Ab Film Review & The Last New Wave

Writer, director, author, all round funny guy Ben Elton has made a triumphant return to cinema with his second film, Three Summers. Set in Western Australia, this is a film that celebrates community, life, music and what it means to be Australian. It's a pure joy of a film. Andrew sat down with Ben to discuss what went into making the film, and what inspired the Australian-ness in it.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

George Miller's classic pig flick Babe: Pig in the City gets a thorough discussion with Michael Denniston from Following Films. Babe: Pig in the City is one of the great Australian animal films, and one that certainly pushes your emotional buttons in every way. As the follow up to the Best Picture nominee Babe, Babe: Pig in the City is a film full of intricate characters and themes.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Writer, director, comedian, producer, actor, Craig Anderson joins Andrew to discuss his latest horror film, Red Christmas. Starring Dee Wallace, this horror film is one that pushes a few boundaries - namely, it's a film with a villain that has a controversial origin. While this discussion is mostly light hearted, it is necessary to put a trigger warning in for anybody sensitive to the topic of abortion. Craig's film is bloody, and most importantly for a horror film, fun. The discussion also covers his work on Double the Fist and Black Comedy, as well as his extensive range of VHS tapes and the archival of Australian cinema. It's a good one. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Umbrella Entertainment have once again come out with an essential Bluray release of a great Australian film. This time, it's Mark Hartley's Not Quite Hollywood. Andrew caught up with Mark to discuss his documentary and find out about the research that went in to making an exhaustive film about a great period of Australian cinema. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The classic Australian kids film, Storm Boy, gets a deep dive on this episode with a new guest - Ben Kooyman. Henri Safran's classic is a powerful, important film about a young boy and his relationship with a pelican that he helps raise. In this episode we talk about the history of Storm Boy, where it stands in the the Australian New Wave period and discuss David Gulpilil's career.Ben runs a fantastic website called Down Under Flix which was part of the inspiration for this show. Make sure to head over to the site and give his reviews a read, and also follow him on twitter here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Teenage Kicks is a powerful, impressive feature film debut from writer/director Craig Boreham. Craig cut his teeth on short films and has established himself as one of the great voices of LGBTIQ cinema in Australia. In this interview, Craig talks about the creation of the film as well as the working process with actor Miles Szanto. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Continuing on from our interview with Zelos writer Claire J. Harris, we now turn to the director - Jo-Anne Brechin. In this interview, Andrew chats to Jo-Anne about what goes in to the directing side of a film like Zelos. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

It's Zelos week on The Last New Wave as we bring the first of two interviews with the minds behind the film. In the first of the two interviews, Andrew caught up with writer Claire J. Harris to discuss how this independent film about infidelity came about and how the process to getting it made occurred. Keep an eye out for an interview with director Jo-Anne Brechin in the next day or two. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode, Andrew interviews director Lorenzo Benitez about his film Six Months to Salvation. Focusing on Lorenzo and six other volunteer English teachers from Australia, Six Months to Salvation looks at the effects of teaching English in a country where it is not the main language. It asks - what does that do to ones culture? See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Andrew is joined by Killing Ground writer/director Damien Power to discuss his debut film. Starring Harriet Dyer and Aaron Pedersen, Killing Ground is a truly terrifying film that will no doubt have horror film fans getting behind it. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On this episode Andrew invites director/editor Mike Brook and his sister and producer/narrator Patti Brook in to his home to discuss their documentary, Something Quite Peculiar: The Life and Times of Steve Kilbey. This is fascinating documentary that looks at the iconic voice behind one of Australia's greatest songs - Under the Milky Way. It questions the role of the artist in relation to the art that they create, especially in regards to that art having taken on a life of its own. As this was recorded in Andrew's home, of course it would be inevitable that his dogs would show up. In the second half of the interview there is a little bit of ambient dog noise. Make sure to keep up on the updates of where Something Quite Peculiar is screening by hitting like on the facebook page right here. Support us on Patreon here Become a Patron!Head over to Ozflix to watch great Australian films.Follow The Last New Wave on Facebook and Twitter. Feel free to leave us a review on iTunes here. Subscribe to the RSS fee

Ann Turner's 1989 horror/drama Celia is a film that has almost been lost to time. It's a powerful film that stars Rebecca Smart in the titular role of Celia, a young girl who is questioning her place in the world after the death of her grandmother. Touching on themes of communism, politics and the desire to own a rabbit, Celia is a brilliant film that is crying out for rediscovery. With thanks to guest hosts David Hart from Pop Culture Case Study and Anya Novak from AnyaWrites.com and Daily Grindhouse, the film is covered in great detail. Even if you haven't seen the film, I highly recommend giving this one a listen. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Project Eden: Volume 1 is an ambitious genre event that was filmed across multiple countries and will - as the title suggests - span across multiple films. Co-written and co-directed by Terrance M. Young and Ashlee Jensen, Project Eden: Volume 1 shifted the ways that films in Australia are released, with pre-release hype built up through various genre festivals around Australia. Andrew was able to talk to Terrance M. Young to discuss the film. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Ah, it's been one whole year since The Last New Wave started and even though I'm a few days late, I wanted to celebrate that milestone with an interview that I absolutely loved doing. This interview is with the director of the documentary It's Not Just Me Jonathan Messer, a documentary about four transgender men in Perth and their journey transitioning from female to male. It's a fantastic documentary that is making up 50% of Jonathan's PhD. It had a couple of packed screenings at this years Revelation Film Festival, which is where I thankfully caught it. It's definitely one of the best documentaries of the year.Even if you didn't manage to catch the film, this interview is still worth listening to. When I started The Last New Wave, I had wanted to cover Australian cinema with all its different genres. I'd hoped I'd eventually be able to interview people along the way and talk about their films, and sure enough, I've been lucky enough to do just that. Being able to sit down and talk a

Secrets at Sunrise is a documentary about the critically endangered Western Ground Parrot and the people who work tirelessly to work to conserve the parrot and the bio-diverse environment they live in in the South West of Western Australia. Andrew caught up with director Jennene Riggs to discuss her documentary and the work that went in to gathering the footage for it.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Round two with some of the team from Watch the Sunset. This short interview with actor, co-writer, producer and co-director Tristan Barr, actor Aaron Walton and cinematographer Damien Lipp was recorded outside Luna SX after I'd had a chance to see the film.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Watch the Sunset is a film about crime, drugs and rural Australia. It's also a film that was shot in one take. Andrew sat down with co-director, writer, actor Tristan Barr, actor Aaron Walton, cinematographer Damien Lipp, and  and Stephanie Mauro who is the graphic designer, Stewart Tyson who is along for the ride, to discuss the film and what the influence was on the production of it. This was recorded right in the middle of Revelation Film Festival, and also right in the middle of Leederville, so there is a bit of ambient noise, but if you make yourself a coffee you'll feel like you were there too. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Meal Tickets is one of the best Australian films of the year. Director Mat De Koning spent 10 years collating footage for this story about Perth band Screwtop Detonators and then combining it into a 90 minute feature about hope, dreams and kick ass music. I gave it a huge four and a half out of five in my review (here), and can't recommend checking it out while it screens at Revelation Film Festival (here).  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Top Knot Detective is a Perth made film by directors Aaron McCaan & Dominic Pearce. It's an homage to SBS films from the nineties – specifically the samurai films screened there. It's insanely fun and it screens at Perth's Revelation Film Festival. Read my review here, and check out when it's screening at Revelation Film Festival here. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Director Mary Zournazi explores her heritage, refugees and canines in the documentary Dogs of Democracy. It's a film that tells fascinating stories about the history of a city through the eyes of dogs, and the roles these dogs play in the ever changing society within Athens. Andrew was able to talk to Mary about her film as well as what inspired her to tell this tale. Dogs of Democracy screens at the Melbourne Documentary Film Festival on the 16th of July at 9:30am. You can purchase tickets here. The screening is a charity screening, with the money raised going towards the RSPCA.For those interested in reading Mary's book which she co-authored with director Wim Wenders, Inventing Peace: A Dialogue on Perception, then you can find more out about it here or purchase it on Amazon here. Support us on Patreon here Become a Patron!Head over to Ozflix to watch great Australian films.Follow The Last New Wave on Facebook and Twitter. Feel free to leave us a review on iTunes here. Subscribe to the RSS feed for