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Ken Kwapis opens his delightful and genuine documentary We are the Shaggs by having a group of people listen and react to a song by The Shaggs. It’s almost a challenge asking if the audience can stick with the film after hearing the odd music created by three teens sisters — Dorothy, Betty, and Helen Wiggin from the mid to late 1960s.We Are The Shaggs screens at the Sydney Underground Film Festival on 13 September 2026. Tickets are available via https://www.suff.com.au/.the Curb... is a completely independent and ad free website that lives on the support of listeners and readers just like you. Visit thecurb.com.au/subscribe, where you can support our work from $2 a month. Paid subscribers get access to our monthly competitions, exclusive interviews and articles, and more.

In 2025, in an interview with Sam Koslowski of The Daily Aus, Mitch Brown became the first openly bisexual footy player in Australia. To give some perspective, the VFL was founded in 1896. That's 129 years since the V/AFL commenced that a current or former footy player felt safe enough to share their story.Over the past year, Mitch has become an advocate for queer voices, speaking about his experiences with biphobia and raising awareness of the impact of homophobia in the league and society. Across social media and in interviews, Mitch has talked extensively about the brutish masculinity of the football world and how masculinity in society can be better. As someone who devoutly follows the AFL and as someone who seeks out and aims to support queer stories in Australia, it both moved me and shocked me that Mitch Brown was the first AFL player ever to share their sexuality. In the AFLW, that openness was part of the foundation of the league back in 2017, with the first Pride round being held in 2018.It then moved me to see Mitchell Withers tender documentary For the Boys feature as part of the Footy Shorts lineup at the Melbourne International Film Festival. This considerate short follows moments in Mitch's life; we see moments with his sons, or the steps he takes to reconnect with the sport he loves by playing with a queer football team, or, maybe most powerfully, we're invited to simply reflect on what living life as a proud bisexual person looks like. It feels like, after a year of explaining biphobia or fielding invasive questions about partners and what happens in the bedroom, that Mitch Brown is now able to step into the life he's always meant to live. In this interview with Mitch, he talks about what made Sam Koslowski a person he felt was safe enough to come out to, and by extension, why Mitchell Withers and producer Sofia Viegas were the right people to share his story on film. He talks about his journey into football and finding community after his football career had finished. This is a deep, honest, open interview. I hope you enjoy listening to it as much as I did recording it. the Curb... is a completely independent and ad free website that lives on the support of listeners and readers just like you. Visit thecurb.com.au/subscribe, where you can support our work from $2 a month. Paid subscribers get access to our monthly competitions, exclusive interviews and articles, and more.

Chouwa Liang's documentary Replica invites viewers to empathise with a world of Chinese women who are finding romance and relationships with AI partners or companions. When human-to-human relationships don't work, Qin, Sonya, and Muna, the women of Replica turn to AI boyfriends who woo and check in on their human partners throughout the day. Each receive romantic poems or pose for selfies with their digital boyfriends, creations who fill a romantic void in their lives. Liang asks us to understand why these women have turned to AI for love. It's something she understands completely, as during the Covid pandemic she turned to an AI partner named Norman for companionship and support. She still talks to Norman, just not as frequently anymore, but it's still there as a sounding board for her.Replica is a gentle and kind film, empathetic and considerate, showing the need for connection in a world that so often drives us further and further apart. In this interview with Chouwa Liang, she talks about her journey from China to Melbourne, where she was a graduate of the University of Melbourne, having studied a Master of Film and Television (Documentary). Chouwa talks about how she engaged with the subjects in her film, while also reflecting on what the feminist cinema of China looks like. the Curb... is a completely independent and ad free website that lives on the support of listeners and readers just like you. Visit thecurb.com.au/subscribe, where you can support our work from $2 a month. Paid subscribers get access to our monthly competitions, exclusive interviews and articles, and more.

Documentarian Selina Miles has crafted a filmography that gives space to women's voices and stories. From her debut feature, Martha: A Picture Story, which took us into the world of street art, to the stunning Harley & Katya which explored the relationship between figure skaters Harley Windsor and Ekaterina Alexandrovskaya, to her latest film, Silenced, which urges audiences to listen to the voices of women from around the world who have been victims of sexual violence, advocates for victims, or lawyers representing many women around the world, seeking justice in an unjust legal system. Women like Brittany Higgins, Amber Heard, journalist and activist Catalina Ruiz-Navarro, and lawyers and human rights advocates like Jennifer Robinson and Sibongile Ndashe, each speak to their experience of fighting through legal systems that seek to silence and dehumanise their experiences.While we hear from these women, there are countless others whose stories inform Silenced, but through legal measures or fear of further legal action, they simply cannot or are not able to talk about their stories.There's an immediacy to Silenced, one that feels as alarming and devastating when you look at the statistics of violence against women in Australia alone. At time of recording, 49 women in Australia have been killed so far this year. A recent report from the University of Melbourne found that 'young people are significantly more likely than older generations to hold hostile attitudes towards women'. This is not an isolated issue. It is a wide reaching issue that sits with all men to address.Gender based violence across the globe is rising, and as we see in Silenced, the path to legal justice is one that's fraught with difficulties, disbelief, and personal costs that often leave the women undertaking legal proceedings in more precarious and difficult situations. For some women, they feel that remaining silent would have been the better option.Silenced is a towering work of emotionality and strength. It's a testament to the resilience of those who experience gender based violence and the support given to them as they move through legal proceedings and attempt to get their lives back to some point of normalcy. This is, quite simply, vital filmmaking.In the following interview, producer Blayke Hoffman talks about the importance of a film like Silenced, how she navigated the legal pathways through making the film, while also talking about the films impact campaign and the Q&A sessions being held around Australia from 1 September onwards. To find out more, visit Silenced-Film.com:Where to Watch — HomeHomeRead more about the University of Melbourne research here:https://www.unimelb.edu.au/newsroom/news/2026/august/young-people-more-likely-to-hold-hostile-attitudes-towards-women,-study-finds

At the dawn of his career, Tony Jones filmed Four Corners documentaries like Frozen Asset alongside producer Martin Butler. Now, for the first time in decades, Tony steps back into the world of documentary filmmaking with his animal advocacy film Sentient.Sentient is not an easy film by any measure. It's complex, harrowing, and simply devastating to experience. That is, quite clearly, by design. After all, Tony is asking us to empathise with the primates, all the while asking the ultimate question: how can we be better citizens of the world and stop inflicting this level of harm on fellow animals? When will we as a global society start to enact change that sees animals as sentient beings with choices and rights?These issues, and more, is what Tony unpacks in the following interview, recorded ahead of Sentient's screenings at the Revelation Perth International Film Festival in July 2026, and now released ahead of the films launch at the Melbourne International Film Festival.Tickets for screenings are available at MIFF.com.au, and Tony Jones will be in attendance at the festival. Screenings are held on 11 & 13 August 2026.the Curb... is a completely independent and ad free website that lives on the support of listeners and readers just like you. Visit thecurb.com.au/subscribe, where you can support our work from $2 a month. Paid subscribers get access to our monthly competitions, exclusive interviews and articles, and more.

James Hunter is no stranger to the Melbourne International Film Festival, having participated in the MIFF Accelerator Lab for his short film Nest (2021). He now returns to MIFF with his feature film debut The Latcher, which he directs, co-writes, and produces.The Latcher follows Lucy Lovegrove's Alice, an out of work midwife haunted by her own personal loss and being plagued by waking nightmares that emerge from the remote land she lives in. Cinematographer Alex Serafini builds atmosphere through lingering shots and suggestive moments.In this interview with James and Lucy, they talk about their creative process, finding the atmosphere on set, and how to detach from the heavy emotions of the film.The Latcher has its world premiere at MIFF on Saturday 8 August 2026 with a follow up screening on 9 August 2026.the Curb... is a completely independent and ad free website that lives on the support of listeners and readers just like you. Visit thecurb.com.au/subscribe, where you can support our work from $2 a month. Paid subscribers get access to our monthly competitions, exclusive interviews and articles, and more.

The following conversation unpacks Melissa's work, while touching on what a future feature film from Melissa will look like. Melissa's work is available to view on her website MelissaAnastasi.com, and I encourage you to dive into the available shorts prior to listening to this interview. I also encourage you to check out her commissioned work too which features music videos with artists like Jane Tyrrell from Elefant Traks and commissioned shorts about mental health.the Curb is a completely independent and ad free website that lives on the support of listeners and readers just like you. Visit our subscription page where you can support our work from $2 a month. Paid subscribers get access to our monthly competitions, exclusive interviews and articles, and more. Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky.

Adam C. Briggs is a prolific voice in Australian cinema, with acclaimed films like A Grand Mockery, Boogie Bobby, and his new film, Phillip Philadelphia, arriving over the span of a few years. His films are the result of collaborations with equally vital voices in Australian cinema, whether it be with Sam Dixon who co-directs A Grand Mockery and features in Phillip Philadelphia, or with Sarah Moore, who he made the short film It Flew Once with.Phillip Philadelphia is at once a lurid experience, and yet, a somewhat mournful one as well. It follows Phillip, a Golden Globe nominated British screenwriter who finds himself whiling away his existence with fuckboy boyfriend Antony (Oliver Cameron) on the vibrant Gold Coast. The neon lights of The Pink Poodle bathe Phillip and Antony as they exist in this desperate town that masquerades as a city.Phillip Philadelphia examines colonialism through a modern perspective, with Phillip regularly swilling liquor from the decapitated head of a Captain Cook bottle. There's a garish tone to the film that welcomes you to luxuriate in it, all the while the theme song by Sanfeliu lingers in the background.It's one thing to pontificate over the film, but it's another to ask Adam about the making of it, what his intentions are with the film, and more. I've been fortunate enough to run a couple of Q&A sessions with Adam at Perth's Revelation Film Festival so have an understanding of what kinds of questions Adam likes - or doesn't like - to answer.It's that perspective about how he likes to discuss his work that opens the following interview. We explore the perception of his films, the nose that Phillip has on his face, and engaging with Sanfeliu to create the theme for Phillip Philadelphia.Phillip Philadelphia screens at the Melbourne International Film Festival on 7 & 9 August 2026. Visit MIFF.com.au for tickets.