorgos Lanthimos and Matt Dillon (pictured, below) suggests the 14th annual celebration of all things alternative won’t be dictated to by a global pandemic.

Structured as a three-tiered event, SUFF 2020 launches at 7.00pm AEST, Friday August 28th, with Take48, a 2-day filmmaking challenge that demands your production unit (maximum 10 people) must write, shoot, edit and submit your short by 7.00pm AEST, Sunday, August 30th. Just moments prior to the start time, this year’s theme will be announced and must be incorporated in the finished work. Prize packages from Sony Australia, Red Giant and RentACam are on offer.

Phase two will be the launch of the core film strands, which will be available via the festival website from September 10-20. The decision was made to forego feature-length content and focus on the traditionally popular short film strands that have been central to the festival experience since its earliest editions. ‘Love/Sick’ is a collective dozen short films that will engage the mind and fire up the loins (including Eve Dufaud’s urination celebration, Le Jet; pictured, right); the mind-altering impact of cinematic psychedelia is embraced in 10-strong strand, ‘LSD Factory (featuring the World Premiere of Wrik Mead’s pixelated sexual odyssey, Broken Relationship).

The short film roster continues with ‘Ozploit!’, twelve films from idiosyncratic, independent local directors, amongst them Michael Gosden, who will be holding the World Premiere of his bushland-set horror/comedy Stick; the contemporary social collections known as ‘Reality Bites 1 & 2’, the highlight being character actor Mark Metcalfe (Animal House; Seinfeld; Buffy the Vampire Slayer) reflecting on his life in Vera Brunner-Sung’s Character (pictured, left; Metcalfe with his director; and, horror goes underground in the sidebar ‘Sh!t Scared’, particularly notable this year for featuring Australian actress Caitlin Stasey in Parker Finn's Laura Hasn't Slept (pictured, below).

Some legitimate star power emerges in the line-up of 10 shorts called ‘WTF!’ Matt Dillon (The House That Jack Built; There’s Something About Mary) stars for three-time Oscar-nominee Yorgos Lanthimos (The Favourite; The Lobster) in the surreal subway story, Nimic. And Canadian cinema figurehead Guy Maddin (My Winnipeg; Twilight of the Ice Nymphs) co-directs the monochromatic fairground drama, Stump the Guesser.

An adults-only animated strand called ‘Late Night Cartoons’, featuring such non-child friendly titles as Turd and Sweet Sweet Kink, and a celebration of Ukrainian short-film prowess called ‘Pickles, Bombs & Borsch’ (including ADG-nominee Stefan Bugryn’s second War Mothers film, Unbreakable) round out the vast online SUFF offerings.

Finally, the Inhuman Screens online conference will unfold over 8 hours on Friday 11th September, exploring themes and issues associated with ‘The Crisis of The Human and The Non-Human’. Attendees include author Lisa E. Bloom, a theorist in the fields of visual culture, film studies and feminist art history and Angela Ndailanis, a research professor in media and entertainment culture.

All details regarding the 2020 SYDNEY UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL, including streaming options and ticketing, can be found at the event’s Official Website.

The Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival (SSFFF) is honoured to welcome Dr Maria Cunningham as the event’s latest Festival Patron. One of the world’s most respected radio astronomers and a senior lecturer at the University of New South Wales (UNSW)’ School of Physics, Dr Cunningham joins film director Alex Proyas as a patron of the inaugural event, a true celebration of international science-fiction culture with 19 countries represented in the 2020 line-up.

“Maria’s extraordinary combination of scientific brilliance, academic prowess and genre fan passion makes her one of the most unique individuals in the world of astrophysics,” says SSFFF Festival Director, Simon Foster. “To have someone of her stature contribute to the establishment and growth of our festival is beyond any development we could have hoped for. It is a privilege to have her commit her valuable time and invaluable knowledge to the Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival.” (Pictured, top; Dr Cunningham in the Atacama Desert, Chile, trekking to the 5000m high NANTEN2 telescope)

“Science fiction is how the majority of people interact with science, even though they are not conscious that this is what they are doing,” says Dr Cunningham, who was inspired as a 12 year-old by The Black Cloud, the 1957 novel by astrophysicist Fred Hoyle (pictured, right). “When we watch popular movies such as Deep Impact or The Martian, our interest is sparked enough to look for more information. We discover that sci-fi has provided good factual information as a base for further exploration.”

This deep appreciation of speculative storytelling led to Dr Cunningham convening the hugely popular tertiary course, ‘Brave New World’. Designed to present and discuss science fact and fiction to students from non-scientific backgrounds, her lectures explore the relationship between literature, science, and society, often utilising such pop culture benchmarks as Futurama and Macguyver.

Within the course structure, attendees will hear references to such science-fiction works as Contact (“It shows just how far our radio broadcasts have already gone”); The Planet of The Apes (“A great example of special relativity”); and, Another Earth (“Explores the implications of discovering – and accessing – a parallel world”). Says Dr Cunningham, “Science fiction gives us a space to explore complex – and seemingly impossible – concepts in playful, engaging ways.”

“Our world is changing faster than at any time in human history,” she observes. “This body of popularly accessible work gives us all the ability to imagine how scientific and technological discoveries could change our future. It speaks to how we can best as a society collectively manage both the promised and dangers of possible changes.”

Internationally renowned in her field, Dr Cunningham specialises in research into the interstellar medium (“The stuff between the stars,” as she calls it), home to over 200 complex organic molecules that represent the building blocks of life. Part of her research involves searching for new "biogenic" molecules in space, to help modern science understand how life formed so quickly on the surface of the newly formed planet Earth.

From an early fascination with mathematics, she ended up doing a PhD with the Radiophysics Division at the CSIRO’s Australia Telescope National Facility. “After being offered several projects, the one studying ‘dark, molecular clouds’ seemed like a match made in heaven,” she says, “bringing my love of science fiction and maths/physics together.”

The SYDNEY SCIENCE FICTION FILM FESTIVAL will be held at the Actors Centre Australia from November 19-21. Session and ticketing information can be found at the event's official website.

Alternative culture fans the world over are grieving the passing of one of the great voices of the underground, Mike ‘McBeardo’ McPadden. The author, podcaster and commentator, a beloved advocate for art that challenged conformity, left us on Wednesday 16th. The cause of death is unknown at this time; he was 52.

The outpouring of shock and grief was immediate when news of McPadden’s sudden passing emerged via social media. His publisher at Bazillion Points, Ian Christe, boke the news, stating “With this guy goes an unrivaled wealth of first-hand experience with the gritty NYC movie scene circa 1982...It's crushing to wrap my head around the loss.” Author and friend Lee Gambin posted, “I'd known Mike for a long time and he and I shared a lot of the same passions and loves, and that is something I will treasure forever.”

The Brooklyn-born McPadden spent his youth in the grindhouse fleapits and revival houses of 1980s New York City, a lifestyle that fuelled his passionate love for and encyclopedic knowledge of genre cinema. He honed his early writing skills in the offices of adult magazines Genesis, High Society and Screw; he became Entertainment Editor at Hustler, working alongside legendary publisher Larry Flynt. His connection to the adult sector extended to screenwriting, having worked with director Gregory Dark in the mid ‘90s on such films as Devil in Miss Jones 5: The Inferno and Animal Instincts III: The Seductress. (Pictured, right; a youthful McPadden on the NYC cinema strip)

He began self-publishing with a stream-of-consciousness punk bar newsletter called The Downtown Beirut Top 10 List. This led to his iconic culture ‘zine’, Happyland, which he once referred to as, “your standard Xerox-and-staples hate zine of the ‘90s”, written from the point-of-view of a life “getting fucked up, taking drugs, going to the movies on 42nd Street, going to see bands, and making fun of people”. He often wrote under the pseudonym ‘Selwyn Harris’, named after the last two theatres from his old district to have remained open. In 2003, he relocated to Chicago to become Head Writer for the Mr. Skin website. His work would also be published in The New York Express, Vice, VH1 and Merry Jane, amongst many others.

McPadden would draw upon those formative years in the Time Square theatres to author the acclaimed books Heavy Metal Movies: Guitar Barbarians, Mutant Bimbos & Cult Zombies Amok in the 666 Most Ear- and Eye-Ripping Big-Scream Films Ever! (2014) and Teen Movie Hell: A Crucible Of Coming-Of-Age Comedies From Animal House to Zapped! (2019), both considered classics of B-movie academia. Inspired by Danny Perry’s ‘Cult Movies’ book series of the early ‘80s and editor Zack Carlson’s 2010 essay compilation Destroy All Movies, McPadden crafted a pair of mammoth works that encapsulate two cinematic sub-genres.

In recent years, the booming podcast movement had allowed Mike McPadden to further enhance his standing as both a film historian and wonderfully engaging personality. Paired with University of Wisconsin’s Ben Reiser, 70 Movies We Saw in The ‘70s is a heartfelt retrospective series that allowed McPadden to draw deep from memories of his most passionate movie-going years (24 episodes); in Crackpot Cinema, McPadden would be joined by the likes of actor Pat Healy and producer Aaron Lee to playfully recall some of cinema’s stranger achievements (29 episodes); and, with Diabolique editor Kat Ellinger, the comedy celebration Busted Guts (2 episodes). Read her heartfelt tribute to her friend here. His work in the podcast field extended to social media director on the hit show Gilbert Gottfried’s Amazing Colossal Podcast and contributor for Crimefeed.

His razor-sharp wit and ability to instantly recall filmmaking anecdotes also made McPadden one of the most in-demand DVD audio commentators. His observations can be heard on such releases as Amazon Women on the Moon, Let’s Kill Uncle, Private School, Adjust Your Tracking, Jeremy, My Science Project, Shadow of the Hawk and the South Korean teen romp Sex is Zero.

Mike McPadden is survived by his wife, Rachel and young family. A GoFundMe campaign has been established and we encourage you to contribute.

So I come to my annual Best of... duties in a bit of a daze. 2020 was the year when the movie business, in the words of George Costanza, “took a bit of a tumble”. Productions ground to a halt; distribution schedules were reshuffled, then abandoned; cinemas closed their doors, some of them permanently. With the global population housebound, streaming services boomed, to such an extent that Warner Bros., one of the iconic names associated with ‘Old Hollywood’, shared their entire post-Christmas slate with their digital platform HBO Max, changing the traditional theatrical window forever. It’s been a helluva year.

It wasn’t all dire times. A dedicated team helped me launch the Sydney Science Fiction Film Festival, a ‘roll of the dice’ venture which worked out pretty damn good. And seeking out the best small-screen programming redefined the big-screen bent of our yearly list, with nearly half coming via the Amazon/Shudder/Netflix/Disney+ combo.

I’ve always said, “Everyone’s entitled to my opinion”, but I’m open to yours (that's not entirely true), so let me know if I’ve missed anything. Please seek out some of these lesser-known films. Thanks for your continued support, and stay healthy...

2020 FILMS IN GENERAL RELEASE (THEATRICAL/STREAMING):

1. DAVID BYRNE’S AMERICAN UTOPIA (Dir: Spike Lee; USA; 105 mins) In adapting the Broadway show (remember those?) borne of the brilliant mind of the Talking Head’s frontman, Spike Lee found heartfelt joy and a purity of spirit that all but washes away the stink that has settled on America over the last few years. Byrne’s observations of humanity and society, in a version of song and dance that taps into childlike glee and aged melancholy in equal measure, make him a profoundly important contemporary commentator. Thirty-plus years ago, Byrne fronted arguably the greatest concert film of all time; in 2020, he did it again.

2. THE VAST OF NIGHT (Dir: Andrew Patterson; USA; 91 mins)
3. THE TROUBLE WITH BEING BORN (Dir: Sandra Wollner; Austria, Germany; 94 mins)
4. BORAT SUBSEQUENT MOVIEFILM (Dir: Jason Woliner; UK, USA; 95 mins)
5. THE ASSISTANT (Dir: Kitty Green; USA; 87 mins)
6. LET HIM GO (Dir: Thomas Bezucha; USA; 103 mins)
7. HIS HOUSE (Dir: Remi Weekes; UK; 93 mins)
8. MIGNONNES (Cuties | Dir: Maïmouna Doucouré; France; 96 mins)
9. NOMADLAND (Dir: Chloe Zhao; USA; 108 mins)
10. ATHLETE A (Dirs: Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk; USA; 103 mins)
The Next Best Ten: MISS JUNETEENTH; RELIC; DICK JOHNSON IS DEAD; HOST; ANOTHER ROUND; BECKY; MULAN; BILL & TED FACE THE MUSIC; LAST AND FIRST MEN; UNDERWATER.

2020 FILMS VIEWED AT FESTIVALS (AWAITING RELEASE IN AUSTRALIA):

1. ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI (Dir: Regina King; USA; 110 mins) Oscar-winning actress Regina King proves herself Hollywood’s most potent new multi-hyphenate as director of this stirring adaptation of Kemp Powers play. Capturing a fictional moment in time when American icons Muhammad Ali, Malcolm X, Sam Cooke and Jim Brown meet in motel room in the ‘60s and consider their roles in the nation’s social upheaval, One Night in Miami is actor’s showpiece, a wordsmith’s masterwork, an editor’s triumph – all under the baton of a filmmaker fully invested in the heart and soul of the source material. Will be going wide in 2021 and certain to feature come Oscar time in April; got a peek thanks to TIFF.

2. THE FABRICATED (Dir: Ali Katmiri; Iran; 30 mins)
3. SHADOW IN THE CLOUD (Dir: Roseanne Liang; New Zealand, USA; 83 mins)
4. PIECES OF A WOMAN (Dir: Kornél Mundruczó; Canada, Hungary, USA; 126 mins)
5. BUIO (Darkness | Dir: Emanuela Rossi; Italy; 96 mins)
6. L’OISEAU DE PARADIS (Paradise | Dir: Paul Manaté; France, French Polynesia; 90 mins)
7. BREEDER (Dir: Jens Dahl; Denmark; 107 mins)
8. NADIA, BUTTERFLY (Dir: Pascal Plante; Canada; 107 mins)
9. LA REINA DE LOS LAGARTOS (The Queen of The Lizards | Dirs: Juan González, Nando Martínez; Spain; 63 mins)
10. CINEMATOGRAPHER (Dir: Dan Asma; USA; 83 mins)
The Next Best Ten: VICIOUS FUN; SHIFTER; GAGARINE; WILLIE, JAMALEY & THE CACACOON; COME TRUE; FRIED BARRY; THE GO-GO’S.

THE WORST FILMS OF 2020:

Living the shut-in life meant I dodged the worst that global cinema had to offer, but I couldn’t always help myself. Just so I could wade into the echo chamber of abuse, I watched Ron Howard’s Hillbilly Elegy (who did anybody think it would appeal to?); Australia’s favourite son Paul Hogan (circa 1978-1989) signed off on his film career with the miserable The Very Excellent Mr Dundee; and, Robert Downey Jr.’s accent alone was enough to skewer Dolittle, a hideous reimagining of the classic story (is it though?). But the year’s worst was a franchise-starter wannabe that Disney began adapting from Eoin Colfer’s blockbuster Y.A. books a decade ago, hoping it would fill the box office void left by Harry Potter’s maturing. Instead, director Kenneth Branagh’s ARTEMIS FOWL floundered in expensive post-production hell before being dumped to the Disney Plus channel, fuelling early concerns that streaming platforms would become clogged with studio deadweight. Judi Dench (pictured, above, dignity intact) should give her Oscar back; Branagh, Disney and everyone involved owe the legion of Artemis adorers an apology for running so afoul of their beloved boy hero.

The 2021 International Film Festival Rotterdam (IFFR) has spread the awards love far and wide for its expanded 50th anniversary edition, with trophies going to auteurs from India, Kosovo, Bosnia, Argentina, Thailand, Norway, The Ivory Coast and America, to name just a few.

Debutant director Vinothraj P.S’s southern India-set Pebbles (pictured, above) won the top honour, the 2021 Tiger Award. In a series of prepared statements, the Jury collective provided valuable insight into their decisions. Tiger jurists Lemohang Jeremiah Mosese, Orwa Nyrabia, Hala Elkoussy, Helena van der Meulen and Ilse Hughan said of Vinothraj’s work; “Creating a maximum impact with a minimum in means, the filmmaker reaches his goal with the same conviction and determination as his main characters,” adding the film is, “A lesson in pure cinema, captivating us with its beauty and humour, in spite of its grim subject.”

I Comete – A Corsican Summer (pictured, right) by French filmmaker Pascal Tagnati and Looking for Venera by Norika Sefa from Kosovo both won Special Jury Awards. The BankGiro Loterij Audience Award went to Quo Vadis, Aida? by Bosnian filmmaker Jasmila Žbanić. The FIPRESCI Prize was given to The Edge of Daybreak by Thai filmmaker Taiki Sakpisit. Norwegian director Ane Hjort Guttu won the KNF prize for her short film Manifesto. La nuit des rois by Philippe Lacôte from Côte d’Ivoire won the Youth Jury Award.

The VPRO Big Screen Award went to Argentinian Ana Katz’s El perro que no calla (The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be Quiet). VPRO Big Screen jury members Mauro Corstiaans, Oriana Baloriano, Frits Bienfait, Magda van Vloten and Mirjam van den Brink called the monochromatic film, “A hopeful and optimistic story, without toning down the challenges for especially younger people,” observing that Katz favoured, “radical choices regarding narrative, structure and cinematography.”

The prestigious Robby Müller Award, which honours an ‘image maker’ (director of photography, filmmaker or visual artist) who, in the spirit of the late Dutch cinematographer Robby Müller, has created an authentic, credible and emotionally striking visual language throughout their oeuvre, was bestowed upon American filmmaker Kelly Reichhardt (pictured, below), whose latest feature First Cow screened at IFFR 2021.

“We see in Kelly Reichardt, not just a liberating independence and clarity of aesthetic vision, but also someone who, in a self-evident way, carries on Robby Müller’s legacy,” stated the Müller Award jury. “They share a talent for depicting the American landscape in all its variety as much more than a supporting character, and for portraying humans in the most subtle and sensitive way. Both are able to visualise what can’t be expressed in words by creating pristine, unforced images in which the narrative can unfold and evolve, and the viewer's gaze can wander.”

The full list of IFFR 2021 winners are:

TIGER COMPETITION
Tiger Award: “Pebbles,” by Vinothraj P.S.
Special Jury Award: “I Comete – A Corsican Summer,” by Pascal Tagnati
Special Jury Award: “Looking for Venera,” by Norika Sefa

BIG SCREEN COMPETITION
VPRO Big Screen Award: “The Dog Who Wouldn’t Be Quiet,” by Ana Katz

AMMODO TIGER SHORT COMPETITION
Ammodo Tiger Short Award: “Sunsets, Everyday” by Basir Mahmood
Ammodo Tiger Short Award: “Terranova” by Alejandro Pérez Serrano and Alejandro Alonso Estrella
Ammodo Tiger Short Award: “Maat Means Land,” by Fox Maxy

OTHER AWARDS
Robby Müller Award: Kelly Reichardt
BankGiro Loterij Audience Award: “Quo vadis, Aida? by Jasmila Žbanić
FIPRESCI Award: “The Edge of Daybreak,” by Taiki Sakpisit
KNF Award: “Manifesto,” by Ane Hjort Guttu
Youth Jury Award: “La nuit des rois,” by Philippe Lacôte

It has become Australia's most in-demand destination festival. In the coastal paradise of Coffs Harbour, Screenwave International Film Festival (SWIFF, as it has become affectionately known) is a showcase of the planet's greatest cinema, but also a cultural event that is part of what defines its hometown. In 2021, co-directors Dave Horsley and Kate Howat up the ante again - acting great Jack Thompson has been announced as festival patron; mentors, technicians and industry insiders will guide fresh minds through the inaugural SWIFF Create initiative; and, executive chefs Richie Dolan and Carla Jones prepare a degustation menu celebrating food and wine from the region. All this before you even get to the film program!

SCREEN-SPACE Managing Editor Simon Foster will be present again when the 2021 event kicks off April 14, broadcasting his podcast Screen Watching from the festival and co-hosting the Sci-Fi Trivia Night. He'll also be watching a lot of films; here's his list of 12 must-see SWIFF sessions. All ticketing and session details can be found at the festival's official website...

A BOY CALLED SAILBOAT: In Cameron Nugent’s magical-realism masterpiece, soulful innocence and communal humanity combine with soaring potency. A little boy with a ukulele and love for his grandma can transform the world, the implication being we all can if we just believe we can. The perfect post-2020 movie. Soundtrack to be performed live The Grigoryan Brothers.

ALIENS: James Cameron’s perfect sequel (perhaps the best ever?) remains a riveting, raucous celebration of speculative cinema - a lean, mean exercise in myth-building and world-crafting, in which macho, militaristic posturing is countered by themes of maternal love and female empowerment. With acid-seeping aliens, to boot! (Pictured, right: Sigourney Weaver and Michael Biehn in Aliens)

COLLECTIVE: The Romanian health care sector harbours corruption, greed and tragedy; organised crime and political heavies are profiteering, while patients die. Director Alexander Nanau’s insider account of the journalists fighting to expose and dismantle their country’s systemic avarice is thrilling, inspiring and terrifying; ranks alongside All the President’s Men and The Post as one of the great films about the power of the press.

THE PAINTED BIRD: A young Jewish boy’s odyssey of horror through Eastern Europe’s combat-ravaged landscape makes for a WWII story of merciless heartbreak. Recalling the hell-on-earth nihilism of Elem Klimov’s 1985 Russian masterpiece Come and See, Václav Marhoul’s shattering monochromatic nightmare is the festival’s bravest programming choice, the kind of film that reinforces SWIFF is a truly global film celebration.

DAVID BYRNE’S AMERICAN UTOPIA: In 1984, David Byrne fronted arguably the greatest concert film ever made in Stop Making Sense. Thirty-seven years later, he delivers another one. Directed by Spike Lee, American Utopia - a filmed-version of Byrne’s hit Broadway concert series - is as purely joyful, soul-enriching, thought-provoking American performance art as has ever been created.

JUMBO: It’s called objectophilia, the sexual attraction to and emotional connection with an inanimate object. Noémie Merlant, star of one of the great cinematic romances, 2019’s Portrait of a Lady on Fire, this time focuses her passion towards ‘Jumbo’, the latest crowd-pleasing attraction at the local amusement park. I kid you not, this is the most unlikely and wonderful love story of the year.

LITTLE GIRL: Bring Tissues #1 - Sébastien Lifshitz captures a life both coming into focus and transitioning in Little Girl, the story of Sasha, an eight year-old assigned male at birth who wants to live as a girl. She possesses a soaring spirit, a strength of character that is called upon in the face of social intolerance and institutional bias. Documentary filmmaking at its finest

STRAY: Bring Tissues #2 - A study in displacement as seen from the perspective of three homeless dogs living on the streets and in the abandoned buildings of a Turkish metropolis. Elizabeth Lo’s flea-on-the-wall camera provides a glimpse into lives seeking companionship, acceptance and basic needs; the smallest moment of kindness carries with it immense change.

BREAKER MORANT: With apologies to Mad Max 2, Starstruck and Don’s Party (another Beresford joint), my favourite Australian film of all time is Breaker Morant. In telling the story of our nation’s most famous scapegoat, Bruce Beresford forges one of the great anti-war films, filled with iconic moments (“Rule 303!”), extraordinary craftsmanship and career-defining performances. (Pictured, right; l-r, Lewis Fitzgerald, Bryan Brown, Edward Woodward and Jack Thompson in Breaker Morant)

THE TROUBLE WITH BEING BORN: As we hurtle towards a technological singularity - a world in which robotics and humankind share a consciousness - what responsibilities do we, the ‘creators’, have to the sentient ‘beings’ we have made in our own image? Director Sandra Wollner poses this question in her stark, often shocking, deeply complex near-future sci-fi drama. The best debut feature of 2020.

MEANDER: Challenge your latent claustrophobia with Mathieu Turi’s white-knuckler, in which a young woman (Gaia Weiss, from TV’s Vikings) must navigate booby-trapped tunnels to discover why and how she ended up in this predicament. A little bit ‘Saw’, a little bit ‘Cube’, but so drenched in its own unique style and narrative flourishes it stands on its own merits.

WHITE RIOT: London, late 1970s. Ultra-right racist Martin Webster’s National Front party, spouting Nazi rhetoric and backed by some high-profile music industry types (um...f*** you, Eric Clapton), is polluting the minds of U.K. youth. To fight this scourge, a small group of anti-fascist activists create Rock Against Racism, and a counter-movement is born. Rubika Shah’s inspiring account of the rise of goodness amidst a nation’s ugliest era is enraging, enlightening and ultimately, exhilarating.

CAN SPIELBERG'S WEST SIDE STORY KIDS RUMBLE WITH THE ORIGINAL CAST ?

PREVIEW: 2019 DISCLOSUREFEST FILM FESTIVAL

2019 SCIFI FILM FESTIVAL FIRST WAVE A FEAST OF GLOBAL FUTURISM

THANK YOU, BOYS: DEAD POETS SOCIETY AT 30

SCIFI FILM FEST HONOUREES REFLECT A PLANET OF FUTURISTIC FILM VISIONARIES

PREVIEW: 2019 VETERANS FILM FESTIVAL

JOKER HAS LAST LAUGH WITH ELEVEN 2020 OSCAR NOMINATIONS

GEN-X INFLUENCE CLEAR IN OSCAR NIGHT TALENT ROSTER

THE LIST: EVERY PIXAR MOVIE – WORST TO BEST

THE LIST: EVERY PIXAR MOVIE – WORST TO BEST

DO WE NEED TO DISCUSS JOYSTICKS IN 2020?

DISNEY PLUS HONOURS STAR WARS ARTISTRY FROM MAY THE FOURTH

REVFEST FINDS ITS GROOVE WITH COUCHED FIRST WAVE

REMEMBERING KELLY PRESTON: THE FILMS WE LOVE

PREVIEW: 2020 SYDNEY UNDERGROUND FILM FESTIVAL

RENOWNED ASTROPHYSICIST ANNOUNCED AS SYDNEY SCIENCE FICTION FILM FEST PATRON

VALE MIKE MCPADDEN

SCREEN-SPACE'S BEST & WORST FILMS OF 2020

IFFR 50 GOES GLOBAL WITH 2021 AWARDS ROSTER

OUR DEFINITIVE DOZEN FROM SWIFF 2021