Roman Coppola Is Coming to Australia to Headline Melbourne's Semi Permanent Spinoff Never Permanent

He's an Oscar nominee for co-writing Moonrise Kingdom. Across Wes Anderson's filmography, he's a constant, co-scripting or helping come up with the story for The Darjeeling Limited, Isle of Dogs, The French Dispatch and the upcoming Asteroid City, too. He earned his first BAFTA nomination for working as visual effects director on Bram Stoker's Dracula, which was helmed by his father Francis Ford Coppola. On The Virgin Suicides, Lost in Translation and Marie Antoinette, his sister Sofia's films, he's hopped behind the lens as a second unit or additional director. He's Roman Coppola, of course — and he's also been behind music videos for The Strokes, Daft Punk, Air, Phoenix and Fatboy Slim.

That's a helluva resume, as well as something worth talking about — and, at Melbourne's Semi Permanent spinoff Never Permanent, Coppola will be chatting. The screenwriter and director is the just-announced headliner for the one-day event, which hits the Victorian capital as part of new winter festival Now or Never. And yes, he's arriving just as Asteroid City reaches local cinemas, in what'll mark his first-ever keynote talk in Australia.

Daniel Jackson

The place to head: Melbourne's Royal Exhibition Building in Carlton on Thursday, August 24, along with 1000 other creative folks from across the Asia Pacific. Focusing on technology in industries such filmmaking, photography, graphic, product and motion design, animation, music, Web3 and the metaverse, and visual data — how it sparks new ways to thinking, and how it's changing the creative landscape, too — the full-day program will feature a wealth of fascinating keynote talks and panel discussions.

On the bill: talent representing all of these fields, including Coppola. He's also the president of independent production company American Zoetrope, the founder and owner of commercial and music video production company The Directors Bureau, and founder of blockchain-based film community Decentralized Pictures, so he really does have much to dive into.

While Coppola is a dream Never Permanent headliner, he isn't the only impressive name on the lineup. Perth's Ta-ku will cross the country to launch his first full solo album Songs to Come Home To, while designer and technologist Mindy Seu — an Assistant Professor at Rutgers Mason Gross School of the Arts and Critic at Yale School of Art, and also behind the Cyberfeminism Index — heads Down Under.

Meta's Joshua To and Nicholas Kamuda — Vice President of Design, AR and Wearables, and a product designer, respectively — are also on the lineup. And, so are Old Ways, New founder Angie Abdilla, photographer and filmmaker Justin Ridler, artist and musician Serwah Attafuah, and LA-based multimedia artist and composer Jesse Woolston.

Simrat Kaur

"For so many years, we've had a passionate community of followers in Melbourne that have campaigned for Semi Permanent to return to the Victorian capital, and this partnership with the City of Melbourne and Now or Never feels like exactly the right opportunity to bring our unique festival to town," said Semi Permanent founder Murray Bell, announcing the Never Permanent lineup.

"As we continue to adjust to a creative landscape radically altered by new and emerging technologies, our diverse lineup of speakers will shed light on how creative practice can continue to flourish in the face of, and in concert with, these shifting mediums."

Never Permanent takes place on Thursday, August 24 in Melbourne's Royal Exhibition Building, 9 Nicholson Street, Carlton, as part of new winter festival Now or Never. Head to the Never Permanent website for further details.