Gabriel Mascaro's filmography embraces narrative perspectives that we rarely see on screen. His 2019 film Divine Love is a neon soaked dance experience that amplifies love and unity against a backdrop of bureaucracy, while his 2015 film Neon Bull invites us into a world of rodeos, horse dancing, and flights of fantasy, and in the process, Gabriel invites us to consider the world anew.That approach to narrative storytelling continues with his latest, and in my view best, film, The Blue Trail.On paper, The Blue Trail sounds oppressive, dystopian, and bleak, as it tells the story of a Brazil which seeks to embrace economic recovery by creating a system where senior citizens over 80 are deported to a 'colony'. We're never shown the colony, nor what occurs to the citizens when they reach there, but we don't need to see it either, given the way that elderly citizens are transported in prison like vehicles - a small van with a cage like apparatus on the back - called wrinkle wagons, forcing the elderly into this colony existence.Yet, what Gabriel Mascaro presents is instead a film that is quite beautiful and tender, reminding audiences that while the elderly may be old, it does not mean that they don't have any more life left to live. Our hero of the story is Tereza, conjured into superb existence with one of the best performances of the year by Denise Weinberg, a 77 year old woman who finds herself scooped up in the unexpected age reduction of the colony residents which now includes her age group. Instead of embracing her fate, Tereza defiantly says that she has a life left to live, and embarks on ticking off some of the things she has never achieved, one such activity being that of flying.So, thwarting authorities and making friends with the underworld, Tereza sets off on the Amazon, heading down river to find a place that will help her achieve her goal of flying, and maybe a little bit more along the way.The Blue Trail is a lovely ode to living a full life in your older years. Gabriel Mascaro's direction is a supportive and nurturing one, easing the viewer out of any form of tension and inviting an embrace of comfort and tenderness instead. That direction is wonderfully supported by the stunning cinematography from Guillermo Garza whose lens captures the nature of the Amazon with care, and brings a life to the almost desolate riverside shacks that Tereza makes her way in and out of. Paired with this is the soaring score from Memo Guerra, a composition that pulses with techno like sensibility paired with an almost orchestral vibe at times. It's unique, yet wholly appropriate to the film itself.The Blue Trail stands apart from similar films which might have embraced the tone of a thriller or increased the tension by putting Tereza into precarious situations that she can't get herself out of. It's then a relief to experience The Blue Trail and see that Tereza is a fully rounded person, she might be older than her counterparts on screen, but she's competent and knows how to handle herself. Gabriel clearly cares for her, and in the process of that, he knows that by showing her support and tenderness, he's also inviting audiences to reconsider our relationships with elderly folks.That's one of the discussion points, amongst many, that Gabriel talks on in the following interview, recorded ahead of The Blue Trail's screenings at Perth Festival. Sign up for the latest interviews, reviews, and more via https://www.thecurb.com.au/subscribe/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
If there's one filmmaker who has left a mark more than any other on my life, it's been Kelly Reichardt. Through her work, I've gleaned an understanding of what American life through the ages is like. From the pioneer days captured with a desolate despair in Meek's Cutoff, to the heart shattering singularity of Wendy and Lucy, to the manner that taste and fortune appear in opportunistic ways in First Cow, and now, with her latest film The Mastermind, we see a nation at another nexus point, pushed by the Vietnam War and a changing society to be something different, something possibly more equal.The Mastermind is a bit of a heist film, but it's a heist film in the way that First Cow was a heist film, meaning, the nature of the heist is almost perfunctory in that while it's the instigating action for the film, it's the outcomes of the heist that throws Josh O'Connor's James Blaine Mooney life into disarray. Not that his life wasn't in some level of disarray with the feckless out of work father mooching off his parents, all the while his loving wife Terri (another great turn from Alana Haim) has to look after their kids while also working a full time job.James comes up with the idea to steal four abstract paintings from the local art gallery. What he intends to do with the paintings once he has them, we never find out. But it's also quite likely he has no idea too. Josh O'Connor is easy to watch here, so captivating as someone who thinks he's smarter than he is, but really just needs to be nudged along to make something of his life.Yet, for me, he's not the interesting part of The Mastermind. Instead, I found Kelly Reichardt's interest in the bystanders of the 1972 Worcester Art Museum robbery to be more fascinating. Kelly has talked in the past about her fascination with people stealing art, but what drew her to this robbery in particular was the schoolgirls who were bystanders and observed it happen. She plants similar girls as observers of James Blaine Mooney's heist, and it's through their brief perspective that we're also invited to see the film from the viewpoint of the women of the story.It's an idea which I asked Kelly about in the following interview, which talks about the viewpoints of The Mastermind, while also discussing how Kelly's films view the changing state of America. We close by talking about the importance of accessible art, and what it means to be able to see art in rural or remote areas.Sign up for the latest interviews, reviews, and more via https://www.thecurb.com.au/subscribe/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Emmanuel Courcol's heartwarming and heartbreaking film My Brother's Band, aka En Fanfare or The Marching Band, is a film about Thibaut (Benjamin Lavernhe), a conductor who discovers he has leukemia and needs a bone marrow transplant. After discovering that his sister is not his blood related sibling and the he was adopted as a child, Thibaut goes down a path of discovery to find his birth mother, and possible siblings. He discovers he has a brother, Jimmy (Pierre Lottin), a working class man who also has an affinity for music.My Brother's Band invites us to consider just who has access to art, and whether restricting art to those who can afford to engage with it is the right thing at all. It's also about the power of sibling relationships, both from adopted families and from blood relatives. If there's another film from this year that feels aligned to the tone and message that Emmanuel Courcoul is putting forward, it would be Miki Magasiva's Tinā, which also speaks of the power of music and the joy it can bring in the shadow of personal upheaval.I spoke to director Emmanuel Courcoul, with the assistance of interpreter Sally Blackwood, about the making of My Brother's Band, the emotionality of the film, and what he hopes that Australian audiences will get from the film.For those who don't speak French, the first half of this episode includes the interpreted responses from Sally Blackwood, while the second half of the interview includes both Emmanuel's French responses and Sally's interpreted responses.My Brother's Band is in full release across Australia from Boxing Day, with advanced screenings taking place from 12 - 14 December 2025. Check your local cinema for screening details. This is a film that is best seen with a full audience.Sign up for the latest interviews, reviews, and more via https://www.thecurb.com.au/subscribe/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Shaun Tan is many things. He's an Academy Award winning animator, he's an artist who has taken the fantastical to suburbia and made both feel real and otherworldly, and he's someone who has poured years into shaping personal stories into profound imagery. To me, he's more than just those things. He's someone who has translated what it means to live in Perth, what it means to grow up in a version of suburbia that spreads far beyond our horizon, and more importantly, what it means to grow up in a multicultural landscape like Perth, where the history of pearl divers in Broome can linger in the ochre brick homes of Wanneroo, or vacant lots become the home to giant oxen. This conversation with Shaun sees the artist open up about his work, the relationship with the suburbs, and how these aspects played into facilitating the translation of his acclaimed book Tales from Outer Suburbia into the new ABC animated series, Shaun Tan's Tales from Outer Suburbia. It hits ABC iView on 1 January 2026 and it's quite simply one of the most beautiful, humane, and family oriented animated series I've seen in a while. This is not just a show for kids, it's for people of all ages.Sign up for the latest interviews, reviews, and more via https://www.thecurb.com.au/subscribe/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In its current form, Old Habits is part of the ABC Compass series, but as you'll hear in this interview with Alfie Faber, he's working on expanding the short into a feature length documentary. And gosh, what a film it will be if he gets it to a feature length. Old Habits is a delight, utilising the charm and vibrancy of the Sisters to expand upon a hidden part of Australian queer history. Watching Old Habits reminded me of my conversation with Julie Peters about her documentary The Accidental Archivist. In that film, Julie talks about the self-documentation of queer history in Australia and discovering her place in the LGBTIQA+ community. Old Habits acts as an extension of the opening of queer history archives, ensuring that Australian queer history is accessible to future generations. To find out more about the Order of Perpetual Indulgence and its Sydney members, visit UniversalJoy.com.au. After discussing Old Habits, Alfie also talks about his podcast series Sound Perspective, an in depth series featuring interviews with creatives about the role of sound in films. I highly recommend listening to it. Make sure to also check out Final_Final_Locked from the Australian Screen Editors. Watch Old Habits on ABC iView here. Note: This series is only available to Australian residents.Follow Alfie Faber on Instagram here and The Sydney Order of Perpetual Indulgence here.Sign up for the latest interviews, reviews, and more via https://www.thecurb.com.au/subscribe/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Andrew interviews filmmaker Kitale Wilson about his short film A Silent Rebellion.Visit thecurb.com.au/subscribe to support this podcast.Sign up for the latest interviews, reviews, and more via https://www.thecurb.com.au/subscribe/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this episode, Andrew interviews Lynette Wallworth about her collaborative documentary Edge of Life. This interview was recorded during the national release of Edge of Life, currently in a limited run in Australian cinemas. Check out your local cinema guide for details, or visit Kismet Movies for additional information on where and how to view the film.the Curb is a reader and listener supported independent publication. To help keep us independent, visit our Subscription page for membership options. Sign up for the latest interviews, reviews, and more via https://www.thecurb.com.au/subscribe/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
A brilliant circus family’s hidden legacy unfolds as descendants reunite across continents, revealing their Australian Aboriginal ancestry, global stardom, and the extraordinary secrets they kept in order to survive. The greatest entertainment on earth in the 1900s was the circus and its performers were the global superstars. The big top transported children and adults alike into a world where anything was possible.Con Colleano, ‘the wizard on the wire’ defied gravity, while he and his family defied all odds to become a global phenomenon. Through the Colleano family's remarkable home movies, never-before-seen footage, family interviews and archive, their extraordinary story is revealed. Rooted in humble beginnings from the Australian bush, the family outmanoeuvred punitive Australian laws and prejudice to travel the world, concealing their Indigenous heritage and reaching the highest echelons of circus stardom.Con Colleano dazzled fans while also mingling with icons including Charlie Chaplin, at the most exclusive social sets of America and Europe, beguiling even the likes of Hitler and Mussolini.As the filmmaker, Pauline Clague, reveals her connection to the story, she finds Australian Deb Hescott, who uncovers her own secret link to this family. Connecting with Molly, one of the oral history holders of the family, they go on a profound journey of discovery. The Colleano Heart unravels the hidden secrets of their family of circus royalty, revealing them as survivors of Australia’s Hidden Generation of Aboriginal people.The Colleano Heart presents a rich portrait of the family, and the global socio-cultural shifts shaping First Nations lives. The Colleano Heart recently screened at the Adelaide Film Festival, and Nadine Whitney spoke with director Pauline Clague ahead of the films screening about her film.Sign up for the latest interviews, reviews, and more via https://www.thecurb.com.au/subscribe/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Documentarian Yaaa Bou Melhem expands her approach to collaborative documentary storytelling with her latest feature Yurlu | Country. This essential film follows the final year of the life of Aboriginal elder Maitland Parker as he continues his decades long fight to heal his homeland after the scarification from the caustic asbestos mines in Wittenoom which left the area as the largest contaminated site in the Southern Hemisphere.Shot with a respectful admiration for the beauty of the land by Tom Bannigan whose camerawork is supported by the immersive and powerful score from Helena Czajka, Yurlu | Country arrives at a time where the history of mining in Western Australia and its relationship to Aboriginal folks from this land is under more scrutiny than ever before with the announcement of caustic mining operations intending to take place on the Burrup Peninsula, home of rock art that is up to 50,000 years old.For many Western Australians, myself included, we carry an anger and frustration with our governments, with each consecutive one failing people like Maitland by not allowing them to be able to be on Country and connect to their land. Within the film, Yaara and Maitland show us the fight being undertaken to allow remediation to take place so the traditional custodians of the land can return home. Legal action is on the horizon, and to go alongside that, an impact campaign will be launched. To find out more about that campaign, the film, and more, visit YurluCountry.com where you can find out how to host screenings of the film, share it with audiences, and to buy tickets to the many Q&A sessions across Australia. You can also find a link to CleanUpWittenoom.com where you can donate towards the Banjima Native Title Aboriginal Corporation to help with their campaign to clean up Wittenoom.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.Sign up for the latest interviews, reviews, and more via https://www.thecurb.com.au/subscribe/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Sophie Somerville is an Australian emerging filmmaker whose short films Linda 4 Eva and Peeps made waves at film festivals around the world. Now with her feature film debut Fwends, winner of the Berlinale Forum's Caligari Film Prize for Innovation, Sophie firmly makes her mark on Australian cinema as a talent to watch out for.As Cody Allen wrote in their review, Fwends is 'a tender portrait of friendship, loss and rediscovery' and it's out in Australian cinemas from 7 November 2025.Nadine Whitney interviews Sophie ahead of the films release.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.Sign up for the latest interviews, reviews, and more via https://www.thecurb.com.au/subscribe/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
In this podcast, Nadine Whitney speaks with documentarians Maggie Miles & Trisha Morton-Thomas about the extraordinary documentary Journey Home, David Gulpilil.Journey Home, David Gulpilil is a sacred film which brings us into the funerary customs and that informed David's life. Maggie and Trisha follow David's remains from South Australia all the way to east Arnhem Land and along the way we see the impact that David had on not only the cinematic landscape of Australia but as a storyteller for Indigenous people in Australia.This is an extraordinary film that makes a wonderful companion piece to My Name is David Gulpilil.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.Journey Home, David Gulpilil is in Australian cinemas from 30 October 2025. Visit Madman.com.au for further details.Sign up for the latest interviews, reviews, and more via https://www.thecurb.com.au/subscribe/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Writer-Director Adrian Ortega's Westgate follows Netta (Sarah Nicolazzo) and her son Julian (Max Nappo) as she embarks on a torturous day of navigating hospitals, family, cultural prejudices, and more, all as she faces the threat of eviction and the ever rising debts that keep her and her son trapped in a class struggle.This is a film written from a lived-in perspective, with Adrian pulling from his own life to craft a tale that acts as an ode to mothers and the children they raised.In the following interview, recorded ahead of Westgate's appearance at SXSW Sydney on 17 October 2025, Adrian, Sarah, and Max talk about the collaborative approach to making this Melbourne based drama. Sarah and Max talk about learning from Adrian and his mother, as well as the bonding techniques they used to help strengthen that mother-son relationship that comes across so strongly on screen.Read Nadine Whitney's review of Westgate here and follow the film on Instagram here to be kept up to date regarding future screening dates.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.Sign up for the latest interviews, reviews, and more via https://www.thecurb.com.au/subscribe/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
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.Sign up for the latest interviews, reviews, and more via https://www.thecurb.com.au/subscribe/ 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. Sign up for the latest interviews, reviews, and more via https://www.thecurb.com.au/subscribe/ 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.Sign up for the latest interviews, reviews, and more via https://www.thecurb.com.au/subscribe/ 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.Sign up for the latest interviews, reviews, and more via https://www.thecurb.com.au/subscribe/ 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. Sign up for the latest interviews, reviews, and more via https://www.thecurb.com.au/subscribe/ 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.Sign up for the latest interviews, reviews, and more via https://www.thecurb.com.au/subscribe/ 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.Sign up for the latest interviews, reviews, and more via https://www.thecurb.com.au/subscribe/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.