AustLit

'For six long years late-night TV host Jack Delroy (the superb David Dastmalchian) has been runner-up in the ratings. Even belonging to shadowy power society, The Grove hasn’t helped. But tonight is Halloween, and Jack plans to claim top spot with his guests including a sceptic, a famous psychic and a disturbed teenager who survived a Satanic death cult and claims to be hosting a demon called ‘Mr Wiggles’. That’s just the basics of a richly detailed and brilliantly assembled tale presented as the recently rediscovered master tape and behind-the-scenes footage of that fateful night. This spooky, gory and wickedly satirical snapshot of the post-Exorcist ‘Satanic Panic’ 1970s is a triumph for its Aussie creators.'

Source: Sydney Film Festival.

'Hanna (Garner) and Liv (Henwick) who are best friends backpacking in Australia. After they run out of money, Liv, looking for an adventure, convinces Hanna to take a temporary live-in job behind the bar of a pub called ‘The Royal Hotel’ in a remote Outback mining town. Bar Owner Billy (Weaving) and a host of locals give the girls a riotous introduction to Down Under drinking culture but things turn nasty when their jokes and behaviour cross the line. Soon Hanna and Liv find themselves trapped in an unnerving situation that grows rapidly out of their control.'

Source: Screen Australia press release.

'Ming, a grieving Chinese mother, arrives in Australia to embark on a road trip with a young Caucasian man to remember a loved one.'

Source: Flickerfest

'After accidentally witnessing a woman being raped, a 12 year-old girl left catatonic with shock, struggles to make sense of what she saw and ultimately finds renewal in the inestimable world of her imagination.'

Source: Screen Australia funding approval.

Widowed cleaning lady Mrs Harris becomes determined to travel to Paris and purchase a couture Christian Dior dress.

'A woman’s ordinary train ride home at night turns into a terrifying game of cat and mouse with a stranger until an unforeseen force is summoned.'

Source: Sydney Film Festival.

'After Julian Assange was arrested at London's Ecuadorian embassy in 2019, his Victoria-based father stepped into the legal, political and media fray. Joined by Julian's fiancée, Stella Moris, 76-year-old Shipton lays out the situation to journalists, often sounding eerily like his detained son. In early 2021, the UK verdict on whether to extradite Julian to America collided with a pandemic and the US presidential election. As the crusade heats up, Shipton battles on, challenging misconceptions with quiet patience and remarkable composure. Filmed over two years across Europe and the UK, this powerful documentary from Lawrence (Hearts and Bones, SFF 2019) and Julian's brother/producer Gabriel Shipton (Emu Runner, SFF 2019) cleverly encompasses the manifold aspects of a singular campaign. With original music by Brian Eno.'

Source: Publisher's blurb.

'NITRAM looks at the events leading up to one of the darkest chapters in Australian history in an attempt to understand why and how this atrocity occurred. Currently in production in Victoria.'

Source: Stan.

'When Aaron Falk returns to his drought ravaged town in Victoria to attend his best mate’s funeral, he finds himself drawn into a web of lies and murder, which forces him to confront the guilty secrets of his own past. Based on the novel of the same name, written by Jane Harper.'

Source: Screen Australia funding approvals.

'When an earth-destroying meteor appears in the sky, 15-year-old amateur biologist Elle is terrified that the world is about to end. But when she confronts her parents, they refuse to acknowledge her fears. Instead, they send Elle to see Dr Humboldt, a crackpot specialist who convinces them that Elle is, in fact, a critically endangered Sumatran elephant. Will her parents see reason, or will Elle spend her last days on Earth in a cage? An absurd coming-of-age tale, The Last Elephant on Earth explores growing-up, denial, and the lies we tell ourselves in order to avoid the truth.'

Source: Production blurb (Tallstoreez).

'A shell-shocked photojournalist, haunted by what he has witnessed on assignment in Africa, returns home on the eve of becoming a father. When one of his photographs threatens to destroy a Sudanese refugee’s new life, the two men are reunited by nightmare events from the past. In the wake of a tragedy, a startling revelation forces each survivor to help the other find hope again. Hearts and Bones is a story about the mysterious bonds of family, friendship and fatherhood.'

Source: Screen Australia.

After Samantha Bloom suffers a devastating spinal injury, she she struggles with depression, until the family adopts a fledgling magpie called Penguin.

'An injured and grief-stricken miner (Ben Mortley) on the desolate planet Carmentis must overcome his personal demons in order to survive, but can he get there before the planet freezes?'

Source: Tribeca Film Festival.

An historical drama following the relationship between Queen Anne; Sarah, Lady Marlborough; and Abigail Hill, Lady Marlborough's poor cousin.

'Outlaw Ned Kelly lived only 25 years, but it was enough to write his story into Australian legend. The subject of countless books, songs, and other lore, he has become a near-mythical figure in the mould of Jesse James or even Robin Hood. Adapting the Booker Prize–winning novel by Peter Carey, True History of the Kelly Gang stars George MacKay, Russell Crowe, Nicholas Hoult, Essie Davis, and Charlie Hunnam in a gloriously fictionalized tale of a true-life renegade.

'Kelly (MacKay) grows up in an already rebellious Irish immigrant family, regularly bristling against the outback justice imposed by local police. Over time, he falls under the influence of Harry Power (Crowe), a true bush-ranger with little regard for colonial authority over the wild territory where he operates. Each encounter with the law pushes Kelly further and further into a dedicated life of crime. Soon enough, he's gathered a gang around him to help with the horse thieving and shootouts, and many Australian settlers are applauding his exploits. It all builds to an epic final showdown.'

Source: Toronto International Film Festival.

'The tragic tale of a wild camel and the sacrifices she makes for the benefit of her kind.'

Source: Melbourne International Film Festival.