In the Shadow of the Moon

Burma VJ

Actual footage from inside Burma, shot by Burmese, many of whom ended up in jail or tortured by Burma’s oppressive military regime. The material is shot using small handycams by Burma’s VJs (Video Journalists), then smuggled out of the country and broadcast back into Burma via satellite and offered free to the international media. Read more

Defamation documentary trailer

Does Israel use the Holocaust as an excuse for their continued issues with the Palestine people? According to this film, yes. Are people who criticise Israel’s foreign policy often unfairly labelled anti-Semitic? Again, yes according to this brilliant documentary made by an Israeli-Jew. Instead of passing judgment himself, filmmaker Yoav Shamir is smart enough to put himself and his camera in the right places, surrounded by the right people, and let the people damn themselves. Read more

Mad Hot Ballroom

Set in the bustling metropolis of New York, this brilliant documentrary by Marilyn Agrelo takes an insiders look at the annual ballroom dancing contest that sweeps through the public school system every year, wrapping a select group of Gotham kids up in the excitement and emotion that characterises the event. Who would have thought such a traditionally staid pursuit could be so dramatic?

Precious

A film about a horrendously obese girl who has two kids, with Mariah Carey in it and produced by Oprah. Sounds awful and at first, I couldn’t be less interested, but it turns out, I couldn’t be more mistaken. Based on the novel Push, it’s a tight and intelligent script realised by dedicated actors and exquisite direction. Read more

Besh o droM tour Australia

‘Most bands that play traditional music, do it in a traditional way. What’s interesting for us it to keep it fresh and make it a living tradition,’ said Gergely Barcza of Hungarian gypsy-fusion band Besh o droM. Formed in Budapest in 1999, the name translates as ‘ride the road’, which they’ve done with performances at festivals all over Europe, Asia and soon for the first time, in Australia. ‘When we started, I never thought the music would travel so far, and take us all to so many different places.’ Read more

Quiet Chaos (Caos Calmo)

Often a film revolves a major action or series of events, while at the centre of the Italian film Quiet Chaos, is a mammoth but not uncomfortable hole. When a TV executive’s wife suddenly dies, he takes to spending his days outside his daughters school, but instead of his life falling apart, his friends and relatives come to console him, and faced with his calm, they end up revealing their own difficulties. Read more