It’s not very often a film will change my perspective on life, but after viewing Taryn Brumfitt’s documentary Embrace it was a completely different story. The roots of this inspiring documentary stem from a post of Brumfitt’s that went viral in 2013, depicting Taryn in an unconventional before and after photo – from having a…
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Gimme Danger turns the amp up to 11 and never turns down for a second in its nearly two hour running time. Super loud, super charged, and super excellent, this documentary charting the rise, quick demise, and subsequent reunion of The Stooges is one hell of a good time. Written and directed by super fan…
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Jennifer Peedom‘s documentary Sherpa: Trouble on Everest has won an Audience Award at Perth’s International Arts Festival. Jennifer Peedom said: “I’m thrilled that Sherpa has been so incredibly well received by audiences at the Perth International Arts Festival. It’s validating to know that the film is connecting with the Australian audience so well and this audience award is…
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Today we look at three brilliant music documentaries that screened at SXSW last month as part of their phenomenal 24 Beats Per Second music focused program: The Smart Studios Story With an 4:3 aesthetic that takes it right out of a 1990s MTV world – all its missing is Kurt Loder’s narration – The Smart Studios…
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She’s Beautiful When She’s Angry is a little documentary with a big, important message. It chronicles the second wave of feminism in the United States from 1966-1971. It was a tumultuous time that saw some radical changes. This film is an illuminating one that tackles one key part of a complex social movement. This documentary…
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Alexander Dunn’s expositional documentary 808 takes its name from the Roland TR-808, one of the first programmable drum machines. Originally manufactured in early 1980 for studio musicians to record demos, the 808 was criticized for its unrealistic drum sound and was likened to the sound of marching ants. However, the snappy, tinny sound of the…
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Like the titular feathered character, I am Big Bird: the Carroll Spinney Story is big-hearted, filled with love and curiosity. This documentary by Dave LaMattina and Chad Walker explores the life and times of the man inside the big yellow bird that has been a joyful part of an inestimable number of childhoods over the…
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With its launch on Thursday (23 July), the 8K Radius Film Series will be premiering at Lido Cinemas, presented by director Clayton Jacobson and co-presented by the City of Booroondara. The series entails mini-documentaries that showcase the lives of everyday people and takes a look at their lives in the Lido community. Jacobson took the time to…
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The Cambodian Space Project – Not Easy Rock ‘n Roll was a documentary hit for audiences that attended Sydney Film Festival. Larry Heath had the opportunity to speak with both producer, Richard Kuipers and cinematographer, Marc Eberle about the film and how it developed.
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Australia’s rock and roll history will be explored in the upcoming two part documentary, Blood and Thunder: The Sound of Alberts. The documentary surrounds the Australian rock and roll industry in the 1960s and 70s, and the two families that dominated the rock scene: the Alberts and the Youngs. Part one, Blood, explores music producer…
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Track the movements of several gastronomy-addicted bloggers while they travel around the world and eat at some of the absolute top restaurants, most guided by the holy foodie grail that is the Michelin Star rating system. It seems like a terrible idea when you think about it – food bloggers are notoriously uninteresting – but…
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Jennifer Peedom’s Sherpa is worthy of praise for maintaining it’s focus when it could have easily been lost in the majestic and overwhelming beauty of Mount Everest. The team behind this documentary explore the increasingly strained relationship between the international climbing community and the Sherpas who make such climbs possible, effectively capturing the anxiety that…
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Over 86 minutes, this chilling documentary details how a (very) small, quiet town in North Dakota slowly transformed into a breeding ground for hatred and paranoia over the course of a few months. It’s easy to watch Welcome to Leith as a highly effective thriller, forgetting that the events going down in the film actually…
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Just Eat It: A Food Waste Story is a food documentary that will leave you being unable to look at your fridge and food in the same way again. Documentary filmmakers, Jenny Rustemeyer and Grant Baldwin have put together a tight and informative look at the issue of food waste. It offers some eye-opening statistics…
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The Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI) and Victorian Government are teaming up to create the ultimate incubator for emerging documentarians are on the hunt for young Victorians to get involved. Hothouse is a weeklong intensive program for Victorian students in Years 10 to 12, aimed at nurturing creativity and moving image skills. Ten…
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US documentary MAVIS!, about the life of gospel singer and civil rights activist Mavis Staples, now has a home, with subscription channel HBO acquiring the rights to the documentary. Directed by Jessica Edwards and produced by New York-based company Films First, MAVIS! explores Staples’ illustrious career, which began with singing in a church gospel choir…
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In Austin for the North American Premiere of the film about his own life, The Iris’ Johnny Au meets the final NASA Astronaut to step foot on the moon, Astronaut Eugene Cernan, to talk about the Documentary The Last Man on the Moon. Eugene talks about having his life documented in conversation with Johnny, the…
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When it comes to true music icons, it’s fair to say they’re a rare breed – but anyone who knows Mavis Staples will tell you: she’s in a league of her own. With some sixty five years of performances behind her – and more still to come (she’s touring Australia as we publish this piece) –…
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Brendan Toller is a rock and roll maniac. Having directed his first film, I Need that Record: The Death (or Possible Survival) of the Independent Record Store, he came into contact with many of rock and roll’s greatest figures, including the lesser known Danny Fields, who was responsible for the success of many iconic bands…
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While at SXSW earlier this month, Larry Heath sat down with Jessica Edwards, the director and producer of Mavis! – a new documentary about the legendary Mavis Staples, who just so happens to be touring Australia as we publish this piece. The pair talk about the experiences of making this film, the icon herself and much…
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Love Has No Age should be renamed “Love Has No Boundaries”. The documentary short is a blissful romance story spanning over four decades. It’s also a beautifully-shot film and a warm slice of pure joy. The film is directed by Eli Born who has previously directed music videos for the likes of: Jack White, Iggy…
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A film about The Dull Men’s Club doesn’t scream “entertaining” but Born to Be Mild is the exact opposite of everything you think it is. The documentary short revels in celebrating the ordinary and mundane. And it’s packaged in such a warm and optimistic style and along with an upbeat soundtrack, this means it is…
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The name Danny Fields may not mean much to some people but to those in the know he is “The coolest man in the room”, a number one fan and groupie and even the “Mayor of New York City”. The man seems to have seen and done it all in music, having fully immersed himself…
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Underneath what we see in our daily browsing – our emails, Facebook, people’s banal commentary on Twitter – is something called the dark web. It’s like looking under the hood of a car – a mind bogglingly immense and completely unseen part of the Internet that is mostly made up of lines of HTML code….
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Boxeadora, a short 16-minute documentary by American filmmaker Meg Smaker, starts with a brief foreword, “Since Castro’s revolution, Cuba has won more Olympic Gold Medals in boxing than any other country in the world”. Pretty mean feat for a small country, considering most of their opponents would be from nations with a lot more financial backing in sports….
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How do you look at someone that’s committed a reprehensible act? Can they be forgiven, are they the devil and what do you do if they’ve achieved great success prior to this event? These are the sorts of questions that are raised in the documentary short, unmappable, which is about Denis Wood. The film is…
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Above and Beyond is a documentary that follows a ragtag group of skilled American pilots, both Jewish and non-Jewish, who answered the call to aid in Israel’s War of Independence from 1948-1949. This band of brothers, comprised of many WWII veterans, would not only see their lives altered in unexpected ways, but would also leave their…
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If you remember the sixties, you weren’t there. But this is no longer a problem thanks to the 10-part documentary series, The Sixties. The program is an informative and in-depth account of a formative and tumultuous decade, especially for America (and it is from this slant and perspective that this TV series is told). The…
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Alright, straight up, no word of a lie, Land of the Bears has got to be the cutest, most heart-warming, most excellent display of bears on screen outside an 87-point Buzzfeed post about cutesy bears. Why? Because it’s a beautifully shot documentary – that you can watch in 3D, thanks very much – about a…
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Won’t somebody think of the children? This may be Helen Lovejoy’s catchphrase from The Simpsons but it could also be used to sum up the documentary, InRealLife. The film could have asked a series of timely and important questions about the Internet but instead it feels like heavy-handed and judgemental scare-mongering. The film is written…
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