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5. Stubbornly Here Director Taylor Broadley Talks About Disappearing Teens and Positive Nostalgia in This Interview
54:53Taylor Broadley's feature debut film Stubbornly Here is a welcome blast of indie filmmaking inventiveness with the Perth-based filmmaker presenting a sci-fi-adjacent story about three teens who live in an apathetic society where teenagers sometimes vanish into thin air. Stubbornly Here speaks to the anxieties of the day, focusing on a generation of kids who have grown up in a world that does not support their future and who the vitality of youth has been robbed of them.Yet, for all of its modernity, Stubbornly Here is as far from a dark, doom-laden experience as you can get, with the film joyfully embracing a trio of friends, Sunny (Cleo Meinck), PJ (Nathan Di Giovanni), and Floyd (Jonathan Maddocks), as they seek to use the vanishings as an opportune way to slink away from the routine life of this sleepy little deathtoll town and start a new existence in Sydney. Their road trip is thwarted early, leading the trio to shack up at a remote motel while they decide on what to do next. There's a sense of adult-free judgement within the film, like having cereal for dinner or wagging school or doing something that you shouldn't. Untethered freedom without concern.What follows is a positively nostalgia-tinged experience of three friends bonding and enjoying the last remnants of their youth before they either vanish or adulthood arrives to steal away their unworried joy. Broadley's script is a delight, full of charming moments of hope and friendship, all of which is brought to life with vivid realisation by Cleo, Nathan, and Jonathan.It's then a surprise to hear from Taylor in the following interview that the three actors only got to meet each other days before shooting began, with the group bonding quickly and forming a friendship on screen. Taylor talks about how he wrote the script for Stubbornly Here, a narrative that feels like he simply had to get it down on the page, and he talks about what it means to be a Perth creative, while also touching on the beckoning nature of Sydney for the sandgropers amongst us.Stubbornly Here is a genuine delight, a warm embrace of inventive filmmaking, creative storytelling, and a keen realisation of what friendship, hope, and the possibility of youth is. I urge everyone who enjoys fear free filmmaking to seek out this film. If you're in Perth, you'll have a chance to catch it at the Revelation Film Festival on 4 July and 13 July 2024. Don't miss it.Support The Curb via patreon.com/thecurbau
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4. Sydney Film Festival: 200% Wolf Director Alexs Stadermann and Star Ilai Swindells on Funny Farts in Films
39:32There's space in this Bluey obsessed world for two Aussie animated canine stories, with Alexs Stadermann's utterly delightful and wonderfully inventive series 100% Wolf following the exploits of one Freddy Lupin, a werewolf who turns into a puffy pink poodle when the moon comes out. Kicking off in 2019 with the bright and brilliant 100% Wolf which saw Freddy at odds with his pack as he had to prove that he had the heart of a wolf, a hugely successful TV series spawned, following the story of Freddy, his bouffant friend Batty, a slightly loopy Papillion, and Hamish, a dottery old West Highland White Terrier, and their group of misfit friends.I was able to chat with director Alexs Stadermann and star Ilai Swindells prior to the films world premiere at the Sydney Film Festival and I got to ask both of them about the delight of fart jokes in films. My chat with Alexs does touch on some slight spoilers, but it's nothing that would impact your enjoyment of the film.
3. Sydney Film Festival: Kid Snow Director Paul Goldman on the Allure of a Boxing Drama
23:18The boxing film subgenre gets an esteemed new entry in the form of Paul Goldman's Kid Snow. Set in the 1970s, Kid Snow follows Billy Howle as the titular character, a washed-up fighter who has one last shot at glory. Shot in the red dirt of WA, Kid Snow also features an impressive line-up of Aussie actors including Phoebe Tonkin, Hunter Page-Lochard, Mark Coles Smith, and Nathan Phillips.Nadine Whitney spoke to Paul Goldman ahead of the World Premiere at the 2024 Sydney Film Festival, with the two talking about Paul's experience of shooting in Kalgoorlie, how he cast the roles, and the allure of the drama within a boxing story.Kid Snow has two more screenings at the Sydney Film Festival on 14 and 15 June before it heads west where it screens as the opening night film for the Revelation International Film Festival in Perth on 3 July. Tickets for all screenings are available now.
2. Sydney Film Festival - Flathead Director Jaydon Martin on Dismantling the Modern Australian Identity via the Docu-Fiction Experience
54:43One of the finest films having its Australian premiere at the festival is Jaydon Martin's stunning feature debut film Flathead. This fiction-documentary hybrid film follows Cass Cumerford, a bloke near the end of his days who returns to Bundaberg, the region he grew up. Swaying into the town, he finds consolation and support with various religious sects that have sprung up in the land before he flows into the life of Andrew, a Chinese-Australian fish and chip shop owner who is dealing with his own understanding of mortality.Flathead follows these real figures as they're nudged along a partly-fictional narrative, and as the film plays with a sublime black and white presentation, it sways into a dreamlike state, providing a highly affecting story about modern Australia.It's that notion of what a modern Australia is that drives the following conversation with Jaydon, who took four years to make the film and had to leave Australia to realise what it was that he needed to make. Flitting into some of the scenes, and delivering a closing duet with Cass, is fellow filmmaker Brodie Poole, a documentarian in his own right who has also essayed what modern Australia looks like on screen with his documentary General Hercules. Both Brodie and Jaydon are engaging in an essential conversation right now about Australian identity and culture, and in doing so, they're also reasserting the notion of who gets to tell stories on screen in this place we call Australia.Flathead is an experience like no other, and my words here barely scrape the thematic text of the film, nor do they do justice to what Jaydon is putting forward as a filmmaker. As a nation, there is a shortage of filmmakers who operate in the realm of social realism, and I'm hoping beyond hope that Jaydon continues down this path. If so, then we will be richly rewarded as his body of work builds over the years.For now, do what you can to see Flathead. It's one of the finest Australian films of the year.It screens on 12 June and 15 June at the Sydney Film Festival. For tickets, visit sff.org.au.
1. Sydney Film Festival: In Vitro Directors Will Howarth and Tom McKeith On Their Grounded Sci-Fi Film
20:21In Vitro is the highly anticipated follow-up from Will Howarth (Bombay Beach) and Tom McKeith (Beast, SFF 2016) after their debut feature Beast was nominated for Best First Feature at Toronto International Film Festival 2015.Starring the director Will Howarth, Ashley Zukerman (Fear Street) and Talia Zucker (Lake Mungo).On an isolated cattle farm, Layla and Jack's life takes a dark turn when a storm exposes the unforeseen repercussions of Jack’s animal breeding technology.Nadine Whitney chats to Will and Tom about creating a sense of extreme isolation in In Vitro, collaborative writing processes, making grounded science fiction, and Ash Zukerman doing the washing.In Vitro screens at Sydney Film Festival on the 6th, 8th, and 9th of June. Tickets are available here: https://www.sff.org.au/program/browse/in-vitro
13. From Hilde, With Love Director Andreas Dresen on Beauty within a Dark Story
32:10The 2024 German Film Festival is currently underway across Australia with screenings taking place from 7 May to 5 June. The poster film for the festival is From Hilde, With Love, by director Andreas Dresen.In the following interview, Nadine Whitney and Andreas talk about his interest in telling the story of Hilde Coppi on screen. Hilde was a young German women who was drawn into the anti-Nazi resistance movement during World War Two.Andreas Dresen is in attendance at the festival as a festival guest, and will be participating in Q&A sessions at screenings of From Hilde, With Love, on Thursday 9 May at Sydney Palace Central, Saturday 11 May at Palace Cinema Como in Melbourne, and Saturday 18 May at Palace Barracks in Brisbane. For all screening times and to purchase tickets, visit GermanFilmFestival.com.au.Thank you for listening to this episode of The Curb podcast. To help keep the Curb independent, visit patreon.com/thecurbau to show your support from as little as $1 a month.
12. Shape Director Roger Ungers Talks About Body Positivity in the Gay Community in This Interview
26:04Roger Ungers is a documentarian who continually presents a new perspective on the world around us. His 2020 documentary Finding Creativity saw him explore the complex nature of creativity, and in turn, he reflects on his own creativity. That personal touch is brought to his latest documentary, Shape.This is a film about physicality and the at times exclusionary manner that the gay community can exhibit prejudice against different body types. Shape explores how a community that is often vocal about celebrating diversity can engage in body discrimination.Shape screened at the Mardi Gras Queer Film Festival in 2024. To keep track of where Shape will screen in the future, visit Roger's website: RogerThatPictures.com.au for more information.Shape will screen at Victorian Pride Centre as part of their pride month events on 19th June 2024 at 7pm. Tickets are available here.