Country: Australia

Blind Ambition

An audience favourite at festivals, Blind Ambition ticks all the boxes for a feelgood underdog documentary, but the film’s popularity rests on more than dramatic clichés and familiar tropes about competitive spirit. It reflects a multi-faceted tale of refugees, urban violence and the eurocentrism of tasting (e.g. requiring a familiarity with strawberries), as much as…
The Rocket

This Australian underdog drama about a young boy thought to bring bad luck to his family is set in the little-filmed country of Laos (one of the world’s few remaining communist states and one of the poorest countries in East Asia), and spoken in the Lao language. While some of the film was filmed in…
Samson & Delilah

Warwick Thornton’s compelling drama/romance of two Aboriginal teenagers concerns Samson (McNamara) and Delilah (Gibson) as they escape the despair and violence of a dead end shanty settlement in the middle of the Australian desert for a better life. The gruelling journey to Adelaide demonstrates that getting a break will not come easily. Shocking experiences verify…
Ten Canoes

A beautifully crafted tragi-comedy set in the timeless freshwater swamps of Arnhem Land in Australia. The multi-layered story of a man guiding his younger brother in a choice of love meanders between a narrator, a not-so-long-ago hunting party and an ancient myth. Unlike many films telling the tale of other cultures from an external and…
Japanese Story

Geologist Sandy (Collette) takes a Japanese businessman into the Australian outback to show him the mining venture in which he has a share. A detour leads to an unplanned night under the stars and a change in their cool relationship. Just when we anticipate a predictable turn of events, a plot twist eradicates any sense…
Rabbit Proof Fence

Three mixed-race aboriginal girls are removed from their home to be assimilated into white settler culture in an integrationist school on the other side of Australia. The plan is to train them for domestic service. Based on a true events in the 1930s, the film tells the story of their escape and struggle to return…

Blind Ambition

The Rocket

Samson & Delilah

Ten Canoes

Japanese Story

Rabbit Proof Fence