Reviewed by GREG KING Documentary Directors: Agnes Varda, JR. Diminutive 88-year old filmmaker Agnes Varda (The Gleaners And I, etc) returns to the screen with this whimsical road journey documentary, her first feature film in nine years. Here she teams up with 33-year old French visual artist and film director known simply as JR, known… Continue Reading »
BIG IN JAPAN – interview with David Elliot-Jones and Louis Dai
by GREG KING In the documentary Big In Japan, Melbourne filmmaking trio Lachlan McLeod (director), Louis Dai (editor) and David Elliot-Jones explore the nature of fame and the culture of fame, in a world where Facebook and YouTube can make instant celebrities. The trio journeyed to Japan, where the people seem to worship foreign talents.… Continue Reading »
CONOR MCGREGOR: NOTORIOUS
Reviewed by GREG KING Documentary Director: Gavin Fitzgerald. Not to be confused with the 2009 biopic of rapper Notorious B I G, this documentary charts the rise from obscurity and poverty to wealth and success of mixed martial arts fighter Conor McGregor. Director Gavin Fitzgerald was granted lots of intimate access to McGregor over the… Continue Reading »
SCHOOL LIFE
Reviewed by GREG KING Documentary Director: Neesa Ni Chianain. This is an observational fly on the wall documentary that spends a year at Headfort, the only remaining boarding school in Ireland for primary aged children aged between 7 and 12. Entrenched in a sense of history and tradition, the school itself has been around since… Continue Reading »
BLUE
Reviewed by GREG KING Documentary Director: Karina Holden. Like Al Gore’s An Inconvenient Truth, this impressive, earnest and persuasive documentary deals with environmental issues as well, but it also delivers some inconvenient but necessary truths of its own about the destruction of our oceans. Blue is a sobering and timely look at the ecology of… Continue Reading »
ENVIRONMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL 2017 – Interview with Chris Gerbing
by GREG KING This year the Environmental Film Festival brings to the screen the best environmental films and perspectives, as well as showcasing some of the outstanding Australian voices making films exploring environmental issues. This year the program features 16 feature films, including one world premiere and two short film programs. The Environmental Film… Continue Reading »