Girl Asleep is a colourful and creative film about leaving childhood behind. Set in 1970s suburban Australia, the film is a visual delight, and a clever representation of the confusing and somewhat terrifying experience of being a teenager. 14-year-old Greta Driscoll (Bethany Whitmore) has just moved house and started a new school. She meets Elliott…
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This past weekend, the National Young Writers’ Festival was held alongside This is Not Art (TiNA) in the little city of Newcastle. The festival gets bigger and better every year and I had the privilege of seeing some amazing up-and-coming writers and artists discuss their craft, and the issues that pertain to that. Festival highlights…
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‘Becoming Bette’ is a one-woman show by artist and performer Elizabeth Scales. Hailing from Brisbane, she brings her show to Melbourne for a pre-Fringe festival viewing. Held at the Butterfly Club across the weekend of the 10th and 11th of September, Scales’ viewing was a cozy and intimate one. The show is a semi-autobiographical story…
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The lone, brilliant man is the archetype in film I find the most groan-inducing. Spanning all genres, the lone, brilliant man can be the action hero who saves the world before time runs out, the only genius in the world who can crack the case, or the innovative creator of a technological advancement that changes…
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Feminist fans of the popular television show Gilmore Girls will be happy to know that one of its lead actresses has described the series as ‘sneakily feminist’. In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Lauren Graham (aka Lorelai Gilmore) expressed frustration with the collective obsessing over the love lives of the Gilmore girls in the…
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Wouldn’t it be wonderful if schools taught mapping using paintings and stories instead of drab contour lines? In her latest memoir, aptly named Position Doubtful – mapping landscapes and memories, artist and award-winning author Kim Mahood masterfully paints rich Australian landscapes and people. She paints using pigments. She paints with narratives. The book’s title takes…
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Body image sort of feels like one of those topics that we, as a society, should have conquered, put aside, and moved onto bigger things. It feels like a topic that we have collectively heard so much about: incessantly, I am bombarded with inspirational quotes on social media telling me to ‘love myself’. We have…
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So Sad Today is a book of personal essays by Melissa Broder, detailing her struggles with addiction, anxiety, panic disorder, relationships and an overwhelming fear of death. The book originated from an anonymous Twitter account of the same name in 2012, tweeting about the human condition in catchy one-sentence bites that were in equal parts…
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Netflix Original’s most recent releases include Tallulah, a heartfelt story of three women whose lives unexpectedly intertwine. Starring Ellen Page and Allison Janney, the film seems right at home on the streaming service that brought us Orange Is The New Black and Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, where nuanced depictions of women are fast becoming the norm. In…
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If you’re anything like me when it comes to talking 16th Century monarchs, I’m sure we’re all familiar with the glorified images provided to us by Hollywood and the likes. I just assume there’s a lot of velvet and feasting going on, mixed in with a whole bunch of inequality towards all minorities, specifically women….
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“Good daughters hold their tongues, obey their elders and let their families determine their destiny. Rebellious daughters are just the opposite.” Rebellious Daughters is an anthology of essays by Australian female writers that explores rebellion, identity and the familial bond. Editors Maria Katsonis and Lee Kofman have curated a challenging and important collection of pieces….
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Two weeks ago I got my first tattoo. When my dad found out, he asked if I was drunk, very loudly, down the phone. ‘I’m pretty sure it’s illegal to tattoo drunk people, Dad.’ Honestly, we’re British, so naturally, even though I know that my dad doesn’t like tattoos, I assumed that he’d just never…
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Cabaret’s roots date back to the 1880s when bohemian poets, artists and composers would gather in French saloons to share creative ideas. It developed into a style of alcohol-infused risqué musical performance, notoriously characterised by improvisation, audience interactivity and small, intimate venues. In 2016, performers Tara Dowler and Louise Mapleston infuse cabaret, musical comedy and…
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If you haven’t heard by now about the 365 Docobites being shown on SBS2 every night from June until next year, it’s about time you got in the loop. Epiphany Morgan and Carl Mason are Sydney-based partners in life and in filmmaking, who have accomplished the mammoth task of filming 365 small documentaries – or ‘docobites’ – at locations across…
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