The Curb

Aussie genre filmmaking legend Kiah Roache-Turner is back with his latest flick, Beast of War, a WW2 story of soldiers fighting for their lives on a different kind of battlefield: the shark infested waters of the open ocean.In the above interview, Kiah talks about the journey to getting Beast of War on screen, how the impact of Spielberg meant that he had to shoot the film in Australia, and what creating the giant water tank to shoot in was like, plus much more.Beast of War is in Australian cinemas from 9 October 2025.Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky @thecurbau. We are a completely independent and ad free website that lives on the support of listeners and readers just like you. Visit Patreon.com/thecurbau, where you can support our work from as little as $1 a month. If you are unable to financially support us, then please consider sharing this interview with your podcast loving friends.We’d also love it if you could rate and review us on the podcast player of your choice. Every review helps amplify the interviews and stories to a wider audience. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Bina Bhattacharya is a creative storyteller whose work I've been following for a while now. Her 2017 short film Wild Dances embraced music and cultural identity against the backdrop of Eurovision, while her section in the exemplary anthology film Here Out West, titled The Eternal Dance, is the story from that film that has left the deepest mark on me. Music plays a major role in Bina's filmmaking, and it's another prominent aspect of her feature length debut film From All Sides, with Georgia Anderson's Nina using music to support her passion for dance. This is just one slice of the narrative tapestry that Bina is working with in From All Sides, a drama which presents narratives we rarely see on Australian screens, let alone in global cinema. From the audacious opening which sees wife and husband, Anoushka (Monique Kalmar) and Pascal (Max Brown), engaging in a steamy bisexual foursome, to their domestic lives as parents to Nina and Clyde (Gavril Kumar), and then into the workplace where Anoushka navigates the politics of a support business owned by Toula (Rebekah Elmaloglou). While, on paper, it might seem like there's a lot going on within From All Sides, Bina writes the film like a slice of life. As you'll hear in the following interview, the lived-in perspective of From All Sides comes from Bina herself and her desire to see bisexual stories on screen alongside Australian stories told from a South Asian perspective. This interview was recorded ahead of From All Sides world premiere at the Indian Film Festival of Melbourne, and its subsequent screening at the Queer Screen Film Fest. Queer Screen had previously taken From All Sides to the Marche Du Film in Cannes earlier in 2025 for their Queer Screen Goes to Cannes selection. This is a wide ranging interview with Bina, where we talk about what it means to present stories from Western Sydney on screen, what her creative journey was like to get to this feature film stage, the importance of seeing bisexual lives on screen, and much, much more. To find out more about Bina's work, make sure to follow her on Instagram @binafilmmaker.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Julie Pacino’s dark fairytale I Live Here Now is a powerful and complex debut feature that places the audience in the space between dream and nightmare as Rose (Lucy Fry) finds herself in an impossible but familiar hotel where she confronts the shadows and scars of her psyche.Featuring unforgettable supporting cast including Madeleine Brewer, Matt Rife, and the iconic Sheryl Lee: I Live Here Now is a battle for individuation and selfhood in an internal and external reality that is hostile to Rose and her ambition to take control of her life.Playing at the Sydney Underground Film Festival on 13 September 2025 I Live Here Now will ignite the screen with Pacino’s bold vision. Tickets are available via SUFF.com.au.Nadine Whitney spoke to Julie about what makes I Live Here Now frightening and empowering. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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With two feature films under his belt, Samuel Van Grinsven has quickly become a vital voice in Australian cinema. His feature debut, the lurid and sumptuous 2019 queer drama Sequin in a Blue Room, utilised neon lights and lingering shots of yearning to amplify the sense of lead actor Conor Leach's youthful Sequin finding his place in a new, inviting world.With his follow up feature, Went Up the Hill, Samuel, alongside regular co-writer Jory Anast, explores facets of grief through a gothic possession drama. Here we follow Jack (Dacre Montgomery) who returns home to New Zealand for the funeral of his mother. There, he forms a fractious bond with Jill (Vicky Krieps), the widow of his mother. Where Sequin in a Blue Room explored different shades of blue, from bright neons to dark navy's, Went Up the Hill immerses viewers in shades of grey, placing Jack and Jill in a brutalist style home overlooking a cold lake.This is a film that's hard to shake. I first saw Went Up the Hill over a year ago now and there are moments in the film which have lingered in my mind in a way that that haunts my dreams. The pairing of Dacre Montgomery and Vicky Krieps is a masterful one, with the two exploring emotionality in a way that we rarely get to see on screen in an Australian film. It is, ostensibly, a film about grief and the loss of someone in your life. For Jack, as an estranged son, he has grappled with processing that grief while his mother was alive, making her true passing feel like a new advent of grief and loss. For Jill, that grief is amplified by the arrival of Jack at her partners house, and what that means for her ability to mourn the loss of her partner. These aspects, and many more, are tenderly explored in the film.In the following conversation, recorded ahead of the films screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival, Samuel talks about that colour palette for the film, while also exploring the creative path to exploring grief on screen.At the end of this interview, I misquote the title of Max Porter's essential book about grief, his 2015 novella titled Grief is the Thing with Feathers. I want to read a quote from that book which I feel touches on what this film is about 'Ghosts do not haunt, they regress. Just as when you need to go to sleep you think of trees or lawns, you are taking instant symbolic refuge in a ready-made iconography of early safety and satisfaction. That exact place is where ghosts go.'Went Up the Hill arrives in Australian cinemas on 11 September. It is a film that demands a big screen viewing.Read Nadine Whitney's review of Went Up the Hill here and listen to the interview with Dacre Montgomery here. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The Sydney Underground Film Festival is back once more for another stellar year of underground, fringe cinema, short films and more. This years line-up includes an array of gloriously wild films including Fucktoys by Annapurna Sriram, Queens of the Dead by Tina Romero, Stelarc - Suspending Disbelief, The Pee Pee Poo Poo Man, Take48 shorts, and more. In the following chat with festival director Nathan Senn, I chat to him about pulling this years line-up together, what titles he's excited by, and the glorious poster art that was made for this years festival. To buy tickets and find out more about the festival, visit SUFF.com.au. If you want to find out more about the work we do on The Curb, then head over to TheCurb.com.au, or follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky @thecurbau. We are a completely independent and ad free website that lives on the support of listeners and readers just like you. Visit Patreon.com/thecurbau, where you can support our work from as little as $1 a month. We'd also love it if you could rate and review us on the podcast player of your choice. Every review helps amplify the interviews and stories from filmmakers to a wider audience. New interviews drop on Thursdays, with bonus chats appearing on Tuesdays.  Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Writer, director, and actor Jessica Husband teams up with co-director Ethan Finch to craft the powerful short film Zombie. Jessica Husband plays Claire, a woman who sits on a picnic blanket on a cliffside, waiting for someone to arrive. She turns to her phone, listening to a voicemail from her partner Ted, the words he says provides Zombie with a weight that opens up the films themes of loss and grief.In the following interview with Jessica and Ethan, the two talk about their collaborative process, how they balance the creative mindset versus the corporate mindset which they both utilise with The Vision Production House, a company which creates branded content with a creative perspective.To find out more about Zombie, Jessica Husband or Ethan Finch, or the work created by The Vision Production house, visit the above links to their Instagram profiles.Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky @thecurbau. We are a completely independent and ad free website that lives on the support of listeners and readers just like you. Visit Patreon.com/thecurbau, where you can support our work from as little as $1 a month. If you are unable to financially support us, then please consider sharing this interview with your podcast loving friends.We’d also love it if you could rate and review us on the podcast player of your choice. Every review helps amplify the interviews and stories to a wider audience. New interviews drop every Thursday, with bonus chats appearing on Tuesdays. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Whether it be loneliness, solitude, finding sanctuary in a stifled relationship or waiting for a takeaway meal, or maybe one of the most precious things of all, the comfort in creating for ones self, Kaite Fitz is shifting how we see ourselves on screen. Her short film Smoke, which premiered at the St Kilda Film Festival, presents Lianne Mackessy's main character, a woman who moves through her day, quietly being hollowed out by a void that's emerging within her. Her relationship exists, but it's more of an idea than anything else, yoga becomes an event tinged with friction. Her work, restoring art, is a rare sanctuary.The title, Smoke, alludes to the lingering presence of something burnt, the smell of the past hanging into the future. Sometimes this is a comforting smell, like incense, or sometimes it's a smell that heralds a lie or the smothering of truth, like the lingering haze of cigarettes.Kaite is an emerging Australian filmmaker who presents women who live familiar lives, rolling forward on a continuing existence that persists in the face of stagnation. We rarely see these characters on screen because we're so rarely invited to hear from and engage with women storytellers who present real people on screen. It's no surprise then that Kaite looks to filmmakers like Kelly Reichardt or Alena Lodkina as inspirations for the work that she's doing.In the following interview, Kaite talks about her creative process, about having learned from filmmaker Michael Rowe, working with producer Miki Clarke, the notion of truth on screen, as well as exploring what her creative voice looks like on screen with films like Smoke, and in her as yet unproduced feature screenplay Peachy.This interview is part of the ongoing series of emerging filmmakers who are part of the rising swell of Australian filmmakers. These are storytellers who are collectively, yet singularly, shaping what the Australian film oeuvre looks like, feels like, and sounds like. In turn, they are forming a new language for Australian cinema, shaping what stories are being told, how they're being presented, and much more.Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky @thecurbau. We are a completely independent and ad free website that lives on the support of listeners and readers just like you. Visit Patreon.com/thecurbau, where you can support our work from as little as $1 a month. If you are unable to financially support us, then please consider sharing this interview with your podcast loving friends.We’d also love it if you could rate and review us on the podcast player of your choice. Every review helps amplify the interviews and stories to a wider audience. New interviews drop every Thursday, with bonus chats appearing on Tuesdays. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When Nadine Whitney interviewed actor Frank Mosley, she started their chat with a game akin to Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon. Want to know how to get to Meryl Streep from Frank? Easier than even Frank probably thinks. Frank starred in Geoff Marslett’s Quantum Cowboys which also featured Alex Cox. Alex Cox directed Ed Harris in Walker. Ed also features in Stephen Daldry’s adaptation of The Hours.Frank is usually a supporting or character actor, but when given the chance to lead a film such as Cameron Bruce Nelson’s award-winning 2015 film Some Beasts there is a particular grace to his performance which proves he can (and should) carry a film.Originally from Texas and now living in Los Angeles, Frank has been in three films with Lily Gladstone, Chained for Life directed by Aaron Schimberg, and is an accomplished director in his own right.Frank has the incredible ability to create and sustain community within his artistic practice. He’s open to the absurd, the heartfelt, the just plain weird, and the full dramatic spectrum.Nadine spoke to Frank about working with Albert Birney and Peter Ohs (he also featured in Ohs’ excellent Love and Work) about their 8-Bit fantasy OBEX in which he plays a television named Victor. Take a listen to Frank and his generous and warm presence (even before he’d finished his first coffee) and then go find his work.Check out Nadine's reviews of OBEX and Quantum Cowboys.Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky @thecurbau. We are a completely independent and ad free website that lives on the support of listeners and readers just like you. Visit Patreon.com/thecurbau, where you can support our work from as little as $1 a month. If you are unable to financially support us, then please consider sharing this interview with your podcast loving friends.We’d also love it if you could rate and review us on the podcast player of your choice. Every review helps amplify the interviews and stories to a wider audience. New interviews drop every Thursday, with bonus chats appearing on Tuesdays. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Filmmaker David Robinson-Smith is one of the major voices of the new Australian film industry. His films include Mud Crab, We Used to Own Houses, and his latest effort, The Shirt Off Your Back, each an essential entry in an increasingly vital filmography.When we talk about this 'new wave of Australian filmmakers', a term which I'm starting to lean towards calling 'the rising swell of modern Australian cinema' - it doesn't role off the tongue, it's at least distinct from the last Australian new wave that we had, - we then think of people like David Robinson-Smith, cinematography Jaclyn Paterson, actor-writer Laneikka Denne, actor-director Frazer Bull-Clark, or actor Josh Mehmet.Over the coming months, this notion of the rising swell of Australian cinema is one that I'll explore at length via conversations like this one with David Robinson-Smith, or essays about the creatives I'm spotlighting. Look out for upcoming chats with filmmakers like Lucy Coleman and Kate Fitzgerald.To find out more about David's work, visit DavidRobinsonSmith.com.Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky @thecurbau. We are a completely independent and ad free website that lives on the support of listeners and readers just like you. Visit Patreon.com/thecurbau, where you can support our work from as little as $1 a month. If you are unable to financially support us, then please consider sharing this interview with your podcast loving friends.We’d also love it if you could rate and review us on the podcast player of your choice. Every review helps amplify the interviews and stories to a wider audience. New interviews drop every Thursday, with bonus chats appearing on Tuesdays. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

'Art is labour'. This is a statement from composer Jung Jae-il, the man behind the iconic scores to Bong Joon-ho's Parasite, Okja, and Mickey 17, the Netflix smash hit Squid Game, and Hirokazu Kore-eda's Broker, amongst other works. For Jung Jae-il, the art of composing a score is work.For Jung Jae-il, artists like Roxette, Metallica and Björk are notable influences on his work, with Pina Bausch's dancing leaving a lingering mark on his mind. It's these kinds of artists who influenced Jung Jae-il on his solo album, Listen, released in 2023.For Jung Jae-il, there is a clear delineation between art for the self and art for a job, and it's with his work on Parasite that the distinction is felt, while his passion for his album Listen shows an artist in harmony with his craft.These are just some of the things discussed in the above interview with Jung Jae-il, recorded ahead of his performance of the live score for Parasite at the 2025 Melbourne International Film Festival.Jung Jae-il participates in a conversation with Caitlin Yeo on 23 August at MIFF, with the composer performing a live score for Parasite on 23 August over two sessions at MIFF. Tickets are available here.Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky @thecurbau. We are a completely independent and ad free website that lives on the support of listeners and readers just like you. Visit Patreon.com/thecurbau, where you can support our work from as little as $1 a month. If you are unable to financially support us, then please consider sharing this interview with your podcast loving friends.We’d also love it if you could rate and review us on the podcast player of your choice. Every review helps amplify the interviews and stories to a wider audience. New interviews drop every Thursday, with bonus chats appearing on Tuesdays. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When documentarian Shalom Almond received access to document a group of women prisoners training retired greyhounds to become house-friendly pets for her 2017 film Prisoners and Pups, she opened up a door to be able to capture the hidden stories of women prisoners in Australian jails. Prisoners and Pups is a gentle film that shows the power of rehabilitation programs in prisons, not just for the prisoners, but also for the greyhounds.Now, in 2025, she is back with her essential documentary Songs Inside. Here Shalom captures the lives of women in the Adelaide Women's Prison, becoming part of their lives for six-months as she documents their participation in a music program which sees prisoners learn how to play the ukulele, write songs, and sing, all in preparation for a performance with the Adelaide Symphony Orchestra in front of 200 inmates. The climactic performance became the largest concert staged within an Australian correctional facility.Along the journey, Shalom sits in the cells of the prisoners listening to their stories, accompanies them to hearings, and captures their rehearsal processes. Art becomes a salvation for those inside, a release that is given to the prisoners who show good behaviour. But Shalom is not alone in this process, with Barkindji singer-songwriter Nancy Bates guiding their process to becomes singers and songwriters in their own right.There's a beautiful charm to Songs Inside that never detracts the reality that these are women who have found themselves on the wrong side of the law. But Shalom also never focuses on what crimes they may have done to find themselves in this situation. Instead, she taps into the notion of redemption, showing in the process that their futures are in their hands and this musical process is a part of the healing journey they find themselves on.Ahead of Songs Inside's screenings at the Melbourne International Film Festival, I had a chat with Shalom about her work on the film, what it means to be a supportive filmmaker for her subjects, and more. With a career that spans over two decades, Shalom is someone I know I could talk for much longer about her work, and hopefully one day I will.Songs Inside also screens in competition at CinefestOz, with a full release to come down the line.Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky @thecurbau. We are a completely independent and ad free website that lives on the support of listeners and readers just like you. Visit Patreon.com/thecurbau, where you can support our work from as little as $1 a month. If you are unable to financially support us, then please consider sharing this interview with your podcast loving friends.We’d also love it if you could rate and review us on the podcast player of your choice. Every review helps amplify the interviews and stories to a wider audience. New interviews drop every Thursday, with bonus chats appearing on Tuesdays. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

If we consider who some of the great modern Aussie cinematographers are, we immediately think of names like Michael Latham, Stefan Duscio, Jaclyn Paterson, or the man behind the camera of such films as Of an Age, You Won't Be Alone, Hafekasi, Howl, Blue Bayou, My First Summer, and Sophie Hyde's upcoming film, Jimpa.I'm of course talking about Matthew Chaung.Across his filmography, Matthew has lensed films with a level of empathy, compassion, and understanding that imbues the work with a warmth and tenderness that ensures that the stories linger in your mind long after the credits. When I think of Matthew's work, I think of the golden hour shots in Katie Found's My First Summer, or the discovery of queer identities in Goran Stolevski's intimate Of an Age, or the child level perspective of the world in Annelise Hickey's stunning Hafekasi. With Jimpa, he becomes part of Sophie Hyde's family, shooting the film with inspiration from Nan Goldin's work.In the following interview, recorded at the Sundance Film Festival in 2025, Matthew talks through his work and creative process, while also exploring the notion of what makes his cinematography unique. For Australian audiences, you can see Matthew's work in Domini Marshall's stunning new short film Howl, which is making the festival rounds. Matthew also talks about Dario Russo's new film, The Fox, which is on the horizon and stars Jai Courtney, Damon Herriman, and Emily Browning.If you're keen on finding out more about Matthew's work, visit MatthewChuang.com.Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky @thecurbau. We are a completely independent and ad free website that lives on the support of listeners and readers just like you. Visit Patreon.com/thecurbau, where you can support our work from as little as $1 a month. If you are unable to financially support us, then please consider sharing this interview with your podcast loving friends.We’d also love it if you could rate and review us on the podcast player of your choice. Every review helps amplify the interviews and stories to a wider audience. New interviews drop every Thursday, with bonus chats appearing on Tuesdays. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Dogmilk Films is a collective based between Naarm-Melbourne, Makassar Indonesia, and Paris, France. Founded in 2017, Dogmilk brings alternative and ambitious films to life on screen with impactful screenings of world cinema. In addition to their screenings, Dogmilk has also expanded into filmmaking, with their searing short film Faceless being a prime example of risk-tasking Australian cinema that actively pushes boundaries and questions the status quo of this nations history.Faceless is a piece of co-authored cinema, with co-directors William Jaka and Fraser Pemberton working alongside co-writer, producer and editor Chris C.F., cinematographer Alexandra Walton, composer Josh Peters, production designer Anna Ross, and many more all working together to critique, question, and examine the class system that lives on the Birrarung-Ga (the Yarra River).In the film, William plays an Indigenous man through three parallel realities; in one world he's on the banks of the Birrarung-Ga, encountering a rough sleeper who reveals himself to be a war veteran. Heading up the steps into an art gallery, William takes on the role of an aspiring actor encountering a world of fellow artists utilising pain, distortion, and the recurring motif of fish, to turn anguish into art - or is it entertainment? Finally, as they head up the lift to the heights of Naarm, overlooking the city in a luxurious restaurant, William embodies the role of alpha-male stockbrokers and mining companies, lavishly devouring seafood and guzzling wine, all the while mocking his engagement with Andrew Forrest's Mindaroo mining corporation.There's an acidity to Faceless that, once splashed on the surface of this land, exposes it for what it is: a fractured home of unresolved issues. In turn, those issues have become an unhealthy source of income or salvation.Faceless screens as part of the Accelerator Shorts sessions at MIFF on 13 and 23 August. William received a nomination for the Uncle Jack Charles Award, in collaboration with the Kearney Group, which recognises an outstanding Australian First Nations creative whose film is screening at MIFF 2025. Visit MIFF.com.au for tickets. To find out more about Dogmilk Films, visit DogmilkFilms.com.In the above interview, Fraser and William talk about what their co-authorship process looks like, how exploring pain on screen plays out, and what they're hoping to see from the upcoming screenings at MIFF.Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky @thecurbau. We are a completely independent and ad free website that lives on the support of listeners and readers just like you. Visit Patreon.com/thecurbau, where you can support our work from as little as $1 a month. If you are unable to financially support us, then please consider sharing this interview with your podcast loving friends.We’d also love it if you could rate and review us on the podcast player of your choice. Every review helps amplify the interviews and stories to a wider audience. New intervie Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Suri Chan is a queer artist who pulls from her migrant roots to tell stories about her heritage, her future, and her identity through her poems. In her book But I Don't Feel Empowered, available through all bookstores, Suri uses illustrations and her words to invite readers into her world, often utilising stories of iconic landmarks or food to enrich the senses even more.In the following interview, Suri talks about where her interest in poetry came from, what being a migrant, queer artist means in todays world, and a lot more.To find out more about Suri's work, visit Suri-Chan.com or find her on Instagram at PoemsBySuri.Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky @thecurbau. We are a completely independent and ad free website that lives on the support of listeners and readers just like you. Visit Patreon.com/thecurbau, where you can support our work from as little as $1 a month. If you are unable to financially support us, then please consider sharing this interview with your podcast loving friends.We’d also love it if you could rate and review us on the podcast player of your choice. Every review helps amplify the interviews and stories to a wider audience. New interviews drop every Thursday, with bonus chats appearing on Tuesdays. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

'The front fell off.' The 94 metre 100 metre track. Fred Dagg. 24 years of political satire with Bryan Dawe. These are just a handful of the impactful comedic works from the one and only John Clarke.For over 40 years, John Clarke brought an unparalleled level of wit, politically astute comedic understanding, and pitch perfect timing to Australian and New Zealand audiences. John Clarke's work as a comedian wasn't just to entertain, but to also make audiences sit and think. Whether it be utilising the landmark comedy series The Games as a way of presenting an apology to the Stolen Generation of Australia, or by calling out the hypocrisy of the colonial state we live in, John Clarke utilised his comedic genius to masterful effect.In 2017, the world lost John Clarke, and Lorin Clarke lost her father.Now, after having explored over 200 boxes of John Clarke's work and letters, having written about book about her relationship with her dad, and having interviewed countless fellow comedic masters like Sam Neill, Rhys Darby, and Ben Elton, Lorin has crafted a documentary about her dad called But Also John Clarke.It's just about one of the most enriching and delightful experiences you'll have this year, even if you're not familiar with John Clarke's work - and I kind of almost envy you if you aren't, as you've got decades of work to be entertained by. For a film that could quite easily have become a hagiography or a maudlin experience, Lorin manages to balance the film with a delightful level of charm and compassion. Compassion not only for the loss of her father, but also for the audience who loved him, her mother, and most importantly, herself.In the following interview, recorded ahead of But Also John Clarke's world premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival, Lorin talks about getting the balance right for a film like this, while also touching on the process she undertook to be vulnerable this way.I had an absolute blast and shed more than a few tears watching But Also John Clarke, as I'm sure you will too.It screens at MIFF from 15 August to 24 August, with select Q&A sessions with Lorin in attendance. To buy tickets, visit MIFF.com.au. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After having its world premiere at the Adelaide Film Festival in 2024, and having screened at SXSW and Sydney Film Festival, Kate Blackmore's essential documentary Make it Look Real is now available to view on Netflix. I've followed the journey of this documentary with keen interest, having discussed the film at length in conversations with Kate, co-star Albert Mwangi, and now, bringing the conversation full circle, producer Bethany Bruce.In this deep conversation, Bethany talks about her journey into the arts, what her interest in producing has been, how her work with Staple Fiction is changing storytelling on Australian screens, and what it was like to work with Kate on this powerful documentary.If this is the first time you're hearing of Make it Look Real, then welcome. This is a documentary that lifts the veil on intimacy coordinators, following their journey in film from the initial phases to the day of the shoot. In between scenes of working through the intimacy coordinator process, the film explores how films like Last Tango in Paris could have benefited from having an intimacy coordinator on set. Additionally, while this film is about film and TV production, it does open up discussion for others about consent when it comes to personal relationships.Check out Make it Look Real on Netflix right now, and to find out more about Bethany's work, visit StapleFiction.com.au.Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky @thecurbau. We are a completely independent and ad free website that lives on the support of listeners and readers just like you. Visit Patreon.com/thecurbau, where you can support our work from as little as $1 a month. If you are unable to financially support us, then please consider sharing this interview with your podcast loving friends.We’d also love it if you could rate and review us on the podcast player of your choice. Every review helps amplify the interviews and stories to a wider audience. New interviews drop every Thursday, with bonus chats just like this one appearing on Tuesdays. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Writer-director Domini Marshall is a talent on the rise. With short films like Go with Grace, Slap, and now her finest work yet, Howl, under her belt, Marshall is a force to be reckoned with. Her work is deeply personal, written from a perspective that invites audiences to engage with the internal mindset of her characters, and through that process, we're able to see the world differently.Guiding Domini's creative output is producer Josie Baynes, a equally impressive talent on the rise. Alongside Domini, Josie has worked with emerging talents like Annelise Hickey on her films Stranger, Brother. and Hafekasi, while also allowing cinematographer Matthew Chuang to build a body of work that is also reshaping how Australian stories are seen on screen.I highly recommend you seek out Domini's work on her website, DominiMarshall.com, where you can also seek out her web series her words, released during 2017-2019. It's a deeply informative series, one that pairs well with books like Taboo by Hannah Ferguson.In the following conversation, Domini and Josie talk through their creative process, how they manage to bring us into the internal mindset of their characters, and a lot more.Howl is screening at the Melbourne International Film Festival as part of the Aussie shorts package, alongside Stranger, Brother., I'm the Most Racist Person I Know, Mango Seed, and more. Screenings are held on 11 and 22 August, with online screenings taking place from 24 August. Visit MIFF.com.au for more details. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Grant Hardie is the co-founder of Monster Pictures, one of Australia and New Zealand's leading distributors of horror and genre films. In 2011, Monster Pictures birthed the darkly delightful Monster Fest, which has quickly become Australia's flagship horror and genre film festival.Now, in 2025, Monster Pictures, in partnership with Head Gear Films and White Hot Productions, have morphed into their next stage of evolution, launching Monster Pictures Studios, a full-service genre film studio which aims to work with Aussie creatives to bring genre films to life with the intention of becoming a defining force of Australian genre cinema.There's a giddy level of delight when you read a press release like this one, as if we're honouring the scrappy genre-roots of Aussie cinema, splashing back to the era of Ozploitation where anything was possible. While the Age of Ozploitation is over, that doesn't mean Aussie filmmakers can't birth a new movement, and hopefully Monster Pictures Studios is going to do just that.First films off the ranks includes the action-thriller Seven Snipers, directed by Sandra Sciberras, featuring Radha Mitchell, Tim Roth, Ioan Gruffudd, and Ryan Kwanten. The next wave includes films from horror legends Greg McLean & Sean Byrne, while Matt Day will be making his feature directorial debut.I caught up with Grant Hardie to talk about Monsters Pictures ability to engage with audiences, filmmakers, and to shape how horror and genre films are embraced in Australia.To find out more, visit MonsterPicturesStudios.com.Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky @thecurbau. We are a completely independent and ad free website that lives on the support of listeners and readers just like you. Visit Patreon.com/thecurbau, where you can support our work from as little as $1 a month. If you are unable to financially support us, then please consider sharing this interview with your podcast loving friends.We’d also love it if you could rate and review us on the podcast player of your choice. Every review helps amplify the interviews and stories to a wider audience. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Eya’s (Safa Gharbaoui) world as a 12-year-old Belgian Tunisian is filled with warmth and humour. She’s considered the welcome extension of her older brother Younès (Mehdi Bouziane) whose friends treat her like a part of their family. She loves viral dance moves, French rap, football, and riding on the back of Younès’ motorcycle. She’s bright and happy, especially when she’s included in Younès circle.When Younès becomes “collateral damage” in a shooting incident, everything Eya thought was her life becomes turned upside down. Maja Ajmia Yde Zellama’s debut feature is a beautiful and powerful representation of the Tunisian community in Brussels as Eya’s family and extended family mourn and honour Younès and Eya finds strength in the gentle young men around her: and the spirit of Younès and what he meant to his community opening up a profound understanding of the importance of one life.Nadine Whitney spoke to Maja Ajmia Yde Zellama about creating examples of healthy masculinity and how her own upbringing influenced Têtes Brulées.Follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Bluesky @thecurbau. We are a completely independent and ad free website that lives on the support of listeners and readers just like you. Visit Patreon.com/thecurbau, where you can support our work from as little as $1 a month. If you are unable to financially support us, then please consider sharing this interview with your podcast loving friends.We’d also love it if you could rate and review us on the podcast player of your choice. Every review helps amplify the interviews and stories to a wider audience. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.