The Antenna Documentary Festival features the hardest-hitting and most provocative international documentaries created over the past 12 months. Now in its third incarnation, it's comprised of 37 full-length works, ten shorts and seven free Doc Talk sessions. This year will also see a Kim Longinotto Retrospective and a tribute to legendary filmmaker Dennis O'Rourke. Plus, the winners of three major awards will be announced: SBS Best International Documentary, Best Australian Documentary and Best Australian Short. With a fine field to select from, deciding on a top five was no easy task, but here are our picks of the pack nonetheless. 1. THE NETWORK Festival opening night (Wednesday, 2 October) will feature the Australian premiere of The Network. Directed by now LA-based Aussie Eva Orner, who produced 2008 Oscar-winning documentary Taxi to the Dark Side, it follows the establishment of the first television station in post-Taliban Afghanistan. It's a journey driven by hope, underpinned with fear and challenged by the horrors of endless warfare - from suicide bombings to sporadic street battles. 2. ARE YOU LISTENING! If there's something frightening about climate change, it's the potential for entire nations to be wiped out. Current predictions suggest that Bangladesh, for example, won't exist at all by 2113. Filmmaker Kamar Ahmad Simon explores what this means at grassroots level, following the struggles of a family who, along with 100 others, are forced to inhabit a dyke after their village is destroyed by a cyclone. Simon will appear at the festival as a guest, conducting a Q&A session after the screening of Are You Listening! 3. BA NOI (GRANDMA) This dreamy, at times otherworldly, work combines past, present and future. Vietnamese-born, Canadian-raised filmmaker Khoa Le travels to his homeland, where he speaks with his 93-year-old grandmother and explores New Year's rituals, examining the elements that influence our sense of cultural and familial belonging. Ba Noi (Grandma) won the 2013 Hot Docs Inspirit Foundation Pluralism Prize. Khoa Le will be in attendance as a festival guest, delivering a Q&A after the screening. 4. THE PUNK SINGER What Searching for Sugar Man has done for Rodriguez, The Punk Singer does for Kathleen Hanna. Fearless feminist icon and frontwoman for both punk outfit Bikini Kill and electronica trio Le Tigre, she vanished from the music industry in 2005. Filmmaker Sini Anderson reveals what happened. 5. THE LIFE AND CRIMES OF DORIS PAYNE This year's festival will close with the Australian premiere of The Life and Crimes of Doris Payne. Born into the USA's then segregated Southern States, Payne became a highly successful jewellery thief, having stolen $2 million worth of goods from Cartier and Tiffany's to date. She's now in her eighties and about to go on trial. Filmmakers Matthew Pond and Kirk Marcolina (a special guest of the festival) examine the complex history and identity of Doris Payne. Images courtesy of the Antenna Documentary Festival website.
When preternaturally handsome and implausibly named financial-whiz-kid-turned-Princeton-post-grad Richie Furst (Justin Timberlake) loses his last twenty grand in an online poker match, he flies to Costa Rica and is immediately offered an eight-figure salary by preternaturally handsome and implausibly named shady entrepreneur Ivan Block (Ben Affleck). So it's safe to say that having a relatable character and storyline is not a priority for Runner Runner, a film which is largely about attractive wealthy people being attractive and wealthy at one another. As Richie discovers that running an online poker empire in Central America is more fruitful than working hard back in New Jersey, the seedier elements of Block's empire soon present themselves. The dangers, as with the successes, come far too easily, and Richie quickly learns the adage that if something looks too good to be true, it probably is. This rather speedy film isn't quite edited in the hyperventilated manner of something like Now You See Me, but there are a number of odd jumps that suggest a fair bit of post-production tampering, and it's this tampering that shows Runner Runner at its most interesting. When Richie tries to convince Rebecca Shafran (Gemma Arterton) to let him into Block's impossible-to-get-into party, he stumbles over some strained charm before finally spitting out his request. "That wasn't so hard, was it?" says Arterton, and we slam cut to Richie strutting his stuff at Block's luxurious pad. Either the writers gave up at that point, or Richie's smooth talkin' jive as filmed wasn't remotely convincing. The lesson is that the quickest way to get into a high-end party is with a fast edit. The film is littered with awkward cuts such as these, and sporadic, clumsy narration from Richie attempts to paste over the cracks. The most prominent sign that these voice overs were written in a hurry comes from the film's absolute highlight, a laugh-out-loud moment in which Richie injects some faux-philosophy into the climax: "This isn't poker. This is my life, and I have one play left. Put all my chips in and-" Apologies for cutting it off there, but I couldn't hear the rest of the quote over my own laughter. To clarify: Richie's life is nothing like poker, and here's a poker metaphor to drive that point home. This is what happens when you write your dialogue the night before the premiere. Look, Runner Runner isn't terrible, and with a runner-running time of 91 minutes, it's far from an endurance test. The problem is that it's so very dispassionate as it goes through the usual rise-fall-redemption motions, it's impossible to really engage with it at all. Ultimately, Runner Runner is really just a movie designed to provide some background noise as you update your Facebook. https://youtube.com/watch?v=UFPqyNvNzvU
Representatives of more than 40 whisky distilleries from around the world will descend upon the Sydney CBD this September, bringing with them samples of 150 single malts from around the world for you to taste. The Sydney Whisky Fair will take place at The Oak Barrel on 6 and 7 September, and will give you a rare opportunity to mix and mingle with some of the biggest names in the trade. According to The Oak Barrel's spirits buyer and educator Dave Withers, an important focus of this year's fair will be the diversity of flavour and character brought to life by the emergence of innovative new micro-distilleries. "In recent times, we have seen a rye whisky from Tasmania, a whisky smoked with Texas scrub oak and even whiskies made with spelt," he says. "These small producers are pushing the envelope and represent the cutting edge of what is being done with whisky. Needless to say, we will have them on taste." A small number of VIP tickets will give connoisseurs access to some of the rarest expressions being poured at the fair, while newbies will have the opportunity to learn the ropes from Withers, the distillers and the many die-hard whisky aficionados in attendance on the day.
If your childhood was filled with love, it's hard to imagine having gone without. But it's important, sometimes, to be shown what that path looks like, because it's a determinant for the future a person can expect to have. In Belvoir's Forget Me Not, a coproduction with Liverpool's Everyman Theatre, 60ish-year-old Gerry (Colin Moody) drinks to obliteration, is mistrustful and belligerent and gets disorientated when his daughter holds his hand. His life has been beleaguered and lonely. And all this time, he had a mother who loved him, halfway across the earth, and he didn't know. Gerry is representative of the some 3000 British children who were removed from their (usually single, underprivileged) mothers between 1945 and 1968 and sent, for some barely comprehensible reason, to Australia, to live in institutions. It's tragic to realise, but the iconic Australian story might be one of stolen children. In Gerry's case, it's his daughter, Sally (Mandy McElhinney), who contacts the family restoration fund and makes Gerry an appointment with Mark (Oscar Redding), a case worker who tracks down Gerry's sweet Liverpudlian mother, Mary (Eileen O'Brien). The last plays from both writer Tom Holloway and director Anthea Williams, And No More Shall We Part and Old Man, each met with general acclaim — and many tears. Their respective themes of ageing and absent parents seem to merge in Forget Me Not, although it's actually a far more multidimensional, measured and impressive play than its predecessors. There are so many tiny details woven into the script that reveal bit by bit the devastating reality of growing up without love, or of growing old without the one you love. The sight of an adult man being unable to eat a slice of cake has never been so heartbreaking. It's also a script about saying a lot with silences, and Williams has been able to realise those wondrously, filling them with tension and longing. It pays to sit close so in these moments you can study the actors' faces, pinched and pulled by subtle prompts. Both marshmallow-in-a-hard-shell Moody and sparkling survivor O'Brien quickly win your sympathy, so you want more than anything for mother and son to connect and get something back from their years of separation. Forget Me Not also has a nice, lazy Susan-utilising set from designer Dan Potra, which creates a repeating language of homeliness and which Moody never seems to fit. Forget Me Not is a real knockout, and the punch lands even if the history seemed previously distant to you.
It's always a big year for our local offshoot from the the global ideas-fest TED (Technology, Entertainment and Design). TEDxSydney is in its fourth year of bringing thinkers and listeners together. And this year it's grown from its usual venue at the Carriageworks to drag its thinkers and listeners to the airier spaces of the Opera House Concert Hall. It comes, as usual, in three parts: a cavalcade of awesome, expert and/or entertaining speakers, an audience of interesting, rich and/or powerful people paying to sit in the the main auditorium and the public at large outside, looking in. We had our turn with rich and/or powerful when we talked to TED-runner Chris Anderson last year, but most of the fun from a TED event comes from ignoring the glitterati and focusing on the speakers on stage. There's a long list of free satellite events at large around Sydney this year, if you'd like to follow the action from outside the Concert Hall. UPDATE: An earlier version of this article said that the Opera House Studio would be a screening site open to for public viewing on the day. It won't be. Concrete Playground apologises for the error. Customs House will be hosting a live site, outdoors on the day.
Do you want to work in the entertainment industry? "Uhhh, is Blue Ivy Carter going to be the first ever black female baby president?" you reply. Okay, mate, no need for the attitude — you'll need to learn to schmooze nicely. You'll also probably need to learn about a bunch of other stuff, too, but luckily for you, young padawan, the Australian Institute of Music is starting a forum series called TILT that's packed full of people with pickable brains. Based on the forum structures of TED and Q&A, the inaugural TILT (which stands for Tomorrow's Ideas Leading Today), hosted by James Mathison, will feature Rdio CEO Colin Blake, National Live Music Coordinator Dr Ianto Ware, and Gizmodo editor Luke Hopewell as well as staffers from Google and Foxtel, plus more to be announced. Make sure you get in early — tickets won't last long.
Put simply, In Possible Worlds is a fantastic exhibition. The show brings together recent works by Elly Kent, Claudia Nicholson, and Tianli Zu, three artists who work in unique blends of traditional and contemporary styles. The trio were chosen by Carriageworks CEO Lisa Havilah and 4A Director Aaron Seeto as part of 4A’s early career artists initiative. The exhibition "encourages us to think of our acceptance of commonplace understandings not as a fixed reality, but as a constant process of exchange and negotiation that opens up possibilities of seeing the world in different ways". And it does so beautifully. Tianli Zu’s works are the highlight. She cuts intricate patterns into sheets of paper, then projects light and "sound animations" onto them. Sort of like the paper cut outs you made as an 8 year old, only way better. The filigree designs cast dark shadows onto the ground. It’s a hypnotic effect. The artist is strongly influenced by Chinese philosophy and the dynamics between dark and light are a central focus in her work. Canberra-based printmaker Elly Kent creates works on paper that incorporate everyday objects found in her home. Her art is heavily inspired by Indonesian Batik techniques, a traditional form of fabric patterning that’s conceptually derived from Javanese understandings of the universe. She blends this with a contemporary approach and the finished product is gorgeous: colourful, almost sculptural works that rise out from the wall. Claudia Nicholson is a Colombian-born, Australian-raised artist. Adopted as a child, her video works are preoccupied with ideas of kinship, cultural dislocation and the construction of a lost identity. They’re filled with a strong sense of nostalgia but the effect is very unsettling. I loved them. 4A Centre for Contemporary Asian Art is a non-profit organisation that supports contemporary Asian and Australian art, encouraging an active dialogue between the two cultures. 4A collaborates with a bunch of organisations internationally to champion the work of Australian and Asian artists. Their programs are consistently thought-provoking, engaging and just plain great. The mix of cultures, media and styles of In Possible Worlds is awesome. This is one exhibition you really shouldn’t miss. Image: Plunge by Elly Kent.
Almost ten years ago, Slashdot gushed about the alternate reality game promo experimenting with games that cross the boundaries of internet and reality. More recently, we’ve gotten excited about augmented reality overlays onto real life cities, from literary adventures to popup art. Troy Innocent’s addition to the 19thInternational Symposium on Electronic Art (ISEA) conference (huddling under Vivid Ideas umbrella) will be a giant, competitive public treasure hunt, with a sideline some minor civil rearrangement. Zydnei divides its players into three factions — Codex, Oeknos and Dæmon — fighting to repurpose our city’s streets to a greater plan of their own. Volunteers will place coded tags around the city, before players track them down, take them off the walls and claim the tag for their own team. The game is free and runs eight weeks, with new tags added all the time. In Melbourne the winning team regrew the city to their own plan. How will you help reshape Sydney, if you can? Zydnei is free, but you'll need to register here.
It is always great when emerging artists are giving a platform to share their work. And when that platform is one of the best stages in the country? Well, that's even better. Last year, a bunch of independent artists and small-to-medium arts companies got to perform to crowds as part of Sydney Opera House's UnWrapped series. It was such a success that UnWrapped has been upgraded to Festival status for 2019. In May, five more indie theatre gems will take to Sydney Opera House's various stages. William Yang's PARTY (verb) hauls us back into the heyday of Sydney's queer underground scene, while My Urrwai is a very personal retracing of Torres Strait Islander artist Ghenoa Gela's family and political history. Ali McGregor's Yma Sumac: The Peruvian Songbird uses cabaret to resurrect a wild Peruvian soprano and The Director gives us a humorous peek under the coffin-lid of today's funeral industry, courtesy of Scott Turnbull and Lara Thoms. Finally, PYT Fairfield's Playlist blasts pop hits to propel us through the experiences of five young women from western Sydney. Alongside the performances, there'll be a pop-up bar serving show-inspired cocktails throughout the festival season and meet and greet sessions with the artists. Plus, on Saturday, May 18, the artists will gather for a panel discussion on how their life experiences impact their performances. Festival UnWrapped not only gives you the chance to support independent theatre, it gives you the chance to watch it in one of the city's most iconic buildings. Catch these shows while they're at the Opera House so you don't need to find them in the wild. Festival UnWrapped will run from Friday, May 3 to Sunday, May 19. For more information on the program and to book tickets, head this way. Images: My Urrwai, supplied; PARTY (verb), William Yang; Playlist, supplied; The Director, Bryony Jackson; Yma Sumac, Rich Hardcastle.
If you've ever wondered what it would be like to wake up next to George Gershwin, this show just might be the sweet relief you've been waiting for. Set in the roaring 20s and the probably-would-also-be-roaring-if-not-for-the-Depression 30s, Good Morning, Mr. Gershwin is a beautiful production that mixes tap, ballet, hip hop and contemporary dance against a backdrop of Gershwin's beloved Broadway classics and his opera Porgy and Bess. These guys think they can dance, and they are correct in thinking that. The company is Laurence Olivier Award–winning Compagnie Montalvo-Hervieu. These people aren't only amazing dancers, they're also French! Choreography is by José Montalvo and Dominique Hervieu, with music, obviously, by Georgie G. The Financial Times described Good Morning, Mr. Gershwin as "life-enhancing"; I don't know about you but I can really use some life-enhancement, especially if all it takes is to sit quietly in a dark room for a few hours and clap every once in a while, not a downward dog in sight. “Good Morning, Mr. Gershwin! Enhance away.”
Tucked away in The Sheraton Grand Sydney Hyde Park, The Gallery is known for its lavish high teas. While we were all trapped inside last year, the venue provided some much-needed at-home indulgence with a lockdown-friendly high tea, and now that we're all back out in the world, it's serving up in-person extravagance with a regularly changing menu. Right now, the current limited-time menu is a truffle-heavy feast. The Truffle and Chocolate High Tea is available 10am–4pm, seven days a week until Sunday, August 7. The treat-filled feast will set back each guest $89, which includes savoury dishes like black truffle and mushroom panna cotta, chicken with truffle rillettes and a salmon and truffle leek tart. Of course, no high tea is complete without a fair share of sweets. Dark chocolate and orange jaffa tart, white chocolate cannoli and mascarpone and chocolate cake are all included in the tea, plus your choice of coffee or tea. Those that want to add a glass of Vranken Diamant Brut NV champagne on arrival can for an extra $20. Head to The Gallery website to reserve your spot. Images: Yusuke Oba
Get ready to go another round with your favourite pansexual, wise-cracking, mass-murdering mercenary. To celebrate the release of Deadpool on Blu-ray on May 25, Fox Home Entertainment are throwing a massive party at The Standard Bowl complete with bowling, DJs and chimi-fucking-changas. It all goes down on the evening of Sunday, May 22 from 6pm. It's invite only and there'll be food and booze, as well as Deadpool-themed giveaways, plus everyone will get a copy of the Blu-ray to call their own. In the words of the man himself, it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas. [competition]573058[/competition] Image: Fox.
The man behind two of the smartest, sweariest shows on television will open this year's Sydney Writers' Festival with a talk about spin and satire in the world of modern day politics. Armando Iannucci is best known as the creator of two of the funniest political comedies in living memory: the BBC's The Thick of It and HBO's Veep. Both shows have been lauded for their uncomfortably accurate portrayal of contemporary politics. In fact, they're so accurate that Malcolm Turnbull even accidentally adopted one of Selina Myer's slogans during last year's federal election campaign. Whoops! Both shows also beloved among fans for having some of the most entertaining profanity ever uttered on television… and for very good reason. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xUky4_A7Zw4 Iannucci will be at the Sydney Town Hall on the evening of Tuesday, May 2 with local journalist and screenwriter Benjamin Law, for a conversation that has been appropriately titled 'Swearing In'. Tickets are available now, and are $30 for students and pensioners, and $45 for adults. The full Sydney Writers' Festival program will be announced on April 6. The festival runs from May 22-28.
In many ways the world of Nosferatu speaks for itself. As soon as the screen is filled we're immersed in an unsteady shadowland of shifting angles and skulking menace. The origins of the film are less well-known. Pinned as the first vampire film in the history of cinema, director F.W. Murnau based his story off Bram Stoker's Dracula, changing the names and locations, since rights to the book were not granted. Despite Murnau's tactfulness, Stoker's widow sued and a court ordered that all copies of the film be destroyed. I mention this only because it's a fact that seems to imbue the film with all the more power, as though we're watching something that escaped history's protocol. Simply put, Nosferatu is a tale of a monster in search of a throat, told through the lens of a German Expressionist. The story takes place in the fictitious city of Wisborg, where elongated and gaunt figures move, fall and are lured through an impossible world of dungeons, doors, coffins and dreams. Like other modernist movements, German Expressionism was one of several trends around the turn of the century that disposed of realism in search of a different version of the truth. Practitioners like Murnau favored distorting the external world in order to express an inner emotional state. This film characterises one of the great examples of this kind of storytelling, holding its own in the sea of schlocky lesbian vampire films and teenage-angst ridden TV-blood suckers. The film is also screening at 2pm Wednesday 7 and Sunday 11 of September. Entry is free, but depending how crowded it is you may need to get tickets in advance. Nosferatu part of a series of films screening in conjunction with Mad Square: Modernity in German Art 1910-1937, an exhibition currently at the Art Gallery of New South Wales.
American singer-songwriter Ray LaMontagne, who put pensive folk back on the charts in a big way in 2004 when his single 'Trouble' hit number four on the US charts, is returning to Australia — after ten years of absence. His Just Passing Through tour will take him to Bluesfest in Byron Bay, then down the highway for gigs in Sydney and Melbourne. All shows are in acoustic format, with Ray performing in duo mode, alongside Wilco's legendary bassist John Stirratt. Expect new tunes and a selection of hits. Even though we haven't seen Mr LaMontagne for so long, he's been busy. His seventh album Part of the Light came out in May this year, and, back in 2010, God Willin' & the Creek Don't Rise picked up a Grammy for Best Folk Album Of The Year. As you might've guessed, mad, long-tortured fans have already nabbed most tickets. But, thankfully, a second run of shows has been announced. If you've been cursing your luck, jump in quick. LaMontagne will play the State Theatre in Sydney, on April 24 and 25. You can pick up tickets over here.
If more good music and delicious food are among your New Year's resolutions — which is completely understandable — then the CBD's Restaurant Hubert is ready to give you a helping hand. Nightly from Monday–Saturday throughout January, the French eatery is serving up all the favourites from its a la carte menu, soundtracked by live jazz. Yes, its Jazz January program is back for another year. The curated lineup will bring you jazz of all kinds, with musicians hitting up the venue's stage each evening to keep you entertained while you eat. As for the menu, Restaurant Hubert is renowned for its French fare. You'll find Restaurant Hubert specialties including escargots XO, duck a l'orange and chicken fricassée on offer, each of which will transport you to a classy Parisian eatery. Reservations are required, and Jazz January runs from 5pm till close each evening. [caption id="attachment_673758" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] Cole Bennetts[/caption] Top image: Daniel Boud.
Spooky season is creeping up quickly, which means it's time to make a dash to the costume shop and make Halloween plans stat. One event celebrating the haunted holiday is the Entertainment Quarter's family-friendly, three-day spook fest. Dubbed Halloween Family Fest, it'll have everything from carnival games to thrilling rides, haunted houses, a ghoulish disco, trick or treating, costume competitions and an openair cinema. Of course, there's a global pandemic to be mindful of, so pre-booking tickets is encouraged. You can also expect social distancing measures to be in place, plus numerous hand washing facilities and sanitising stations around the precinct. Halloween Family Fest is taking over the Entertainment Quarter from Friday, October 30–Sunday, November 1. Opening times are 5–9pm Friday, 10am–9pm Saturday and 10am–4pm Sunday. Pre-book your tickets here.
Once a year, Monster Fest treats cinemagoers to a weird and wonderful film festival filled with genre and cult movies — but that's obviously not often enough. So, behold Monster Fest Weekender, aka the fest that the Monster team hosts midyear when it's not rolling out the full shindig. Hitting Sydney's Event Cinemas George Street from Friday, May 13–Sunday, May 15, this three-day affair will screen the films you can't wait till later in the year to see — such as Sundance oddity Hatching, a body-horror flick about a girl nursing an egg: documentary The History of Metal and Horror, which spans everyone from Alice Cooper to John Carpenter; and monster- and OTT scientist-filled stop-motion effort Mad God. Other highlights: a 35th-anniversary session of Miami Connection, a cult martial arts movie that really has to be seen to be believed; a 4K restoration of 1985's Cat's Eye, a Stephen King adaptation starring a very young Drew Barrymore; and Pennywise: The Story of It, which takes a making-of look at the Tim Curry-starring TV miniseries that first brought the creepy clown to screens.
To those in the know, Michael White has long been the epicentre of the London entertainment scene, spreading his producing talents across the stage and screen in everything from Oh! Calcutta! to Monty Python and the Holy Grail to The Rocky Horror Picture Show. To those outside his orbit, his name remains unfamiliar even as his impact is inescapable. Documenting the untold story of his life and legacy, The Last Impresario dwells in the space between both extremes. Australian actress and filmmaker Gracie Otto once fell into the latter category, until spotting White at the Cannes Film Festival in 2010. There he sat, surrounded by the who's who of the industry, and her curiosity was instantly piqued. They quickly made each other's acquaintance, formed a firm friendship, and the idea for the film was born. In keeping with her enigmatic introduction to the now elderly entrepreneur, it is not White that monopolises Otto's insider look at his influence, but the myth of the charming man and the many people and projects that came under its thrall. A septuagenarian with declining health, he has a limited ability to tell his own tale, but there is no shortage of famous faces — from John Waters to John Cleese, Kate Moss to Anna Wintour, and Australians Greta Scacchi, Naomi Watts, Lyndall Hobbs and Barry Humphries — able to regale viewers with amusing anecdotes. Of course, much of the fun comes in reliving his celebrity experiences with Jack Nicholson, David Bowie and the like, as meticulously photographed by avid snapper White and further catalogued in decades' worth of memorabilia. His life and the documentary that results is the ultimate act of star-spotting, filtered through a charismatic figure who should be better known than those he interacts with. Scacchi succinctly puts it best; he is "the most famous person you've never heard of". Making her first full-length effort after a series of award-winning shorts, Otto is a naturalistic documentarian afforded ample access undoubtedly aided by her own movie pedigree (in addition to forging her own career, she is the daughter of Bliss's Barry and the sister of The Lord of the Rings' Miranda), yet only occasionally does she overplay her hand. Her visuals are vibrant, her interviews probe, but it is her tone that best impresses, celebrating the feature's subject while never shying away from the underlying melancholy of his less-than-ordinary existence. Two areas skirted around — White's illness and finances — provoke unfulfilled intrigue; however, what does comprise the film paints a very interesting picture nonetheless. The feature's thesis, that they just don't make them like White anymore, is easily proven. In name and in nature, The Last Impresario colourfully charts the final remnants of dying breed. https://youtube.com/watch?v=mRbUZA161vc
Sydneysiders love a bake sale and, in delightful news for locals, a bunch of Sydney legends are teaming up for another edition of Bush's beloved pop-ups on Saturday, October 29. The Redfern favourite will be presenting special one-off creations from Donut Papi, Mapo Gelato, Good Ways Deli, Little Fern and Small Talk across a morning of next-level snacks, while also raising money for a good cause. On offer will be Good Ways' roo sausage rolls, plus saltbush focaccia with roo salami from Goose on the Loose, scamorza and lemon myrtle zucchini; coffee milk custard-stuffed doughnuts from Donut Papi; strawberry gum basque cheesecake from Little Fern; and all-native bagels with curried egg from Small Talk. If all of these tantalising creations weren't enough to get you to Redfern on Saturday, Bush is also rolling out a special bake sale menu which will feature wild boar pizza pockets, cheese and Vegemite swirls, macadamia and white chocolate cookies, and chocolate, pepperberry and marshmallow slices. The goodies will be available from 10am at Bush's George Street home, and a portion of all the proceeds are also going to supporting some amazing Sydney organisations. Ten percent of all the money made will be donated to Redfern Youth Connect, and 100 percent of the proceeds from Little Fern's cheesecake are being given to the Women and Girls Emergency Centre. Get in early as they're sure to sell out. View this post on Instagram A post shared by BUSH - 55 George st, Redfern. (@bush.sydney)
The close ties between Italy and Australian can't be ignored. Italians love pasta and wine, and we also love pasta and wine, after all. Accordingly, what better way to celebrate this joyful union than to head along to an Italian street festival on your Sunday. Returning for 2018, Ferragosto will bring a solid dose of Italian culture, food and general entertainment to Sydney's Five Dock on August 19, with food stalls hawking street eats and handmade goodness, as well as dance and music across five stages. Comedian James Liotta will headline — and if you've ever wished you were cruising across Florence on a vespa, there'll be a bunch of fancy Italian vehicles on display. Last year's event drew more than 100,000 people, so it seems that the people of Sydney enjoy Italian culture a fair amount: and with this being Ferragosto's 21st birthday, the obsession doesn't seem to be fading. What's to argue with when it comes to pizza and cannoli, really?
It has been a couple of years since The Jungle Collective first started taking over Australian warehouses and slinging plenty of plants, all thanks to its huge sales in Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney. These leafy excuses to fill your home with greenery always have a bit of a celebratory vibe, so the outfit's next New South Wales outing should come as no surprise — it's hosting another plant sale house party. While all of those gorgeous green babies are the main attraction — and more than 170 varieties of them, too — browsing and buying in an old heritage building isn't something you get to do every day. It's happening twice, across the two days of Saturday, April 6 and Sunday, April 7. You'll pick up everything from fiddle leafs and monsteras to giant birds of paradise and rubber trees, as well as oh-so-many ferns and hanging plants. You'll also be able to shop for designer pots, get expert advice from the horticulturalists onsite, listen to jungle tunes and even nab a $5 discount if you show up in double denim attire. It's all happening at 260 Victoria Avenue, Chatswood, with two-hour sessions held at 8am, 10am, 12pm and 2pm on Saturday, plus 10am and 12pm on Sunday. While entry is free, you'll need to secure a ticket to head along — they'll be available from midday on Monday, April 1.
If you're a fan of the new and exciting, especially when it comes to what's in your wine glass, prepare to scope out some very fresh talent, when Young Gun of Wine's Uncut showcase hits Sydney next month. Taking place on the rooftop of North Bondi Surf Life Saving Club on Saturday, November 10, the event's set to shine a spotlight on the bright young things and rising stars of Australia's wine scene. It'll offer the chance to sample 60 wines from 30 buzz-worthy winemakers, as chosen by the expert Young Gun of Wine crew — a group that champions groundbreaking, emerging winemakers and acts as an incubator for the country's up-and-coming wine stars. Uncut will see you quaffing all sorts of interesting Aussie drops as you cruise around soaking up the fresh, salty air — and there'll be some quality eats available, too. Surry Hills' Chin Chin is heading east for the occasion and will be serving up a solid selection of fiery, modern riffs on Thai street food. Tickets are $65, which includes all your tastings and a Riedel glass to keep for future wine appreciation sessions.
When well-loved Petersham stalwart Oxford Tavern reopened earlier this year, it brought an influx of quality local brews, natural wines and Aussie spirits to the neighbourhood along with it. Now the watering hole has teamed up with the best in the craft beer business — Marrickville's Bucket Boys — to open a co-op bottle shop onsite. Taken over by brothers James and Josh Thorpe, the duo behind Darlinghurst's The Taphouse and its sour ale and natural wine bar Odd Culture, the Tav now pours beers from independent breweries made within a five-kilometre radius of the pub. At the moment you can get your mitts on brews from The Grifter, Yulli's, Nomad and Wayward. If you don't want a beer, opt for an Aussie gin with tonic, a spritz or a cocktail jug made with soda from PS40 or a glass of Australian natty wine. Given the drinks list, the venue is a natural fit for a co-run bottle-o with fellow beer slingers (and lovers) Bucket Boys, offering up sought-after brews, wines and liquors for you to take home. Located in a custom-built area between the front bar and Oxford Tavern's lush beer garden, the bottle shop will feature a simple counter and display situation, decor-wise. It's the shops carefully-curated selection of neighbourhood brews, natural wines and Aussie spirits that'll be the impressive part. Like the Tav itself, the store will have a brewery focus on those within five kilometres — Batch, Young Henrys, Yulli's, Akasha, Wayward, Grifter and Wildflower will all cop a spot in the fridge, mainly available in four- and six-packs of tinnies as well as a select range of singles. In the spirit of mateship (and Australia's questionable drinking culture), the co-op shop will launch on Anzac Day — aka Thursday, April 25 — and run for at least a few months, with hopes for it to become a permanent fixture. The pub will also be celebrating the public holiday with a New Zealand versus Australia brewery tap showcase, smokey meats from the barbecue pit in the beer garden and two-up from noon, obviously. The Oxford Tavern x Bucket Boys co-op bottle shop will launch on Thursday, April 25 at 1 New Canterbury Road, Petersham and is slated to run for a few months. Keep an eye on the Bucket Boys Instagram feed for updates. Top image: Katje Ford.
Public House Petersham is going all out this ANZAC Day with a car park party outside their pub from noon on Tuesday, April 25. Two-up isn't the only highlight — they've invited some of Australia's best craft brewers along to make the day extra festive, including Batch Brewing Company, Willie the Boatman, Stone & Wood Brewing, Fixation Brewing Co. and Malt Shovel Brewery. Each brewery will set up a stall in the car park, pouring ice-cold brews to thirsty two-up players in masses. As an additional nod to the sentiment of the day, the proceeds of each brewery's first keg will support Soldier On Australia. In true Aussie style, there will also be a sausage sizzle, along with a charity bake sale by Daisy's Milkbar and the PHP kitchen will open its regular hours. Two-up will begin promptly at noon and the party will sashay into the night from there.
Unless you've spent the last two months living under a rock, it's safe to assume you'll have heard about The Lady and the Unicorn exhibition at the Art Gallery of NSW. Visiting from Paris' Musèe de Cluny – Musèe National du Moyen Âge, the exquisitely beautiful, richly symbolic tapestry cycle — otherwise known as 'the Mona Lisa of the Middle Ages' — is yours to gaze at until Sunday, June 24. It's only the third time the works have left France since their creation circa 1500, so we're pretty darn lucky to have them in Sydney. And even luckier, there's an incredible accompanying program designed to complement the exhibition's themes of art and the senses. So once you've soaked up the tapestries in all their mysterious glory, you can dive into a host of events including an impressive lineup of guest speakers, tapestry weaving, live poetry performances, panel discussions and weekly sessions on mindfulness and meditation. Here are some highlights. PRACTICE MINDFULNESS Intrigued by the Coming to Our Senses series but can't commit to the four-week program? Then put Wednesday, April 25 in your calendar. As part of that evening's Art After Hours program, artist and Zen Buddhist practitioner Lindy Lee joins mindfulness educator Steve Pozel for a free talk on the power of art to engage our senses, inspired by the five senses theme running through The Lady and the Unicorn tapestry cycle. Discussing contemporary artists ranging from musician John Cage to renowned performance artist Marina Abramovic, Lee and Pozel will explore the intimacy of mindfully engaging with performance, art and music, along with the potential for meditation itself to spark the creative impulse. Wednesday, April 25 at 6.30pm. Free. ENGAGE YOUR SENSES Whether you're an old hand at meditation or newly curious about developing greater mindfulness, you might be interested in the four-week multi-disciplinary program Coming to Our Senses. Combining a sensory exploration of artistic, musical and natural elements from the tapestry cycle (and other works in the gallery), the course guides an intimate group of 25 people through mindfulness practices and meditation, aiming to help participants cultivate awareness, restore focus, heighten engagement and deepen empathy. Led by mindfulness facilitator Steve Pozel, each week you'll also get to glean wisdom from guest artists, including Chinese-Australian artist Lindy Lee; Australian composer, producer and pianist Stu Hunter; and celebrated practitioner of the Japanese tea ceremony, Yayoi Maloney. Every Saturday from May 12 to June 2 from 9am–12pm. $420–450. [caption id="attachment_663767" align="alignnone" width="1920"] 'Taste' c1500, from 'The Lady and the Unicorn' series (detail) Musée de Cluny – Musée National du Moyen Âge, Paris Photo © RMN-GP / M Urtado.[/caption] BECOME A TAPESTRY EXPERT Fans of tapestry-making and textile art in general will definitely want to come along to Weaving Histories. The event takes place across an entire day and will answer everything you've ever wanted to know about the context of medieval European tapestry, including the traditions and techniques that continue to influence the medium today. Spend a Saturday having an exclusive viewing of The Lady the Unicorn exhibition, hearing a talk from US tapestry historian Laura Weigert, refreshing yourself at morning tea, followed by an afternoon at the Australian Design Centre for a panel discussion led by Art Gallery of NSW curator Jackie Dunn with tapestry artists and scholars Valerie Kirk and Cresside Collette. The day wraps up following afternoon tea with the speakers. Saturday, June 2 from 10am–3.15pm. $55–65. SEE ART AFTER HOURS There's a stellar lineup across April and May for the Wednesday Art After Hours program, where you can visit The Lady and the Unicorn exhibition as well as enjoying drinks, guided Biennale tours, talks, workshops, film screenings and live music inspired by the tapestries. Upcoming highlights include a talk from celebrated soprano, actor, composer and playwright Deborah Cheetham on April 11, who'll be reflecting on the impact the medieval tapestries have had on her. April 18 sees wine educator Aaron Basher host a talk on taste, smell and the language of wine, and on May 9 you can catch award-winning Australian author Charlotte Wood discussing her complex response to the tapestries. That's your Wednesday nights covered for the next month or so. Wednesdays from 6pm. Free entry. HEAR SOME POETRY The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries have famously intrigued artists and writers throughout time, with everyone from filmmaker-writer Jean Cocteau to novelist George Sand and poet Rilke finding them a source of inspiration. Not averse to a spot of verse yourself? Then you'll want to time your visit to coincide with Poetic Threads, a live event of poetic performances taking place as part of Sydney Writer's Festival 2018. Enter the exhibition before public hours at 9am to join a small audience as much-loved Australian poets Mirrah, Candy Royalle and Scott Sneddon (AKA Scott Wings) share their own imaginative responses to the tapestries and their mysterious, mythical world. Friday, May 4 to Sunday, May 6 from 9am. $55–65 including exhibition entry. The Lady and the Unicorn tapestries are on display at the Art Gallery of NSW until June 24.
If Frida Kahlo was famous for something besides her striking paintings, it was her ability to throw a killer party. In her bright blue house known as La Casa Azul on the southern edge of Mexico City, the hard-drinking artist fed and watered all manner of friends and celebrities. By way of contribution to World Class Cocktail Week, Playa Takeria is giving you the opportunity to feast like Frida. On Sunday, May 31, the eatery will be serving up an all-evening banquet, featuring a dishes that habitually made it onto Ms Kahlo's dinner party menu. Each course will be matched up with a cocktail, including at least one or two margaritas mixed with spirits from Don Julio. Tickets cost $95 a pop and cover both food and beverages.
At Firstdraft this month, Natalya Hughes is importing the decor of sleaze into her practice. Girls Girls Girls, taking its cue from the neon strip club slogan, presents the unlikely union of seedy nightclubs and geometric abstraction. This may be a continuation of a theme she initiated with her 2013 exhibition, Bachelor Pads, at Alaska Projects. Hughes’ works are often multilayered and almost kaleidoscopic. She disrupts binaries, such as clean and dirty or pure and impure. She reworks decorative styles of painting that sprang out of 19th-century aestheticism, bringing them into a post-human internet era. And once again, sexuality seems to be the current bubbling underneath these colourful and not-so-innocent works. Also exhibiting at Firstdraft this month is Henry Jock Walker, Justin Balmain and Sam Songailo. Join the opening party on Wednesday, June 3.
Why are French films so good even when they’re so bad? How does a mainstream drama masquerade as a classy arthouse film? Since the unlikely plot machinations of Gone Girl, there’s been much talk of preposterous thrillers; what Samba gives us is a preposterous romance. Charlotte Gainsbourg is an impossibly stylish yet under-confident social worker who falls in love with one of her clients, Senegalese immigrant Samba Cisse (Omar Sy), who’s in a detention centre and legal limbo despite ten years of work and life in France. A ridiculous scenario! So why do we buy it? And how exactly do the French do middlebrow cinema so well? Samba is co-written and directed by Olivier Nakache and Eric Toledano, the team behind the 2011 feel-good hit The Intouchables that introduced the world to French-Senegalese actor Sy. I’d be surprised if Nakache and Toledano ever let him go — Sy is a super charisma bomb and genuine movie star. Gainsbourg is typically lovely and captivating, but really, it’s all about Sy. The film’s comedic beats are sprinkled evenly, the intelligent and photogenic romantic leads dance awkwardly and endearingly around each other as expected, all the loose ends are tied — and every stereotype of a French film is fulfilled. It's all pleasingly predictable. An Australian or British filmmaker might play Samba as gritty social-realist cinema, but in French hands it's closer to a rom-com with a dash of humanitarian consciousness, with a perilously close move to melodrama in the third act. The opening scene lays out the film’s more serious themes beautifully. We open on a group of Gatsby-era dancers on stage, glittering and red-lipped, a swing remix playing, and as the camera pulls back indulgently, a giddy bride and groom in punch-drunk love cut a huge cake. We follow as the cake is whisked out of the ballroom, through swinging service doors and into the sweaty, stressful kitchen, to be cut, plated and served. Across that threshold, the Luhrmann-style extravaganza immediately gives way to a hospitality class of invisible, non-white, super-stressed labourers. This one long take gives us a perfect, efficient view of how racial segregation continues in contemporary democracies — that the luxuries of the upper classes are fuelled by the sweat of migrants who renounce many basic rights for the 'privilege’ of living in the developed world. A film about the immigrant’s struggle might seem overly dry, but Samba is drenched in that amazing French cinema slickness. It’s an easy date film, a stay-in-on-Friday-with-pizza-and-wine film, the type of socially acceptable, trashy indulgence you don’t have to feel humiliated about (the anti-Fifty Shades of Grey). It’s the filmic equivalent of Cafe del Mar easy listening: it’s watchable. The direction and music and cinematography are so seamlessly invisible, and the lead performances so natural, the film appears to be directed on autopilot. Most of all, Samba is neither a good nor bad film; it’s a disturbingly competent one. Still, it’s a minor victory every time a film for grown ups that's not part of a Marvel-ised 'story world' makes it to theatres. And you get to spend a couple of hours with Charlotte Gainsbourg and Omar Sy.
In need of an after-work de-stresser? Lululemon hears you. To celebrate its 20th birthday, the athletic apparel brand is offering a free Thursday night yoga class by the beach. The hour-long class will take over The Corso in Manly on October 4 from 6.15pm and invites yogis from all over Sydney to come decked out in their finest designer athletic wear. Brand ambassadors Phoebe Collins and Eliza Giles will lead the after-work class. While it's free to attend, you'll have stop by the Mosman or Warringah stores to grab a wristband for entry. The wristband will also get you discounts on booze and food at nearby Manly venues after the yoga session — including half-price food and drinks at Sugar Lounge, $6 beer and wine at Donny's Bar and $5 drinks at Bavarian Bier Cafe. You can register for the free event here, and don't forget to bring-your-own yoga mat on the night.
So your invites to Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week Australia got lost in the mail this year? Don't fret too much, unless one of your favourite things to do is stand in a long line getting high on complimentary San Pellegrino Aranciata. More orderly is Mercedes-Benz Fashion Festival Sydney. The successive sister event is "your ticket to the trends", which means that the focus is on pretty clothes rather than finding whoever stole your second-row goodie bag and fighting them to the death. MBFF's main ambition is to showcase the Spring/Summer collections of our big-name designers and hyped newcomers to the general public. The key 'Trends' show itself offers a Marie Claire-edited wrap-up of MBFWA's runway highlights, with Ksubi’s denim-on-denim spectacular and Akira’s contemporary-Oriental prints appearing alongside visual snippets from emerging talent like Christopher Esber and Bless'ed Are the Meek. Big ticket holders will be invited behind the red rope for post-show drinks and canapes, and with satellite events ranging from a 'Fashion on Film' night by Portable to styling sessions at Warringah Mall, there will be plenty more to keep you on your well-shod toes.
When David Bowie starred in 1976's The Man Who Fell to Earth, playing an alien who crash lands on our planet, it became one of the musician's iconic on-screen roles. It's also one that he returned to nearly four decades later, in a fashion — co-writing the musical Lazarus, as inspired by the Walter Tevis novel that the sci-fi film was based on. Written with playwright Enda Walsh, and one of Bowie's final projects before his passing in January 2016, Lazarus opened off-Broadway in December 2015. The production made the jump to London in 2016, and brought its otherworldly story — and its soundtrack of 18 Bowie tracks — to Melbourne in 2019. But if you haven't seen it yet, you can now do so from your own couch. When Friday, January 8, 2021 rolls around, it would've been Bowie's 74th birthday. When Sunday, January 10, 2021 hits, it'll mark five years since his death. In honour of those two occasions, a stream of the London production of Lazarus will be available to watch. It was captured live on stage during the show's run, and stars Dexter's Michael C Hall, who followed in Bowie's footsteps by taking on the part of Thomas Jerome Newton — and it's streaming at 7pm AEDT on Friday, January 8 and Saturday, January 9, and at 3pm AEDT on Sunday, January 10. Tickets cost $28.50. Those eager for a date with this starman — and to start loving the alien, again — can expect a sequel of sorts to The Man Who Fell to Earth. The enigmatic Newton remains on earth, unable to die; however, the arrival of another lost soul might offer the solution that he's been looking for. As for the familiar songs that this story plays out to, it's basically a best-of catalogue of Bowie's greatest hits. 'Heroes', 'Changes', 'Life on Mars?', 'The Man Who Sold the World' and 'Sound and Vision' all feature — as do four of the star's final recordings, including the title track 'Lazarus'. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q9iw6yoMk3I
Jazz music, perhaps more than any other genre of music, is a distinctly unruly beast. While the boundaries of musical genres are forever moulded and mashed by the whims of individual artists, no other genre has so reliably defied expectations and sent minds spinning into the musical unknown as jazz. With the 505 International Jazz Festival rolling into town on Monday, May 20, there is no better time to get your teeth stuck into jazz music's sonic unruliness. And as would be expected from Sydney's premiere jazz club, picking a favourite act is a bit like picking a favourite child. There is the jazz-rock-hip-hop fusion of Kneebody; Sting and Pat Metheny's Grammy Award-wining bass buddy Christian McBride; underground sax legends Tony Malaby and Dave Ades; and genre-hopping, multi-instrumentalist Nate Wood. With tickets starting from as little as $10, the two-week festival will be a unique opportunity to experience some of the world's finest jazz musicians.
Prancing through fields laced with the charm of provincial France? Casual summer weekendery. The ever-popular So Frenchy So Chic in the Park is waltzing back to Melbourne's Werribee Park Mansion for its sixth year running, while in Sydney it will be moving over to the Glebe waterfront at Bicentennial Park for its fourth instalment. If you haven't been before, expect an entire afternoon of French-inspired niceties — think gourmet picnic hampers, tortes and terrines, offensively good wine, furious outdoor chess, casual gypsy beats. So Frenchy hinges around a solid lineup of eclectic artists you may be yet to meet. There's '60s French pop-American art rock hybrid outfit The Limiñanas (think Serge Gainsbourg meets The Velvet Underground), Parisian funk-folk poet and musician Bertrand Berlin, and Nouvelle Vague, who are no strangers to the So Frenchy setup. Last, but in no way, shape or form least, there's six-piece ex-busker band Deluxe — they will be belting out their unique blend of pop, hip-hop, funk, soul and big band elements to get everyone up off their picnic rugs and dancing the blazes out of that lawn. If you're not the most organised of picnickers, So Frenchy is putting on the works again with their beloved picnic boxes and cheese plates from Ed Dixon in Melbourne and Simmone Logue in Sydney. Filled with buttery pastry quiches, salad jardinière and goose egg meringue, the picnic boxes are one to preorder if you don't want to miss out. But So Frenchy won't let you go hungry; there'll be a huge banquet of seafood, crepes, macarons and ice cream available on the day. And of course, there'll be plenty of Laurent Perrier Champagne, French beer, Provence rosé, Bordeaux reds and whites, and special cocktails at the SFSC vintage caravan. Don your best floral-headband-and-sundress-combo and gear up for un merveilleux après-midi. SO FRENCHY SO CHIC IN THE PARK 2017: Sunday, January 15 — Werribee Park, Melbourne Saturday, January 21 — Bicentennial Park, Sydney So Frenchy So Chic in the Park will return to Melbourne and Sydney in January 2017. Early bird tickets are on sale now until October 10 for $75. From then on, tickets will be $89 online or $99 on the door. For more info, visit sofrenchysochic.com.au.
It's a dark and stormy night when you go and see Dark Shadows. Or at least it had better be, to bring a touch more atmosphere than the film actually provides. Tim Burton has once again collaborated with his usual gang of wife (Helena Bonham Carter) and friend (Johnny Depp) to create a weird and creepy world where everyone seems to wear just a little too much makeup. Based on the '60s television series of the same name, Dark Shadows tells the story of the Collins family, who set up a successful fishing business in America in the late 18th century. Son Barnabas (Depp) gets a little frisky with the maid but his sights are set on the beautiful Josette. Spurned by his love, the maid/witch (Eva Green) curses his family and turns Barnabas into a vampire. After being locked in the ground for 200 years, Barnabas awakes in 1972 to discover the family business going under. Depp's Barnabas is one of two characters that provide any life to this film. While there are a few laughs, his confusion at the changed world from his youth can only go so far to provide mirth. Much of the story is quite dark, so despite the upbeat trailers which would lead you to assume this a comedy, it's far more Edward Scissorhands than Corpse Bride. Eva Green's witch is aided by her extreme features but all other characters become mere caricatures as Burton struggles to give them any depth beyond their interactions with the character of Barnabas. The final battle between the family and its curse at the end of the film raises far too many plot questions and is solved far too easily. This is a disappointing effort from Burton. His last few films have done little to add to his original creations and personally, I think he'd be better sticking to animation. Although in truth, it's getting more and more hard to distinguish between his animations and his live-action creations, what with the trigger-happy costume and makeup artists he uses. Best leave this one to DVD. https://youtube.com/watch?v=WZOKn8IJlYQ
Ushered in by Whitney Houston's 'I Want to Dance with Somebody' and a low hum of industrial sounds coming from a kitschy suit of armour, it’s a world of repurposed materials at Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery. Enlisting a host of inventive young artists, Never-Never-Land (in collaboration with Utopian Slumps) is a meditation on modernism. From the clean lines of Esther Stewart's abstract paintings to Dylan Martorell's whirlwind of bric-a-brac, cultural commodities of the 20th century are dolled up, dressed down and picked apart. (Although, I should clarify that Houston's dance-pop anthem is actually part of Clark Beaumont's show, Heart to Heart, running concurrently.) Collage and cultural anthropology come together in the practice of both Sarah Contos and Dylan Martorell. Contos's soft sculptures are stitched with sequins and printed with bold graphics and advertising slogans. She digs primitivism out from under postcolonialism, adding to the mix contemporary questions of mass media and woman-as-object. Her screenprint on linen quilts are stamped with sensationalist headlines, while her women wear lavishly jewelled masks and glittery spectacles that bring to mind Salvador Dali's famed eye brooch. With her smaller sculptures saluting the motor industry and ancient artefacts alike, it as if she is building her own mythology of old and new. Probably the most attention-grabbing work is Martorell’s Negentropicalista, a costume comprising of just about everything. There’s a beaded sugar skull, a foil-covered Buddha and a hockey stick, to name a few. This eclectic mash-up of objects also includes a soundtrack, a kind of low buzzing punctuated with sharp noises. Although it’s a little disconcerting at first, the synaesthetic patterning of colour and sound seems to unify the work. Moving away from these voodoo-infused practices, Stewart revisits the hard edges of high modernism. Juggling geometric shapes, her abstract paintings are inspired by maps and architecture, seeming to mimic open-plan living spaces. Then there's Sanne Mestrom’s bronze and ceramic sculptures. Working off casts and copies, her ambiguous vessels explore the femininity of form. On their wire frame plinths, there’s an interesting play of light and shadow. And somewhere between high art and creative chaos is Jake Walker. Combining found objects and loose brushwork, he seems to playfully mimic the monochromes of the modern masters and the 'process' aesthetic of abstract expressionism. From the tribal tenor of Martorell's work to Stewart’s appropriation of maps, there’s a sense of geographical roaming. While it’s a little hard to unify this show aesthetically — leaping, as it does, from the junkyard to the art museum — perhaps it's testament to the densely packed energies of modernism. Also, if you manage to catch Clark Beaumont's live performance In The Dark, you'll be hyper-aware of how this show is curated, as they blindly grope towards fragile sculptures in an attempt to find each other.
It's the love story that has endured for more than four centuries. It's also the romantic tragedy that earns a new adaptation with every generation. Attempting to eclipse Baz Luhrmann's stylised 1996 film as the version of current record, and Franco Zeffirelli's expressive 1968 effort before that, the latest iteration of Romeo and Juliet returns to a classic interpretation. Think authentic settings, period staging, overt acting and smatterings of original dialogue. In fair Verona where the film lays its scene, the titular duo transform from the offspring of bitterly feuding families to the epitome of furtive but star-crossed lovers after a fateful masquerade ball meeting. Their pairing is strictly forbidden, but in the flourishes of affection neither can bear to even consider living without the other. Soon, their friends and relatives are immersed in an intricate web of mistruths and misdirection designed to prolong their illicit passion. With Downton Abbey's Julian Fellowes adapting William Shakespeare's celebrated play under Carlo Carlei's direction, that the film dwells in the material's melodramatic leanings is far from surprising — nor is its resounding air of politeness. Amendments and additions emphasise the tempered heartbreak, with only the scantest concern for textual fidelity. A heavy-handed score by Abel Korzeniowski graciously signposts not just each plot development but each emotional shift as well. It all plays out in handsome fashion, aided immensely by the use of the real Italian locale in shooting, but any spark or sentiment above and beyond the most routine of renderings is sorely missing. Pretty pictures and pronounced declarations aren't enough to elicit the delicacy and devastation of the original, as immersed in popular culture as it now is, especially when saddled with varying performances. The success of each presentation of Romeo and Juliet often stems from its casting, and whilst model-turned-actor Douglas Booth conjures romantic idylls as the former, and True Grit Oscar nominee Hailee Steinfeld embodies the innocence of young love as the latter, they lack the charisma needed for such a celebrated couple. They have their moments together (the balcony scene and the tearful conclusion the most convincing examples of their union); however, each fares better apart, not together. An attention-seeking supporting cast only serves to augment the leads' disappointing turns. Some relish the theatricality to wavering success, such as Damian Lewis's overacting Lord Capulet and Ed Westwick's snarling Tybalt; others provide a well-played point of difference (Kodi Smit-McPhee's helpful Benvolio, Paul Giamatti's intervening Friar Laurence and Lesley Manville's interfering Nurse astutely among them. The surrounding players should never attract more interest than the titular lovers, but here that's the outcome. Sadly, this Romeo and Juliet values the idea of its twosome more than their actuality. https://youtube.com/watch?v=aXvufMqcWQA
Fresh from Falls and ready to spring into an East Coast tour is Brisbane five-piece Art Of Sleeping. After recently releasing first single ‘Crazy’ from their forthcoming LP (expected to land sometime mid-2015), the band are keen to test out their new material. For those who have been a fan of the band for a while, or really into previous single ‘Empty Hands’, do not despair, they’ll also be playing tracks off their 2012 EP, Like A Thief. Art Of Sleeping have been lauded by some pretty reputable music folks as quite the spectacle to be seen live, and really, who are we to argue? Their engaging brand of indie rock, and strong vocals from lead singer Caleb Hodges, is perhaps why the band has managed to make such a name for themselves despite their enigmatic nature. Either way, we’re pumped. Supported by The Lulu Raes + Fade In Mona Lisa.
There is no one like Hiromi Tango. Her practice is an explosion of colour and texture — neon lights, plaited wool, knitted shapes, creatively-crafted flowers and much more. An exhibition of her work is like wandering through a garden of extraterrestrial delights. Fluorescence at Sullivan+Strumpf will see Tango delve into intergenerational relationships. Observing the deteriorating energy and passion of her father, she explores the literal and metaphorical potential of fluorescence and how it can affect our brains and emotions. Tango has a longstanding fascination with neuroscience. In thinking through light as a medical tool and the illumination of brain structures, she is interested in reclaiming a space for uncertainty — opening up the cracks between scientific data in order to investigate something more sensory and emotional.
Usually, getting hold of a top-shelf whisky is a matter of having enough money to spend. But that's not the case with Craigellachie 51. There are just 51 bottles in the world and only one way to taste it — by winning free entry to Bar 51, a pop-up bar dedicated to the dram. And, to make the experience even more special, there are just four bars planned, in four cities across the planet. Luckily for the people of Sydney, one will be popping up right here. You'll find it within the Duke of Clarence, from Wednesday, October 23 through Friday, October 25. For your chance to get inside, you'll need to be quick to enter the lottery via the Craigellachie website by Friday, October 11. Only 80 tickets are up for grabs. Should you be one of them, you'll be spending an evening in the company of Craigellachie Global Ambassador Georgie Bell. Your adventure will begin with a private tasting of Craigellachie's 13-, 17- and 23-year-old whiskies, before the magnificent finale — a tasting of the Craigellachie 51, which will have spent 51 years resting in oak before getting to your lips. Best of all? You'll be sipping one of the world's best, most limited whiskies for free. Craigellachie's Bar 51 is popping up in Sydney from Wednesday, October 23 through Friday, October 25. To enter the ballot to try the distillery's limited whisky, head here. Venue image: Kitti Gould.
For one magnificent day on Sunday, November 8, Newtown will transform into Newtopia for the annual Newtown Festival. And, for the week before that, you'll be warmed up with a series of fun events, gigs, workshops and specials. As always, the festival will celebrate the eccentricity, rebelliousness, creativity and colour that gives Newtown its unique feel. Live music will sound all day across multiple stages, with the lineup including Jinja Safari, Steve Smyth, The Cops and Betty & Oswald. For roving performers and surprises, head to Newtopia Village. Meanwhile, the Writer's Tent has a literary extravaganza in store, bridging the hilarious, the bizarre and the tragic, with talks and debates featuring the likes of Andrew Hansen, Li Feng, Humans of Newtown and Thomas Keneally. Check out the rest of the program, which includes a bike boulevard, live art hub and, of course, the legendary dog show, over at the Newtown Festival website.
For most of 2021, residents of the Greater Sydney area haven't been able to venture far, with state borders around Australia closing to the area due to the city's most recent COVID-19 clusters. But, slowly, that's changing across the country — with South Australia the latest state to announce that it'll reopen to Sydneysiders. At the moment, residents from Queensland, Tasmania, Victoria, Western Australia, the Northern Territory and the Australian Capital Territory are all allowed to enter SA without restriction — and, from 12.01am on Sunday, January 31, the Greater Sydney area in New South Wales will also join that list. In a press conference held today, Thursday, January 28, Premier Steven Marshall revealed that SA will allow travellers from Greater Sydney in from Sunday without having to quarantine for 14 days first — if there are no new cases of community transmission identified in NSW before then. Travellers from the area, plus Wollongong and the Central Coast, will still need to undertake COVID-19 tests, though, which will need to be take on day one, five and 12 of their time in SA. They'll also need to isolate until the first test result comes back — but, as long as it returns a negative result, that's the only quarantining that'll be required. If you're heading to SA from outside of Sydney, Wollongong or the Central Coast, you won't need to get a COVID-19 test. [caption id="attachment_783246" align="aligncenter" width="1920"] d'Arenberg Cube[/caption] The news comes on the same day that Queensland also announced that it was reopening its borders to Greater Sydney — which will come into effect on Monday, February 1, the day after SA. Victoria reopened to all but one Greater Sydney local government area last week, too, so border rules have been changing thick and fast to close out January. If you're now eager to start planning an SA getaway, we have suggestions — whether you're eager to hit up Adelaide, or sip and sightsee your way around the Fleurieu Peninsula, the Limestone Coast or the Clare Valley. To find out more about the status of COVID-19 in South Australia, and the state's corresponding restrictions, visit its online COVID-19 hub. Top image: Barossa Valley, Tourism Australia.
Life doesn't imitate art, it imitates bad television. Hey, don't knock masturbation. It's sex with someone I love. To you, I'm an atheist; to God, I'm the loyal opposition. I had a great evening; it was like the Nuremberg Trials. Ok, so no guesses who wrote these brilliant lines, but can you pick the films? Either way, you're in for a treat! If you can't name the films, then the Chauvel's Classic Woody Allen retrospective is just what you'll need to swot up on one of cinema's greats. And if you can (impressive!), then surely you're a big enough Allen fan to be champing at the bit to revisit his classics on the silver screen. Win win! Each Friday night from December 3 to January 14 the Chauvel will host a series of spectacular double billings, with pairings including Manhattan + Hannah and her Sisters; Zelig + Purple Rose of Cairo; Love and Death + Stardust Memories. So, no excuses. It's time to get your New York, "teleological, existential agnostic" angst on and celebrate the wonderfully prolific Allen in his groundbreaking, hilarious heyday. https://youtube.com/watch?v=XChUYE1fIGI
Every picnic has its staples. You need a blanket and a basket, plus plenty of nibble-type snacks like cheese, crackers, charcuterie and grapes. And, you obviously need something to drink. Because Australians not only like wine, but like it in bulk and in easy-to-carry containers, that's where casks can come in — and The Dolphin has something far more classy than your average box of fruity lexia on offer. As part of the Icebergs Group's premium cask range, The Dolphin Wine Room is selling ten-litre casks it's calling the Big Orange. No prizes for guessing what colour it is. Made by Owen Latta of Latta wines, it's a casked natural vino which blends a range of grapes into an amber-hued tipple. Initially available at the beginning of 2019, it's now back for the summer thanks to a new batch. Sourcing most of its fruit from the Pyrenees in Victoria, Owen's 2019 Owen's Big Orange features viognier, sauvignon blanc, merlot, chardonnay mixed with a bit of pinot noir, and syrah with a touch of nebbiolo. They're combined in roughly equal parts, with some riesling grapes from central Victoria also added in. As well as being sustainably farmed, the grapes are all sourced from low-impact vineyards. If you're keen on a cask — for a picnic, for your cupboard, for Christmas lunch or for a gift — you can buy one to takeaway from The Dolphin Wine Room. It doesn't come cheap, though, with this big beauty setting vino-lovers back $250. If you're just eager for a taste, the Big Orange is also on the menu in-house at The Dolphin, Icebergs Terrace and CicciaBella. Grab a glass for $9 or a one-litre carafe for $50. The Big Orange is available for takeaway from The Dolphin Wine Room, or by the glass or carafe at The Dolphin, Icebergs Terrace and CicciaBella.
That's right, REMI and Sampa the Great are getting back together and touring the nation. Titled Fire Sign, their adventure will bring tunes, hip hop and poetry to big cities all over the country, where every show will see a set from each artist, followed by a joint finale. If you've been keeping an eye on the collaborations between REMI's Remi Kolawole and Sensible J, and Sampa The Great, you'll know that last year they joined forces to create 'For Good', a single that appeared on Divas and Demons, REMI's second album. Featuring a bunch of other special guests, the album took REMI to sold out gigs and several festivals, including Splendour, Field Day and Falls. Meanwhile, Sampa The Great has been going great guns since releasing The Great Mixtape, her debut album in 2015. You might've caught her at WOMAD, Laneway, Sugar Mountain or Golden Plains. From Sydney to Melbourne, Perth to Darwin, expect epic shows from the artists, plus surprises in the form of unannounced performers and a variety of support acts.
There’s something disarming about 'irishness'. It has a geniality to it that speaks of the salt-of-the-earth everyman that every other man wants to have a pint of Guinness with. From the moment the first lilting, colloquial sample of dialogue is delivered in The Beauty Queen of Leenane, you’re instantly poised for a rollicking good time. And certainly, that’s what you start off getting; it’s only as the play progresses through the first act that sinister undertones begin to germinate and a compelling psychological dimension reveals itself. Set in 1989 in a small village in Galway County, Ireland, the play zooms in on the dysfunctional relationship between Maureen (Mandy McElhinney), a sexually frustrated sole care-giver with a history of mental illness, and Mag (Judi Farr), her cantankerous elderly mother. Written by renowned Irish playwright Martin McDonagh (who was actually born in London) at the ripe old age of 25, The Beauty Queen of Leenane has played to audiences around the globe since it was first performed in 1996. The writing is both subtle and bold in style. The brash, hearty Irishness of it tempered with tense, loaded stillness. McDonagh toys with our sympathies and inverts our notions of victim, villain and hero as the psychological interplay between Maureen and Mag becomes all the more disturbing and complex. In the Sydney Theatre Company’s production, director Cristabel Sved has taken an understated but gutsy approach, handling McDonagh’s nuanced material with expert finesse, allowing moments of comedy and tragedy to fluidly interlace. It certainly helps having a stellar cast, who each carry the material and the weight of a thick, drawling rural Irish accent with authentic ease. The two leads (Farr and McElhinney) deliver particularly strong performances, drawing you into their claustrophobic little world and not letting you out until the lights come up. The two male supporting actors (Darren Gilshenan and Eamon Farren) also deliver noteworthy performances, especially Farren who wears his character like a second skin, inhabiting entirely the adolescent affectation of Rae Dooley, the reluctant messenger. A quiet but integral player in the production is the detailed set design by William Bobbie Stewart, which effectively represents the stuffy, stagnant, insular world of Mag and Maureen — the ideal breeding ground for disease and dysfunction. The Beauty Queen of Leenane promises to be “hilarious, cruel, irreverent, abandoned, constrained, horrific and, sometimes, all of these at once rubbing furiously together” and, without a moment's lapse, delivers in spades. Image by Tracey Schramm.
Prefer to make up your own mind about whether an artwork is awesome or awful? Disruptive revolutionary Stefan Simchowitz is leaving the art critiquing entirely up to the viewer when he takes over Sorry Thanks I Love You (STILY) this month. That Simchowitz has been dubbed 'the Patron Satan' of the art world by The New York Times should give you some idea of what to expect — or what not to, more accurately — when his in-store art project pops up at the concept retail space. Kicking off with a thought-provoking launch event on Thursday, July 19, the exhibition sees Simchowitz showcase large-scale oil paintings from LA-based post-internet artist Marc Horowitz, all in a format that's far from traditional. You might love it. You might hate it. Either way, the neutral setting and minimal media noise means you'll be free to decide either way. Grab tickets to the launch event to be among the first to pass judgement — you'll enjoy complimentary bubbly as you browse the works, soak up the art vibes and shop STILY's diverse mash-up of wares. Image Credit: Andy Braithwaite
Know your Kubrick from your Coppola? Like to dissect the mise en scene as much as you do the montage? Then head to Cinemania at the Museum of Contemporary Art, where video and performance artist Diana Smith of Brown Council invites film buffs to explore the influence of screen culture on everyday life through a series of multimedia presentations. Sebastian Goldspink, founder of ALASKA Projects, a Kings Cross-based arts space, and FBI radio host and artist Kate Jinx will take the floor to share snippets of their personal cinematic obsessions. Tackling themes as diverse as femme fatales and addiction to awkward adolescence and modern-day witchcraft, this is the Facebook generation's answer to Margaret and David's At the Movies. Once you've had your fill of the silver screen, join the speakers on the MCA's Sculpture Terrace for an apres-film vino whilst soaking in the gorgeous view of Sydney Harbour.
Winter may be nearly over, but that doesn't mean we're ready to stop treating ourselves to delicious comfort food just yet. And, of all the belly-warming bites available, melted cheese has to be up there as one of the best. The alpine-inspired Swissôtel Sydney has been dishing up the perfect solution to our cheesy dreams this season: Swiss fondue. The hotel's take on the retro meal features emmental and gruyere (and gorgonzola if you so wish) melted together with white wine and garlic. The mix is delivered to your table in a steaming pot, ready for you to dip into with the bite-sized selection of sides including bread, meatballs and vegetables. To help you enjoy the very last few days of winter, we've teamed up with Swissôtel to give you and three mates access to this delectable fondue experience — for free. Tradition says that whoever loses their bread in the dip has to buy the group drinks but, luckily, your prize also includes a carafe of mulled wine. We'd still recommend dipping responsibly though — your mates might hold you to it the next time you're out. To enter, see below. [competition]684148[/competition] Images: Jesse Jaco.
Think Bondi Beach, and you're instantly thinking about sun, sand and surf; however, once the middle of winter hits, it's all about the ice ice baby. For the entire month of July, the Bondi Winter Magic program is back with an avalanche of frosty fun — including turning its famous beachside area into a ice skating rink. This year's event isn't just about sliding across a frozen surface, though. Prepare to scale great heights and wander through a feast of entertainment. For the first time, the former comes courtesy of the Bondi Eye, a 32-metre high ferris wheel serving up the best views in town (and keeping you safe from the chilly sea air in fully enclosed rotating gondolas). The latter arrives in the form of Bondi Feast, a pop-up winter festival of comedy, music, theatre, storytelling, visual arts, hot foods and — of course — mulled cider. If that's not enough fun, there'll be history walks, free art and music on the streets, and markets every Sunday. Or, experience something different courtesy of Books by the Beach. Yep, it's a pop-up outdoor library, and it's a great way to take a break from the action.
