the Curb

When I think of the sounds of Western Australia, the licks of Wide Open Road by the Triffids hits my mind, or maybe The Waifs yearning to be back in London, or occasionally it'll be a wistful memory of a cleaner dancers in a mental health facility pop up in my mind.

But drowning all of those sounds out is the infectious licks of guitars and bass from Chris Daymond, Kevin Mitchell, Ness Thornton, and the thumping drums of Brett Mitch...

In the early 1980s President François Mitterrand had a bold vision for Paris. It was his intention to create a new artistic epoch that would be as new and as hopeful as his election as the first left-wing leader of the Fifth Republic. Part of his vision was the Grandes Opérations d'Architecture et d'Urbanisme. Amongst these projects were the Louvre Pyramid, the Musée d'Orsay, Opéra Bastille, and La Grande Arche de la Défense &mdash...

There's something in the water in Adelaide that's forcing a major change within the Australian film industry. The Adelaide Film Festival exists and has continued their great financial support for establish and emerging filmmakers, helping nurture the budding ecosystem which has seen talent like the Philippou brothers explode into the world and change how modern Australian films and filmmakers are seen.

Elsewhere in Adelaide is somet...

As you'll hear in the below interview with festival programmers Parker Constantine and Flynn Boffo, I have a huge level of admiration for the work that The Collective of Underground Movie Lovers is doing in Sydney right now. This kind of grass roots, film enthusiast film collective is part of the changing face of Australian cinema. Through people like Parker and Flynn, creativity thrives, it grows, it survives.

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Madison Dell'Aquila is, as her website proudly states, "constantly looking forward to challenging what people say can't be done." That mindset is strongly applied with the new platform Heretica, a website which aims to enhance the opportunities that women and gender diverse crew have on film and TV productions in Australia all the while dismantling the gender divide that exists in one of Australia's major cultural institutions.

Whi...

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 2...

In our second part of two interviews about the tender short film For the Boys, director Mitchell Withers and producer Sofia Viegas talk about their journey into filmmaking, creating a safe space for Mitch Brown to share his story as an openly bisexual footy player, and about Australian culture, plus much more.

This is an honest, open, considerate discussion, and I'm beyond grateful to both Mitchell and Sofia for sharing their storie...

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 awa...

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 wh...

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 worl...

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 ...

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...

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 comm...

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 Fl...

While Australian comedies are making their mark on the small screen, they've been moderately absent on a film level, with only a handful emerging over the years - Audrey, How to Please a Woman, Birthright, and now, James Robert Woods acidic comedy The Birthday Trip.

This distinct and brutally hilarious comedy follows a group of friends heading out to the prestigious, six-star Lothian Gate for a birthday weekend. Over the course of a...

Multi-hyphenate talent Laura Brogan Browne is the voice behind the powerful short film Allegedly, an impactful story about Clover (Bailey Spalding), a high school graduate who participates in an anonymous survey she's sent by her high school mentor and former teacher. What initially presents as an innocuous student-teacher relationship transforms into a predatory experience for Clover.

Allegedly is based on true events and stands as...

For regular readers of the Curb..., you'll no doubt be familiar with the admiration and respect that I have for Laneikka Denne and the cohort of filmmakers and storytellers they've worked with over their career. The pinnacle of that admiration came in 2024 with the short film Oi, directed by the equally great Sophie Serisier. That film sat comfortably at the top of my Best Australian Films of the year list, a statement that's been ...

Brandon Daley's $Positions has the makings of a cult classic. Nerve shredding at times, before hollowing you out with giddy laughter at others. It screens at Revelation Perth International Film Festival on 13 & 14 July 2026. Tickets are available via RevelationFilmFest.org.

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