Interview by Andrew F Peirce
Isabella Tree is a noted conservationist and the author of the acclaimed book Wilding, which tells the story of Isabella and her husband as they undertook the immense and impressive journey to rewild their failing four-hundred-year-old estate in England, bringing beavers and cranes back to the country for the first time in years.
Wilding, alongside the…
Director Matthew Rankin on the kindness that sits at the core of Universal Language
Interview by Andrew F Peirce
Matthew Rankin is a Canadian filmmaker who hails from Winnipeg, Manitoba. His work, which includes the acclaimed award-winning 2019 feature The Twentieth Century, has often been called ‘experimental’ or a slice of ‘absurdist comedy’. That’s partially true, but I’d go a step further and say that there’s a touch of humanist storytelling to his work, one that’s crafted from a globalist…
The Cinema Within director Chad Freidrichs on Walter Murch and the power of editing
Interview by Andrew F Peirce
Chad Freidrichs is a documentarian who has crafted a filmography built with a series of fringe stories that unveil fascinating narratives that exist just outside the periphery of normalcy. His first feature doc, Jandek on Corwood, sees a reclusive folk and blues musician gain a following, all the while he never truly engages with his followers fascination with his work. In…
German Film Festival: Andres Veiel on the urgency of his new documentary Riefenstahl
Interview by Andrew F Peirce
Andres Veiel’s latest documentary, Riefenstahl, delves into the dark and deep archive of the private estate of Leni Riefenstahl, exposing the deep ties the filmmaker had with the Nazi regime. Andres uses footage and correspondence from Riefenstahl’s own personal records, including hidden interviews and documents that present a different side of a director who has been both acclaimed and criticised for her…
Joel Potrykus’ Vulcanizadora is sad bastard music for the slacker generation
Review by Andrew F Peirce
Vulcanizadora is a gnarly word, one that–out of context–suggests a fury of rage and violence at the centre of a chaos of noise, conjuring associations with Vikings or death metal music. Its true meaning is something quite different, describing someone who ‘treats crude rubber with sulphur, exposing it to high temperatures to increase its durability and elasticity.’ For Joel Potrykus, Vulcanizadora becomes an apt…
Die Bully Die Directors Nathan Lacey & Nick Lacey on Revisiting Trauma Through a Horror Comedy Lens
Interview by Andrew F Peirce
Die Bully Die is a short film built on the notion of retribution and exorcising the pain inflicted by a high-school bully. Actors and writers Matthew Backer & Drew Weston are directed by Nathan Lacey & Nick Lacey, and collectively they bring forth a horror comedy that shows in bloody fantasy sequences how a victim might just want to throw that…
www.thecurb.com.au/nugget-is-dead-interview-imogen-mccluskey/
Interview by Andrew F Peirce
"Based on a True(ish) story.”
Director Imogen McCluskey continues her exploration of suburban Australia with the comedy-drama film Nugget is Dead: A Christmas Story. This delightfully relatable Aussie Xmas tale was written by Jenna Owen and Vic Zerbst, who both act in the film alongside Aussie screen legends like Gia Carides, Damien Garvey, Ed Oxenbould, Steve Rodgers, Mandy McElhinney, Kerry Armstrong, and Tiriel Mora, and more.
Steph Stool is a dermatologist in training who…
Adelaide Film Festival Review: The Order
Review by Andrew F Peirce
Justin Kurzel is terrified about the state of the world. He’s terrified about the impact of violence from those who inflict it upon society, others, and themselves. He’s terrified of how easily the path along the history of violence can be followed and picked up by those who see evil as a form of leverage, control, and domination. What terrifies Justin Kurzel the most is how violence has found…
Director Natalie Bailey On Crafting the Warped Comedy That is Audrey
Interview by Andrew F Peirce
The Aussie feature film comedy gets a welcome shake up in the form of Natalie Bailey and Lou Sanz’s pitch-black social satire Audrey.
Jackie van Beek plays Ronnie Lipsick, washed up TV star turned mother of two who envies her oldest daughter, Audrey (Josephine Blazier), for the theatrical life that lies ahead for her. Alongside her husband Cormack (Jeremy Lindsay Taylor), Ronnie pours all…
Adelaide Film Festival Review: The Wolves Always Come at Night
Review by Andrew F Peirce
Documentarian Gabrielle Brady immerses herself in the act of collaborative storytelling, working alongside her subjects to bring their truth to life in an act of radical hybrid filmmaking. In her latest film, The Wolves Always Come at Night, we follow Davaa (Davaasuren Dagvasuren) and Zaya (Otgonzaya Daashzeveg), parents to four children who work as nomadic goat herders in the Bayankhongor region of Mongolia. Their land…
Parish Malfitano on Creating the Sensorially Invigorating Salt Along the Tongue
Interview by Andrew F Peirce
To call Parish Malfitano’s sophomore feature, Salt Along the Tongue, a straight up horror film feels like a disservice to the experience of watching this magnificent melodrama-adjacent film. Yes, there are most certainly horrific elements – blood features heavily throughout the film, upsetting tales about the symbiotic relationship between wasps and figs are told, bodies float in the air in unsettling ways, boils and…
Digging into Dance with Yeah the Boys Director Stefan Hunt and Choreographer Vanessa Marian in This Interview
Interview by Andrew F Peirce
Over the span of eleven minutes, the impressive short film Yeah the Boys sways and swerves through a boozy night with the lads in nondescript backyard Australia. Drinking culture, Aussie larrikinism, and the masculinity that finds fertile ground in these areas is brought to life with a pulsing score by The Avalanches. Oh, and all of this is…