The Curb

The upcoming 18th Annual Sydney Underground Film Festival kicks off in Newtown, NSW, on Thursday 12 September with a Smell-O-Rama screening of John Waters cult classic Female Trouble, celebrating its 50th anniversary. The festival runs until Sunday 15 September with a huge array of films and features ranging from the truly bonkers Vulcanizadora to the superbly surreal Can't Stop the Music extravaganza, alongside frightfully great features like the Aussie dark comedy The Organist to the latest work of the provocative filmmaker Bruce LaBruce, The Visitor.There will also be a book launch from myself on Friday evening at Better Read Than Dead, where I'll be joined by Jack Sargeant and Platon Theodoris to kick off my new book, Lonely Spirits and the King.Tickets for all of these films, and more, are available via SUFF.com.au.Ahead of the festivals launch, I caught up with Festival Director Nathan Senn to chat about what makes an underground film festival an underground film festival, how important it is to showcase films from different genre backgrounds, and what it means to amplify Australian filmmakers like Saara Lamberg, whose film The Lies We Tell Ourselves screens at the festival on Sunday 15 September.We dig into a bunch of recommendations, stories about the films screening at the fest, and a bunch more in this in depth discussion.If you're in Sydney for the fest, come along and say hello. It's going to be one heck of a festival.

Law Chen's familial documentary Starring Jerry as Himself follows retired Florida man Jerry C. Hsu as he's recruited by Chinese police to become an undercover agent. The documentary follows Jerry as he retells his story about how he was recruited, what actions he needed to take to help inform the agents, and, most importantly, the lengths he goes to to hide his recruitment from his family.Starring Jerry as Himself features Jerry and his family re-enacting Jerry's story, which is frequently tense, but thanks to the optimism and positive outlook of the world that Jerry has, the film is also rather endearing.In the following interview with Jerry and his son (and the films producer) Jonathan, we delve into the spoilers of the film, and as Jonathan mentions at the start, the two would hope that audiences go into the film knowing as little as possible.Starring Jerry As Himself was the Grand Jury Prize Winner at the 2023 Slamdance Film Festival, where it also received the award for Best Actor for Jerry, and it was the Audience Award winner.In the following interview, Jerry talks about his life on screen, what it was like reenacting these moments of his life, while Jonathan talks about what it is like to have Jerry as a father.This interview was recorded ahead of the films launch at the Castlemaine Documentary Film Festival in June 2024. Keep an eye out for a future release in Australia.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.   

One of the smash hit films of the year on the festival circuit has been Mike Cheslik's wonderfully inventive Hundreds of Beavers.Ahead of the films launch in Australia earlier this year, Nadine Whitney caught up with the creative team behind the film to discuss all of its eccentricities.Nadine wrote about the film in her review saying:Describing Hundreds of Beavers is almost reductive. It is quite simply a film that must be experienced to appreciate its genius. It is symphonic physical comedy with a sharp eye on what makes slapstick so universally appealing. It is saucy, subversive, and brilliant.Hundreds of Beavers is now available to watch on demand in Australia. We highly recommend you pull together a group of friends and yack it up with this delirious film.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.   

With 2021s phenomenal documentary River under his belt, filmmaker and musician Joseph Nizeti is no stranger to bringing the world of nature to life on the big screen in a way that transforms how we see the environment with live alongside. With his latest film, Fungi: Web of Life, which he co-directs alongside Gisela Kaufmann, Joseph turns from the worlds rivers to the unexplored world of mycology.Fungi: Web of Life is a 3D IMAX presentation which makes its Australian premiere at the 2024 Melbourne International Film Festival, featuring immersive cinematography by Cam Batten, a powerful score by Piers Burbrook de Vere, and two of the most captivating guides through the world of mushrooms that you could wish for: UK biologist Dr Merlin Sheldrake, who walks us through the grand Tarkine rainforest of Tasmania to explain why fungi are vital to a healthy ecosystem, while famed mushroom enthusiast, Björk, provides a calming narration to support Merlin's discussions.Fungi: Web of Life is a fascinating and surprisingly powerful experience that excites the senses and provokes a new way of considering the world around us. In the following interview with Joseph, recorded ahead of the films Australian premiere at MIFF on 22 August, with a follow up screening on 25 August, Joseph talks about his journey to exploring environment on screen through documentaries, how the sound design for a growing mushroom was crafted, and the challenge of presenting nature on screen while also addressing the impact of climate change.To find out more about the screenings, visit MIFF.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.

When tickets went on sale for Andy Burkitt and Jack Braddy's independent Australian feature film, The Organist, at the 2024 Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF), the filmmakers managed a rare feat: they sold out their first two screenings, with a third screening quickly being scheduled. Receiving wide audience support for their world premiere is a phenomenal achievement for these emerging filmmakers.The Organist is a darkly comedic film that speaks to the current global cost of living crisis as it follows Jack's Graeme, a budding organ-procurement businessman who sidles into the lives of struggling millennials and zoomers who have found themselves saddled with an insurmountable level of debt. His solution, or rather, the solution from the company he works for, is to alleviate these struggling souls of one of their organs, and in return their debt will be cleared. In a well rehearsed and successful spiel, Graeme outlines where the organs will go to, detailing the reduced amount of organ donations that's taking place in Australia.Graeme's selling tactics are so strong and persuasive that he's offered a promotion, or rather, an invitation into the darker underbelly of the organisation he works for, where he discovers that the organs he procures don't actually go to needy recipients, but rather one of the wealthy cannibals who pulls the strings behind the scenes.As Graeme falls into the web of the horrid organ donation turned cannibal operation, he encounters Riley (Luke Fisher), a morality focused person who believes he's finally equalled his ledger and seeks to end his life by way of locomotive. Seizing an opportunity to push Riley further into the 'good' side of his ledger, while also equalling up his own ledger, Graeme seeks out a needy donor recipient who can benefit from Riley's demise.The Organist is frequently hilarious, with Jack Braddy's captivating lead turn as Graeme sways from moralistic to opportunistic as he finds himself struggling to stay afloat in a hungry organisation. He's equalled by Luke Fisher's Riley, a soul who was comfortable with the mark he left on the world, only to realise that maybe he has more to give.What follows is a darkly hilarious game of cat and mouse that satirises and critiques the capitalistic society we all live in. This is a confident and impressive debut feature from a set of Aussie creatives who are eager to upend the notion of what Australian films can do. The Organist is a welcome treat as it gives audiences the chance to laugh at the difficult times we live in.In the following interview, Andy and Jack talk about their interest in filmmaking, what Jack learned on the George Miller film Three Thousand Years of Longing that he was able to bring to The Organist, and about the timely presence of the film in the ever-growing cost of living crisis.It screens at MIFF on 13, 15, and 23 of August, with the first two sessions having sold out. For more details, head over to MIFF.com.au.

Akmal Saleh is one of Australia's finest stand up comedians having spent decades keeping Australians entertained through his observant and enjoyable brand of comedy. When not on the stage, Akmal can be heard on screen in an array of kids animated shows like The Wild Adventures of Blinky Bill, Tracey McBean, and the superb animated series 100% Wolf.The sequel to the 2020 werewolf hit, 200% Wolf, hits cinemas on 8 August, and as I continue my championing of the film with interviews with director Alexs Stadermann and lead voice actor Ilai Swindells, I was able to have a chat with Akmal about his work on the film, what it means to be able to improvise as a voice actor, and I even managed to slip in a question about reflecting his 2003 comedy, You Can't Stop the Murders, which Akmal co-wrote and starred in.200% Wolf is in cinemas on 8 August all around Australia and I urge everyone to head along and check out this absolutely delightful and visually spectacular animated extravaganza.Thanks for listening to this episode of The Curb podcast. If you enjoyed what you've heard, please consider supporting us on Patreon where you can keep The Curb independent from as little as $1 a month. patreon.com/thecurbau

In a Violent Nature is one of the most gruesome and gory horror films of the year. It's also a film that Nadine Whitney has called a pure slasher death trip. Director Chris Nash takes audiences on the slasher ride of the year, with his camera following the gnarly Johnny (Ry Barrett) as a silent brute slaughtering an array of college kids who possibly deserve their squishy demise.In the following interview, recorded ahead of the films Australian release on 1 August 2024, Nadine discusses the film with director Chris Nash, delving into the dark delights that this horror offering has. As Nadine mentions in her review, the death trip that Nash takes his audience on shows a bevy of victims who will all face a gruesome demise.To find out more about the film, head over to TheCurb.com.au to read Nadine's review, alongside other interviews and reviews. The Curb is a listener supported platform. To keep us independent and ad-free, head over to patreon.com/thecurbau to support us from as little as $1 a month.

Ruby O'Sullivan-Belfrage is a writer and critic who works and plays on unceded Wurundjeri land. In the wake of Afterwar’s screening at Sydney Film Festival, Ruby O’Sullivan-Belfrage spoke with director Birgitte Stærmose about the impact she hopes the film has, the nature of truth, and how truly annoying the question of genre can be. Afterwar screened at the 2024 Sydney Film Festival, with a release to come in the future.For more interviews and reviews, visit The Curb.com.au. The Curb is proudly an ad free website and relies on community support to stay active. To support The Curb, visit Patreon.com/thecurbau where you can show your support from as little as $1 a month.

Taylor 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