City Hub 22 September 2016

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TRANSFORMED Transgender rights activist Miss Major Griffin-Gracy featuring at the fourth annual Queer Screen Film Festival

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WestCON protestors continue despite police raid BY WENDY BACON Stop Westconnex campaigners have successfully established a protest camp in Sydney Park despite police dragging campers from their tents in the middle of Monday night. The protest camp was set up after Sydney Motorway Corporation (SMC), which is responsible for building the 34 kilometre Westconnex tollway, published a notification on its website that it was about to start preliminary work, including the removal of trees, on the eastern side of the park along Euston Road, Alexandria. Westconnex would widen Euston road which currently carries 7000 cars a day into a major highway that would deliver more than 60,000 extra cars a day onto local roads. Slices of the park and thousands of mature paperbark and other trees would be removed if the current proposed work is allowed to continue. SMC posted the notification without preparing a tree report required before it can destroy or damage any tree. Hundreds of protesters, Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore, Greens Westconnex spokesperson Jenny Leong and Greens Environment spokesperson Mehreen Faruqi joined a rally which established the camp on Monday morning. “The police had assured us numerous times that we were camping lawfully on public land, therefore they wouldn’t be taking any action to remove us from the site,” said WestCONnex Action Group spokesperson Colin Hesse. City Hub was present when a senior officer assured campaigners that the camp was lawful and they had a ‘right to protest’. Nevertheless around 3am, WestCONnex contractors working for SMC started erecting a metal fence around the camp. Hesse said he and other campers were shocked when “around seven heavily armed police moved in at 3am to drag five residents from our campsite.”

Westconnex protestors at a Sydney Park rally. Image: Lorrie Graham

“When we refused to leave the camp, citing the clear agreement we’d made with the police earlier that day, we were ignored. “Yet again, WestCONnex contractors built their fencing around residents and called police over to clear us from the ‘enclosed lands’ on behalf of the private SMC. “Then police moved in to physically drag us from our campsite in what appeared to be a very planned and well-coordinated action,” said Mr Hesse. “The police can’t do their jobs if the community they serve doesn’t trust them,” said Mr Hesse. “It’s incredibly disturbing to see our local police throw away that trust to help a private

Published weekly and freely available Sydney-wide. Copies are also distributed to serviced apartments, hotels, convenience stores and newsagents throughout the city. Distribution enquiries call 9212 5677. Published by Altmedia Pty Ltd. While every effort is made to ensure accuracy of content, takes no responsibility for inadvertent errors or omissions. ABN 52 600 903 348 Group Manager: Chris Peken Group Editor: Jordan Fermanis, Kristen Tsiamis Contributors: Lucas Baird, Jordan Fermanis, Kristen Tsiamis, Charlotte Grieve. Arts Editors: Jamie Apps, Alannah Maher Advertising Managers: Mark Barnes, David Sullivan Cover Photo: Still from the film Major Designer: Nadia Kalinitcheva Advertising: sales@altmedia.net.au Mail: PO Box 843 Broadway 2007 Email: news@altmedia.net.au, arts@altmedia.net.au Ph: 9212 5677 Fax: 9212 5633 Website: altmedia.net.au

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company build Premier Baird’s deeply unpopular WestCONnex tollway. “Residents will continue to occupy Sydney Park to protect it from WestCONnex’s destruction for as long as ‘Bulldozer Baird’ tries to push this sham project through,” said Mr Hesse. Another camp has been established next to the original site which is now surrounded by a metal fence. Up until Wednesday morning, the ‘cage’ is occupied by two security guards. No other work has begun. Greens MP Jenny Leong has written to the NSW police complaining about the action “ This is how a government and private contractors behave when they are not serving the interests of the community -

using police to shut down peaceful protests and doing work in the cover of darkness to avoid scrutiny. But our community is not giving up - they have set up another camp and are staying put.” On Tuesday, the NSW Environmental Defender’s Office, acting on behalf of the Westconnex Action Group, wrote to the NSW Planning Department pointing out that no tree report required for tree destruction had been published on the Westconnex site. The NSW Planning Department responded that it has not approved a tree report and therefore “no clearing will be able to occur in relation to the trees along Euston Road until this condition is complied with.” SMC has agreed that a report must be done. Protesters at the camp have now said they will monitor all Westconnex activity in the area. Lord Mayor Clover Moore has given the community her full backing in its fight to stop Westconnex. She told the Monday rally, “We do not want 6 lane highways taking 60,000 cars into our congested city. .....We do not want this traffic delivered into our city. We do not want Sydney Park impacted and destroyed. This is the major regional park for this area. Sydney park has just had $23 million spent on it. It’s a beautiful regional park providing for the necessary recreational needs of a growing population. Westconnex is having billions of Australian dollars spent on it, public money. Its the very worst project at a time of accelerating global warming. Its the very worst project at a time of increasing congestion in our city. We will do everything at the City of Sydney to oppose this project.” She called for the resignation of NSW Roads Minister Duncan Gay. Wendy Bacon is a supporter of the community campaign to stop Westconnex.

Students welcome Dean’s resignation BY LUCAS BAIRD Students from the Sydney College of the Arts have welcomed the resignation of their Dean, Collin Rhodes, after a month long occupation of the Rozelle Campus. Mr Rhodes stepped down last week amid student pressure stemming from the decision to move the SCA from the Rozelle Campus to the main University of Sydney Campus in Camperdown. The decision prompted what has become a month long occupation of the main administrative building and the issuing of five separate demands to the University on behalf of the students. The first on the list of the demands was the resignation of Mr Rhodes and the students have claimed that the University is starting to cede to their demands. “We welcome the news of the removal of Colin Rhodes as Dean of the SCA. It is an indication that the University is buckling under the pressure of our campaign and the broad support it has won,” said one occupier, Juanel de la Forêt. However, a spokesperson for the University of Sydney has said that this is “absolutely not” an example of the University bending to the will of the protesters. “Professor Rhodes is the longest serving Dean of any currently at the University, having served more than ten years in the role. His period as Dean was due to end this year and he will continue his association with the University as an Honorary Professor after a period of leave,” they said. “The University supports the student’s right to protest peacefully, but its plans for the SCA will remain unchanged except through formal channels of consultation. Occupations can in no way be considered as a formal channel of consultation.” The University of Sydney has appointed Margaret Harris to take up the role of Acting Dean of the SCA; a position she previously held from 2000 to 2002. “Margaret knows the SCA well having led it at various times

The occupiers of the Rozelle Campus believe that this is a signal that the university is beginning to bend to their demands. Image source: Andy Mitchell

during the period from 2000 to 2002,” said University of Sydney Provost, Stephen Garton. “The change in leadership at this time makes sense for all.” Though, the occupiers have issued their displeasure at this new appointment. They said that an elected representative council made up of students and staff would be best be suited to head the SCA; they also demanded that Mr Garton resign as well. “The USYD executive can clearly not be trusted with the interests of students and staff, and unless they see reason and meet our demands they will be the next casualties,” LET SCA STAY said in a media statement. city hub 22 SEPTEMBER 2016

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Skating on thin ice

Proposed site for youth recreational facility, Rushcutters Bay Park. Photo Woollahra Council

BY CHARLOTTE GRIEVE A new development plan to bring a skate park, basketball court and ping pong table to Rushcutters Bay Park is dividing the eastern suburbs. The proposal comes as a response to a teen-led campaign criticising the lack of appropriate youth recreational facilities throughout the area. While there are currently no structures of its kind in the Woollahra Council municipality, there are over 20 playgrounds designed for younger children. According to the most recent census data, there are roughly the same amount of teenagers and infants throughout the precinct indicating a lack of equal access to community spaces. “They have all these little kid facilities but what happens when these kids grow up?” said James Stevens, a local skateboarder.

The Council has admitted to a “service gap” in facilities for young people and recognises the need to provide a healthy alternative to a technology-addicted generation. “Skating is a great way to get kids active and socialising,” said Mr Stevens. However, the debate is not focused on the merits of the facility but rather the location. The proposed site sits on the very edge of the Woollahra Council border in an area where children aged 12 to 17 make up less than four per cent of the community’s population. An online petition has been launched by local resident Luke Gamulin titled, “No new developments at Rushcutters Bay Park.” The petition has over 200 signatures and argues that the proposal “will reduce the much needed open spaces from an already overcrowded area.”

The Prime Minister has also weighed into this harbourside fiasco, encouraging people to email the Council directly. In his open letter to the public, Mr Turnbull raised concerns about hard surfaces, concrete structures and noise pollution that would result from the recreational facility. “I believe it would be best kept as an open green space,” the letter read. Woollahra Council has said they are considering alternate locations for the proposed site. While Mr Stevens believes young people would be willing to negotiate on the location, he argues that there is no such thing as a perfect site. “Over the past decade there’s been three or four proposed skate parks but none of them have been built,” he said. “The location of skate parks is always going to be a problem, no one wants them near their house,” he said.

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5

Clover’s win gets Jess into Council

Clover’s newest councillor, Jess Miller. Image: Jacquie Manning

BY KRISTEN TSIAMIS The City of Sydney elections that took place on September 10 saw a landslide victory for Clover Moore and her team, who make up six of the 10 councillor positions. The Liberals won two seats with Christine Forster and Craig Chung victorious. Labor and Sydney Matters each retained their one seat. Clover Moore’s victory delivered expanded majority control to the incumbent Lord Mayor with Kerryn Phillips, Philip Thalis, Jess Scully and Robert Kok set to take their place in the Council chambers. Clover Moore’s victory resulted in an upset sixth place for her team. Jess Miller joins Council with a strong background in sustainability issues within the City. Cr Miller works for the Republic of Everyone where she is the Program Leader for Shared Value Projects like the 202020 Vision – the ambition of which is to increase urban green space by 20% by 2020. She is also the Co-Founder of Grow it Local and a Big World Advocate. The issues of sustainability and liveability in the City of Sydney have been issues that the Lord Mayor has been trying to address for several years. Cr Miller puts these issues high on her agenda. A city that is liveable, or that has high liveability, is characterised by “plenty of open space, clean air, is easy to get around and has a welcoming culture so that all types of people feel they can belong and thrive” she said. The issue with Cr Miller’s picture of liveability is that it often doesn’t extend to high-rise developments, particularly older developments; something that the City has an abundance of. High-rise buildings and sustainability aren’t traditionally known to go together, particularly when looking at existing buildings within the city. It is extremely difficult to make an older building eco-friendly. The City’s Renewable Energy Masterplan has a “significant solar program, which will produce 5.3% of current electricity demand.” This isn’t as high as other comparable cities, like San Francisco, that is eyeing and approaching, a target of 100% renewable energy by 2020. Cr Miller said that “while it’s more difficult to retrofit existing buildings with efficiency measures such as insulation, lighting and water” it is possible, and the “Better Buildings Partnership does a great job on focusing on what can be done with existing building to not only make them more energy efficient but also cheaper to run.” The issue of city overshadowing is partially addressed by the “Central Sydney Planning Strategy, whose intention is to ensure that City can achieve economic growth and increase density but do so in a way that is characterised by excellent... design and ensures that public space is not overshadowed.” Overshadowing is set to become a critical issue if the current Moore council goes ahead with its plans to raise the maximum building height in the city. The CSPS won’t help the prevention of overshadowed public space if the height restrictions are changed. The City’s Sustainable Sydney 2030 Plan outlines the city’s vision for a sustainable city as well as a “comprehensive plan of what they have done and will continue to do to achieve it”. According to Cr Miller, “it’s not just all talk.” She says that community sustainability isn’t impossible, but rather the approach needs to change to be one that locals will want to take on board. “I’ve worked in the community and sustainability field for 10 years. The most successful projects are ones that use the ‘Trojan Horse of Fun’ principle. Instead of trying to tell people what to do and scare them, it works better if you show them a better, alternative way of doing things – that is also fun.” 6

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P and C President calls out Education Department BY LUCAS BAIRD The President of the Ultimo Public School’s Parents and Citizens committee, Kevin Langdon, has said it is a “fact” that the government is pushing forward with the school’s redevelopment scheme to nullify the potential impacts of an Upper House inquiry into the plan. These comments came on Monday, shortly after the Department of Planning released for public exhibition the Education Department’s request to change planning laws to place a temporary school at Wentworth Park. The temporary school is to accommodate students from the Ultimo Public School while it is rebuilt to hold around 500 more students. However, a Legislative Council inquiry was called into this plan after parents expressed outrage over the Education Department’s decision to redevelop the school at its current site; rather than build a replacement school at a site on Wattle and Fig Streets. Mr Langdon said that he believes that the government is releasing this information to rapidly push forward with their current plan so they won’t have to comply with recommendations from the inquiry that might contradict their stance. “I know for a fact, that the Department is pushing forward with its current site rebuild option because GIPA documents received by us reveal the Department’s stand (sic).” Mr Langdon has documents acquired through a Public Information request that showed the government knew about the potential backlash and pushed ahead with the planning process speedily to mitigate any resistance. “There is a very high risk of community dissatisfaction with this decision, which is likely to lead to a concerted campaign to proceed with the purchase of the Wattle, Jones and Fig Street site,” the document reads. “The Department proposes to mitigate these risks by quickly moving to prepare concept design options for redeveloping the existing Ultimo Public School site.” When asked by City Hub whether they were trying to move quickly to avoid the inquiry’s recommendations, a Department of Education spokesperson replied that they would consider all of the inquiry’s measures. “The Department of Education is committed to providing the additional school places required in the Ultimo-Pyrmont area. In order to achieve this, the Department is continuing with the planned redevelopment of the existing Ultimo Public School site,” they said. “The Department is currently finalising the temporary school design in consultation with the school and wider community.”

Children outside Ultimo Public School. Image supplied

The space allocated for the school presented another issue for Mr Langdon, who said that while it could suit the smaller children, pupils in grades five and six would need significantly more space. Mr Langdon emphasised that that the demountable classrooms are 27 per cent smaller than the student’s current classrooms and claimed they are of inadequate size. Pyrmont Action Convenor, Elizabeth Elenius, shared Mr Langdon’s concerns about the demountable’s size, but also had an issue with the lack of soundproofing provided by these facilities. “It is right besides a very noisy, busy street,” Ms Elenius told City Hub. “As is the current school but it designed to cope with that kind of noise. Whether the demountables will have the same sound proofing is doubtful.” “So the teachers will be trying to teach these children in accommodation that will be affected quite considerably by noise from the street.” Mr Langdon conceded that the planning measures were not a complete misstep by the government. He said that he was “happy” that Wentworth Park was chosen as the site for the temporary school as it is the most convenient option for parents and that it “marks one of the very few times the Department has actually listened to the community”. Mr Langdon said the government’s overall actions have been “disheartening” as they continue with “not the best option available, but rather the cheapest”. It is currently unclear when the students will be moved to the temporary school’s site; according to the Department of Education’s request, the site at Wentworth Park will no longer be needed after 2019.

Protest to Save Safe Schools Program BY CHARLOTTE GRIEVE Despite grey skies in Sydney on Sunday Septemmber 18, a rainbow lit up Macquarie Street. Over a hundred people gathered outside NSW Parliament House to protest the winding back of the Safe Schools Program. Organised by the Community Action Against Homophobia, Rachel Evans said the protest came at a “crunch time” for the LGBTQI community. Safe Schools is the first national program funded by the Australian Government designed to prevent bullying and create a safe and supportive school environment for same sex attracted, intersex and gender diverse people. The future of the program is under threat as Liberal Member for Epping, Damien Tudehope, recently lodged a petition to Parliament calling for its withdrawal from schools in NSW. The petition had over 17,000 signatures and claimed to be launched on behalf of the NSW Australian-Chinese community. It argues that the Safe Schools program is incompatible with Australian-Chinese cultural values such as the “view of sexual relationships involving female and male as normative.” Speaking at the event, Marcus Wong from the AsianAustralian Alliance described this sentiment as “totally false.” “This petition made in the name of the entire ChineseAustralian community is unrepresentative, outrageously presumptuous and does not represent Chinese-Australian leaders and members,” he said. Mr Wong likened homophobic bullying to schoolyard racism experienced by members of his community.

Hundreds gathered in support of the Safe Schools Program, Photo Charlotte Grieve

“We stand against injustice and discrimination in all its forms,” he told the crowd. Also speaking at the event, Greens Member for Newtown, Jenny Leong, questioned the authenticity of the petition. “When I look in the mirror, I wonder who the hell are these people speaking on my behalf?” she said. Ms Leong also stressed the need to address violence and discrimination in schools and the ability for Safe Schools to create widespread social cohesion. “Young people in our schools are the answer to how we end discrimination. If we support the young people’s views in how they accept difference, then we will stamp out discrimination in our society,” she said. The Greens have launched a paper petition in support of the continuation of the Safe Schools Program. They hope to reach 10,000 signatures to enable the issue to be re-tabled in Parliament.

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7

It’s time to get Sirius BY JORDAN FERMANIS 30 years after the first green bans were introduced into the Rocks, history repeated itself. On Saturday 17 September hundreds once again marched, this time to save the Sirius building at Millers Point. Jack Mundey now 87 years old, was part of the first union-imposed green ban. He believes the area is just as important now as it was then, telling the rally: “The memory comes flooding back of course to the time when the Rocks was under threat and would have been destroyed and the thinking segment of the population came together to support us even though the conservative government of Ascham was out to destroy us.” “Let us resolve to keep the fight going,” Mr Mundey said. On 31 July NSW Environment and Heritage Minister Mark Spearman announced that he would not be placing a heritage listing on the Sirius building as it would devalue the sale price of the building by up to $70 million. “I am not listing it because whatever its heritage value, even at its highest that value is greatly outweighed by what would be a huge loss of extra funds from the sale of the site, funds the government intends to use to build social housing for families in great need,” Mr Speakman said. The Sirius building has been hailed by some as one of the few remaining pieces of ‘Brutalist’ architecture that adorn Sydney. However the building takes on more than architectural value and is part of the public housing ‘sell off’ that has occurred throughout NSW displacing communities. Meredith Burgmann, former President for the NSW Legislative Council and member of Save Our Sirius action group addressed the rally where she spoke of how former governments committed to protect public housing and work with the community. “It was a very important win that we got out of that [the Rocks] struggle. And the win was that those people who had been thrown out of their housing by what the Ascham government was doing would be rehoused in a purpose-

Protestors march to the Sirius building in Millers Point. Image Jordan Fermanis

built public housing building in the Rocks and that would be the Sirius building. This was a deal done, signed in blood, between the Union, the community and the newly elected Labor government,” Ms Burgmann said. Sydney’s newly re-elected Lord Mayor Clover Moore addressed the march in front of the Sirius building where she said that the sale of Sirius would put Sydney’s ‘social mix’ at risk of being destroyed by private interests. “Sirius was purpose-built to provide homes for the displaced people, following the green bans in the Rocks. This housing is needed just as much now or even more because the majority of social housing residents in Millers Point have already been dispersed,” Ms Moore said.

Ms Moore’s ally in the NSW Legislative Council Alex Greenwich was also in attendance, Mr Greenwich used his speech to tell protestors that they were there to send a strong message of dissatisfaction to the NSW government. “Just as last weekend we sent the Baird government a very strong message at the council election, we’re sending another strong message today at this rally.” “It will be tragedy if this building gets demolished. It won’t just be the demolition of a building it will be the demolition of a heritage statement about the fact that anyone should be allowed to live in our city,” Mr Greenwich said. In a seemingly never-ending procession of politicians, all pledging support behind saving the Sirius building, member for Balmain

Jamie Parker addressed the crowd with similar sentiments to the Lord Mayor, observing that the loss of Sirius means another loss of working class communities in inner Sydney. “There’s a shocking lack of commitment to invest in public housing in this community.” “This is a policy of social cleansing. Where our cities are not diverse, our cities are not affordable and where our city will simply become an enclave for the rich.” “We’re fighting for heritage, we’re fighting for vulnerable communities but we are also fighting for a city we can be proud of, “ Mr Parker said. A representative from the CFMEU announced on the day of the rally that a green ban had officially been placed on the Sirius building as of the 17 September.

MEET the locals Tram Sheds transformed into an old world food hall BY LAWRENCE GIBBONS The long anticipated renewal of the Tram Sheds as a food emporium is finally complete. For more than a half century the former repair depot just south of Jubilee Park on the Glebe Foreshore was derelict and neglected. Once home to a half dozen abandoned, graffiti covered trams, the Sheds have undergone a massive $34 million restoration. The heritage listed building - dating back to 1904 - has been transformed into an open air marketplace complete with exposed brick work, smatterings of spray paint and the original, saw tooth roof overhead. The end result replicates the sort of grand European food hall you might visit in Budapest, Paris or Berlin.

At the heart of the Tram Sheds is a cornucopia of gourmet offerings. Each provedore was selected on the basis of their commitment to provide epicurean delights sourced from the highest quality, sustainable ingredients available. The Tram Sheds showcases a range of fine dining establishments from every corner of the globe. • To kick start your round the world tour, drop into Sir Chapel, an old world English microbrewery for a new world concoction of tequila and oysters served up in a shot glass. • Sumptuous Latin American tapas are offered at Bodega 1904. Try the Escabeche: mouthwatering spring bay mussels marinated with celery, parsley and shallot.

• Flour Eggs Water mixes these three signature ingredients to make home-made pasta. Try the eggplant and scamorza filled ‘plin’ with butter and sage. • Osaka Trading Company focuses on Japanese seafood. For an orgasmic delight have the 8

city hub 22 SEPTEMBER 2016

grilled hokkaido scallop swimming in sweet soy butter with leek and chilli. • Fish and Co only serves sustainably sourced seafood. Check out the local beer battered fish with rosemary hand cut chips. • Mama’s Buoi delivers home cooked Vietnamese fair. If only your mother cooked up pulled duck pancakes with pineapple, pickled carrots, mixed herbs and honey. • Bekya transforms Egyptian street food into gourmet delicacies. For exotic comfort food try Koshari, the national dish of Egypt: a mix of lentils, rice and macaroni topped with spicy tomato salsa farnished with chickpeas and fried onions. • Belles Hot Chicken serves up Nashville inspired dishes. Their Spicy Chicken Sandwich with spiced chicken fillet and American cheese on a milk bun will have you whistling Dixie. • Butcher and the Farmer sources its ingredients from local farmers. Try the delectable hot smoked, Hay Valley Lamb ‘Ham with fresh bay sauce. • Last but not least, for desert have Messina’s Gelato. With forty freshly churned flavours to choose from, you can’t go wrong. The Tram Sheds are located just off of the Crescent in Glebe midway between the new Harold Park residential complex and Jubilee Park. For more information visit www.tramshedsharoldpark.com.au/

FEATURE

Major Breakthrough In Transgender Rights BY MARK MORELLINI The fourth Queer Screen Film Festival comes to Sydney with a program of 12 of the best LGBTQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer) films gathered from around the world, of which six are Australian premieres. From bittersweet love stories to bitchy horror comedies and insightful documentaries, there’s something to satisfy all festival attendees’ tastes. Festival Director Paul Struthers said it’s a misconception that this film festival is solely for queer audiences: “It is correct that films we play all feature queer characters, and the festival is a safe space for the queer community to see their stories onscreen. But it is not solely for a queer audience. Besides being queer, the films are of very high quality, which I hope all cinema fans will enjoy, and we welcome them to the festival, as long as they are respectful of our community.” One of the highlights screening at this festival is Major!, an awardwinning documentary which centres on 75-year-old Miss Major Griffin-Gracy who lives in Oakland California. She is a transwoman activist and community leader for transgender rights with a particular focus on women of colour. “The film chronicles Miss Major’s life and campaigns and her 40+ year fight for the rights of trans women of colour, particularly the girls who have been locked up in men’s jails and prisons. We hear from Miss Major and over 20 community members, mostly trans women of colour who are her daughters or granddaughters,” explained director/producer Annalise Ophelian. “It’s a multi-generational story about navigating the world as a young transwoman of colour, it’s an indictment of the prison industrial complex in the United States and there are themes of intersectionality and history. Miss Major was at the Stonewall rebellion, where she wasn’t particularly active, and later locked up at Attica just after the 1971 uprising, where she had her political awakening. It’s a story of resilience and survival as a form of resistance.” Annalise said she was grateful to have worked with Miss Major, a funny and generous lady who she considers as family. Miss Major is widely regarded as the ‘blueprint for liberation’ and is dedicated, hardworking and builds resilience and self-determination amongst the transgender community. Over the years she has been witness to many vilifications against her community, which would horrify.

Peta Friend. Photo: Chris Peken

“Murder, black eyes, broken limbs, cracked ribs, being chased for absolutely no reason, no respect, being maligned, tortured and on and on and on. This comes from the air we breathe, it’s everywhere, because of laws and rules that seek to end us,” explained Miss Major. “It comes from the people who don’t understand us who live next door. Who malign us and harass us because they think they can get away with it. The only place we can be safe is with another girl, hopefully. We’re not even safe with the people who claim to love us: partners, boyfriends, wives…and family”. Miss Major states in this documentary that their community must look after themselves, as “the rest of the world really don’t really give a shit whether we live or die”. She said that in the past 30 years she hasn’t noticed a building acceptance/tolerance for the transgender community even though there have been attempts.

“Successes? No. Nowhere.They’re not building shit to respect us, fortify us, give us the respect we’re due.They still treat us like this is a choice we made and whatever we get we’ve asked for it.Well I didn’t ask for this shit, but I’m going to be damn sure that while I’m still here I do everything I can do, have a good time and do this sh*t right.” The idea to transform Miss Major’s life into a documentary came from the lady herself, as she was forever asked by people when her story would be told. But what does Miss Major hope that straight audiences will absorb from this documentary? “I would hope that they would get some knowledge about the errors that they have made as a group, that their way is not the only way and that gender has nothing to do with sex, and that gender is fluid and not rigid. Everybody does not believe or think like them. I would hope that they would understand by watching this that the people that they don’t know anything about and laugh about and point at and ridicule and disdain, that they’re not that different from them. And the next time they look in the mirror they think twice about how they treat others.” The vilification and discrimination which transgender communities experience is a universal issue which needs to be dispelled. Peta Friend is a founding member of Trans Sydney Pride, a local social and support group for members of the Trans community. She said that the issues this community faces daily are the basic fundamentals: housing, employment, discrimination and access to proper health care: “Although things have improved in the last couple of years we still have a long road ahead of us in regards to unconditional acceptance and recognition.” Trans Sydney Pride chose to be co-presenters of this event because they felt the story deserved to be told.“Miss Major is a respected Trans elder and activist who serves as an inspiration and role model to all trans people, her care and individual attention at a grass roots level has enabled a lot of trans individuals to move forward and thrive in the world. Her story is rich in history and she is certainly one of my personal heroes. Hopefully this documentary will empower and enlighten people.” For full interviews with Miss Major and Annalise Ophelian see www.altmedia.net.au MAJOR! Is screening on Sunday Sep 25, 3.30pm. $19. QUEER SCREEN FILM FESTIVAL Sep 20-25, Event Cinemas, George Street. $19-$85 (5 flexi-pass). Tickets & info: www.queerscreen.org.au

Ignite IDeas ON

Storyfest 16 Featuring:

Australian Poetry Slam Finals and other Live Literary Adventures Sydney Opera House, The Rocks and Walsh Bay

Oct 14-16 www.wordtravels.info Book now

city hub 22 SEPTEMBER 2016

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ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

When then-solicitor, Valentino Musico met director Ira Seidenstein, it was fate. Musico desperately wanted to be a writer. He had written a play. Seidenstein read it, “thought it was incredible”, and they produced it. They are now on their fourth collaboration with Musico’s deeply personal, bio-historical play, A Flower Of The Lips. Set in a small village in Calabria, Italy, during World War I, the play tells the true story of Musico’s great-grandfather, Bruno Aloi, a government official who is conflicted by the task of having to locate and arrest deserters who are also his relatives. Musico researched intensely, visiting the Italian village, copying documents, deciphering

hand-written ledgers, bringing the material home and translating it, and then somehow creating a dramatic work. Seidenstein describes the play as metatheatre. There are 11 characters played interchangeably by five actors who are on stage, in chairs for the entire duration. They stand in turn to deliver their lines. The gender parts are mixed. “I feel, in acting, in theatre, that any actor, in my aesthetic, can play any role,” explained Seidenstein. It is a minimalist production with no sets, however, there is an impressive backdrop painted by renowned artist, Vince Vozzo. Despite the subject matter, Seidenstein says there is quite a bit of humour in the play and that audiences will have a balanced emotional experience: “I would call it tragic-comic, like a Beckett but funnier.” (RB) Sep 25-29 (4pm Sun, 7pm Tues-Thurs). Imperial Hotel, 35 Erskineville Road, Erskineville. $22-$27. Tickets & info: www.sydneyfringe.com

Lauren Clair. Photo: Jamie William

Hidden Sydney – The Glittering Mile

The only way to know what Kings Cross was like during its headiest days is to experience it. If you don’t have a time machine, then you can buy a ticket to Hidden Sydney – The Glittering Mile and spend 75 minutes in the volcanic core of Sydney’s wild, decadent past. The show is a moving feast of cabaret/theatre with cast and audience relocating across four floors. It is unsparingly immersive and interactive. “Not only is this fabulous because it moves throughout the venue, but we actually meet the people,” said Lauren Clair, who plays a Lady Of

The Night. Her character is loosely modelled on real life Kings Cross identity Julie Bates, who acted as a consultant for the production. Bates worked for many years at The Nevada, the building in which the show takes place, now known as The World Bar. The Nevada was once a brothel with the much quoted distinction of having “the biggest bed in the Southern Hemisphere”. Bates enlightened the cast about life in The Cross and in the sex industry. She has become a powerful advocate for the rights of sex workers and women, effecting significant changes around health and litigation, and she is still very politically active. Asked about the show’s overtones, Clair replies: “The fact that we’re doing this at all is political.” But she’s quick to point out that the show is all about having fun: “There’s some surprises. And not only that…a really saucy surprise.” (RB) Until Oct 9, varied performance times. “The Nevada”, The World Bar, Bayswater Road, Kings Cross. $35-$45 (NB: 18yrs+ only). Tickets & info: www.hiddensydney.com.au

a&e

11 STAGE 12 Sounds 13 SCENE 14 SCREEN

Side Show The Musical People can expect heavenly voices and the canny uncanny when the critically acclaimed Broadway musical Side Show premieres at Hayes Theatre Co. Set in America in the mid to late 1930s, Side Show is about Daisy and Violet Hilton, real-life twin sisters conjoined at the hip. We meet them as the star attraction of a side show and follow their journey through emancipation from ownership and their struggle to lead a fulfilling life. “It sounds heavenly, and there is something moving about this beautiful sound being produced by society’s outcasts. There is a wonderful pathos to the story that feels genuine and terribly familiar in the wild world of the freak show,” explained Berynn Schwerdt who plays ‘Sir’ Myer Myers, the ringmaster of the freak show. “The singing is beautiful, antithetical to the oddities voicing it, and much of the exposition is done through song. There are two styles of movement. There are some vaudeville numbers reflecting the twins’ career. There is also the particular physical world of the sideshow, which is less formally structured and much more detailed,” said Schwerdt.

Laura Bunting & Kerrie Anne Greenland Photo: John McRae

A Flower Of The Lips

Identity, isolation and belonging are the main themes explored in Side Show. ‘Freaks’ are visceral representations of otherness, the physical apotheoses of our fears and idealism around standing out and being set aside from society. (MS) Sep 23–Oct 16, evenings and matinees. Hayes Theatre, 19 Greenknowe Avenue, Potts Point. $49-$83. Tickets & info: www.hayestheatre.com.au or (02) 8065 7337

4 Minutes 12 Seconds This theatrical work explores Felix Johnson & what happens when your normal life Kate Cheel. gets turned upside down due to a Photo: Rupert Reid viral video recorded on a phone. David and Di live in Croydon, London, and find out their bright son Jack has been involved in a violent outburst that has been recorded and spread around the Internet. This video now threatens the normal life they lead and the future success of their son. Co-producer and actor Jeremy Waters plays David, he describes him as “devoted to his family and wants nothing more than to see his son, Jack, heavily used. go to an excellent university and have a rich, “4 Minutes 12 Seconds throws light on the successful life. He is a supportive and loving dangers of a world where people have no say husband and father. His even temperament is in personal content getting thrown online,” a nice complement to the feistiness of his he said. wife.” “This play is a great example of that. It is As a co-producer Waters is in complete a challenging, shockingly funny piece that awe of the talent of the cast. confronts the complexities of living in our “It’s empowering to create work that modern, technological world.” resonates with you and to collaborate with This is the Australian premiere of this colleagues who inspire you. The cast and critically acclaimed production. (AMal) design team have awed me with Until Oct 8, 7.30pm. Old Fitz Theatre, their dedication and talents.” 129 Dowling Street, Wooloomooloo. Waters explains how relevant this piece is $28-$38. Tickets & info: to our society, especially when technology is www.oldfitztheatre.com

Arts Editors: Jamie Apps - Alannah Maher For more A&E stories go to www.altmedia.net.au and don’t forget to join the conversation on Twitter at @AltMediaSydney

Contributors: Carmen Cita, Craig Coventry, Greg Webster, Alicia Sim, Peter Urquhart, James Harkness, Leann Richards, Lisa Seltzer, Mark Morellini, Mel Somerville, Rocio Belinda Mendez, Sarah Pritchard, Athina Mallis, Leigh Livingstone, Joseph Rana, Shon Ho, Jacqui Rothwell, Emily Shen, Andrew Hodgson, Irina Dunn, Caitlin Burns, Zeiya Speede, Rita Bratovich, Chantal Walsh, Raffaele Piccolo, Barbara Karpinski, Taylah Felice, Georgia Fullerton, Bobby Stephenson. city hub 22 SEPTEMBER 2016

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Thirty-Three

amongst it. We feel that it’s better than if we were on an actual stage. It’s so real, you’ve got two rooms in this space – the dining room and the living room. The space itself is no smaller than a typical stage but the dynamic of where you can move makes it the best set you could ask for.” Thirty-Three is an initiative of Red Line Productions, and also features live music and freeform dancing. “We have a horse shoe setup, every seat is a great spot. It’s going to be a very boutique experience for audience Audiences can expect a very unique theatre members, there are 33 seats so it experience, as the upstairs at The Old Fitz Hotel will feel really intimate,” added Booth. “To me is transformed into a performance space for theatre should be more than just a divide of Thirty-Three. The play follows Saskia’s 33rd audience and stage. Here, the drama is birthday, where she hosts a dinner party of food, happening in the air, it’s not something that you music and laughter for her closest friends. look at – it’s something that you feel. Doing it in Drama and the unexpected, however, are what this way highlights the possibility of having ensues. palpable tension.” (GF) Writer and director, Michael Booth, says the Until Oct 8, 8pm. Old Fitz Theatre, intimate confines of the Old Fitz worked 129 Dowling Street, Wooloomooloo. $25-$30. perfectly for the story: “Audiences can really get Tickets & info: www.oldfitztheatre.com Jessica Wren. Photo: Benjamin Nunney

Sydney Live Music Guide LIVE WIRE By Jamie Apps Jai Wolf: Jai Wolf ’s live show has been described as an ascending roller coaster of everything from future bass, trap, deep house and mash ups. Since signing to Skrillex’s label, OWSLA, Wolf has gone on to perform at Coachella and just recently wrapped up a huge run of sold out US dates.

Thu, Sep 22, Oxford Art Factory

Toni Swain: A night of home grown blues and original songs with the very soulful Toni Swain. Originally from WA, Toni spent many years in Sydney, then Cairns, playing to crowds big and small, across all genres, finally settling in the small town of Nundle, NSW, which has been home for the past 10 years. Toni’s new album ‘Deepest Water’ has recently skyrocketed to the #2 position on the Australian Blues and Roots Charts with some great radio airplay.

Fri, Sep 23, Foundry616

This Way North: Melbourne guitar/drums duo This Way North are back from their winter hiatus in the Northern Hemisphere. This Way North are Leisha Jungalwalla (Jungal) and Cat Leahy (Sal Kimber & the Rollin’ Wheel, Miss Quincy (CAN), Lisa Miller). The pair crossed paths on the festival circuit in Canada while touring with their respective bands. Indulging in garage jams back on home soil quickly added up to something worth sharing. 12

Fri, Sep 23, The Townie

Verge Collection: This band are only halfway through what can only be described as their formative year. And there’s no slowing them down – up next on their to-do list is releasing a new single and their debut EP. The Sydney show will be the day after the EP release so the band is sure to be in full on party mode.

Sat, Sep 24, Brighton Up Bar

Cheap Fakes: Cheap Fakes just can’t seem to sit still. After completing album number three, Modern Vintage, in 2015, the dapper six-headed hydra of brass-fuelled funk, soul, and ska haven’t hesitated to jump back in the studio to bring you the new single ‘Deep Space’, as well as an east-coast encompassing launch tour… alongside some diversions to Japan and New Zealand along the way.

Sun, Sep 25, Newtown Social Club

Tinalley String Quartet: Unveiling the second concertina their 2016 series this week, the Quartet blend their beautiful sounds with the rich storytelling talents of acclaimed actor John Bell. Speak Less Than You Know is a musical insight into the complex disposition of one of the most famous and influential composers of all time, Ludwig Van Beethoven, within two acoustically rich, iconic Australian venues.

Mon & Tue, Sep 26-27, Sydney Opera House

city hub 22 SEPTEMBER 2016

Peppa Pig Live! Big Splash Expect muddy puddles, dancing, singing and games in Peppa Pig’s return to Australia, with her brand new show Peppa Pig Live! Big Splash. This live theatrical performance is for the whole family and follows Peppa Pigs’ successful opening tour in Australia last year. Theresa Borg, director of the show, says that “people will want to see it because it stars Peppa Pig, all her friends and mummy and daddy pig as well!” The show, with its cast of eight members, is heading to the Roslyn Packer Theatre after huge days at Parramatta’s Riverside Theatre and The Concourse in Chatswood. “They (children) always love meeting their friends, there’s lots of singing and dancing and joining in, as well as the opportunity to help, and little people love to help as we all know,” said Borg.

It’s sure to get some Peppa Pig fans squealing and oinking to catchy songs, as Peppa and all her friends work to fix the leaking nursery roof. (TF) Sep 24 + 25; 10am, 12.30pm + 4pm. Roslyn Packer Theatre, 22 Hickson Road, Walsh Bay. From $29.90. Tickets & info: www.peppapiglive.com.au

The Harmony Bake-Off with Cleftomaniacs Choir

By Jamie Apps That innate sense of community and belonging that we all have to the places we live is quite often built around two central elements of our society – music and food.This weekend both of these elements will be combined to create a truly unique opportunity for the Sydney community to come together. The Harmony Bake-Off has been put together by the acclaimed Cleftomaniacs Choir and their musical director Gary Smith, who said that “everybody has been working hard, everybody is focused, incredibly optimistic and [is] getting very excited now”. Smith, a former high school music teacher, joined the choir in 2002 when he was looking for work that was “more performance oriented”.This desire to create and perform for audiences is a trait many of the volunteer members of the choir also share. “The choir is made up of mostly people from inner-western Sydney and they all have various occupations outside of the choir,” explained Smith. “We conduct a two-hour rehearsal every Thursday, which anybody is free to attend.” Becoming a full fledged member of the choir though is a slightly more rigorous process than simply

Mickey Cooper Hit The Ceiling

showing up to a rehearsal:“If somebody is still interested in auditioning after a few weeks at our rehearsal they are asked to learn a piece of music and perform that with a small group of people from the choir.” This process allows for the Cleftomaniacs Choir to ensure their high standards are upheld.These standards have allowed the group to perform in professional productions with the Belvoir Theatre, in particular the stage show The Event, which Smith says was a “fantastic experience, because we were able to perform on stage in a professional production, starring with some extremely talented actors. Everybody got to experience what it’s like performing in front of a serious paying audience, which really lifted everybody’s game.” The Harmony Bake-Off this weekend will be yet another opportunity for the members of the choir

As a kid in Melbourne, Mickey Cooper would listen endlessly to the Finn brothers and Dylan, re-working the lyrics and recording them onto blank cassettes. Listening to his debut album Hit the Ceiling, the influences are obvious. Recorded in a tiny Lower East Side apartment with a paltry microphone, acoustic guitar and audible fridge, the songs mine the heartache of a family break-up. It’s an open, spacious sound with only some overdubbed harmonies and the odd harmonica or tambourine to colour a beautifully sparse instrumentation. It’s a perfect canvas for Cooper’s voice, high in the mix and lyrically rich and impressionistic. The mixing by Brooklyn engineer, Bryce Goggin captures the raw intimacy and natural reverb of the apartment but manages to give the album a polished studio feel. Indie-pop at it’s best. (GW) WWW1/2

to further expand their confidence and skill sets. “There are members of the choir who are also soloists who will be performing individual pieces of music and we will also be covering many different styles including medieval folk songs, a bit of classical, some jazz, some pop and a bit of world music. Not to mention we’ll also be offering up some really nice baked food,” swooned Smith. Sep 24, 7pm. Sydney Uniting Church, 56A Raglan St, Waterloo. $25-$30. Tickets & info: www.trybooking.com/MFCL

Caravana Sun – Guerrilla Club

Our frantic, modern, hustle and bustle society has slowly seeped its way into every pore of creative expression as we know it. Particularly with music, it is no longer about creating albums but rather that one hit single. Thankfully though Sydney four-piece Caravana Sun have rebelled against that movement with their latest release. Guerrilla Club is truly an album that requires you to listen from front to back to truly grasp the full visceral experience that this piece of art encapsulates. Drawing inspiration from Australia’s majestic countryside and landscapes along with out rich indigenous culture, Caravana Sun have strayed from their tried and true sound. With this release the band has pushed into a more sonic-soundscapefocused medium which encapsulates pop, soul and soft-rock elements. Occasionally they will slip back into their energetic surf-rock roots, with tracks ‘Days Like These’ and ‘Unknown Warrior’ the prime examples which will inspire spontaneous dancing. WWW1/2

THE NAKED CITY

With Coffin Ed, Jay Katz Peter Rechniewski and Miss Death Throughout the world jazz is performed in many different venues – from concert halls to large outdoor festivals, however the ‘jazz club’ with all its character and intimacy remains the favourite home of the genre. Whether it’s the Village Vanguard in New York, Ronnie Scott’s in London or the Jazz Showcase in Chicago, great international cities often spawn great jazz clubs – many of which have survived for for jazz and associated music for some decades. time. I wanted to create a place that was In Sydney we’ve also had our share of intimate, comfortable, with great notable jazz clubs, dating back to the atmosphere and good acoustics. In the seminal El Rocco jazz cellar of the 60s. early period of the project I had a partner However unlike many ‘international’ cities and we looked around for about two years, our attrition rate has been high, missing out on several very good spaces. In symptomatic perhaps of Sydney’s ever late 2011 we stumbled across what is now changing cultural landscape, property Foundry616 in Harris Street Ultimo, just prices and the demands of Council up from the ABC.” compliance. Long associated with a string of jazz clubs Four years ago and the Basement was and venues including Jennys, the Strawberry widely touted as the city’s only jazz venue, Hill and the Side On Café as well as the although these days it delivers a very much formation of SIMA in the mid 1980s, Peter mixed bag of styles. However with the has been a driving force in the Sydney jazz advent of Venue 505 in Surry Hills and scene for decades. Opening his own jazz Foundry616 in Ultimo, Sydney can now club had been on his agenda for years and boast two dedicated jazz clubs, featuring with Foundry616 that romance became a both local and international artists. reality – albeit not without the pain This September, Foundry616 celebrates associated with opening any kind of music its third anniversary, no mean feat in a city venue in Sydney and meeting a long list of noted for both the fickleness of its Council requirements. audiences and the often heavy hand of its Not all jazz clubs are started and run by jazz regulatory bureaucracies. It was Peter buffs, but Peter certainly fits the description Rechniewski, the club’s owner, booker and of a long time fan.As he remembers: regular compere who took a giant leap of “My father told me about the great jazz faith some three years ago. As he explains: musicians of the swing era and there were “I’d been thinking about opening a venue a few records at home that I listened to.

Book Launch: One day a friend and I decided to check out the El Rocco in Kings Cross. We caught the bus from Maroubra one Saturday night and heard the John Sangster Quintet. I’d never heard anything like it and thought it was the greatest music in the world. (I hadn’t listened to Coltrane or Albert Ayler or Miles Davis yet). From then I was completely hooked.” As both owner and booker Peter faces the somewhat daunting task of attracting punters six or seven days a week, running a commercially viable bar and restaurant, maintaing a strong program of both local and overseas artists and constantly tweaking the format. He has recently introduced a series of bargain priced Monday nights featuring some of the country’s best known musicians and the response has been most positive, with enthusiastic audiences proving that Sydney does not have to be a musical wasteland on an early week night. As for the future of jazz in Australia, Peter is optimistic if not slightly guarded: “Like in other countries, jazz in Australia faces great challenges, but that’s nothing new. In Sydney we need a jazz festival on the scale of the one in Melbourne and that would help generate new audiences. So would more media coverage, but that is a topic on its own. If we look at the quality of the musicians leaving the jazz studies courses the potential is phenomenal and the depth of highly skilled musicians on all instruments far exceeds what was here even 25 years ago.” Check out coming events at www.foundry616.com.au

Circus – Wendy Sharpe Wendy Sharpe has not only made her She is also considered amongst many as name as a phenomenal artist, she is known an incredibly lucky lady, as Wendy gets to as a pioneer, an expert in her field, a master spend her days creating magic within one of of her craft. the worlds most spine tingling, heart stopping and truly captivating experiences known to man kind – she captures the relentless energy, those jaw dropping moments and the butterfly breeding atmosphere created by a child’s first ever experience of the circus. Wendy has been drawing, painting and taking photographs of the historically significant Cirque d’Hiver and Circus Oz her whole career; whether she is sketching during a warm up session, painting back

stage in the ‘green room tent’, or photographing performers in costume at her Sydney based studio. Wendy promises to deliver a collection of artworks with each and every picture focused on portraying the different aspects and feelings associated with the circus. (The human-only circus may I add, for those of you who also disagree with the enslavement of animals.) (BS) Until Oct 8 (10am-6pm,Tue–Sat. Sun + Mon by appointment only). King Street Gallery, 177 William St, Darlinghurst. Info: www.kingstreetgallery.com.au

Preposterous Saints – Chaia Fein

Sydney-based artist Chaia Fein has created 366 Preposterous Saints for your daily nourishment, illustrating the most elite of them in glorious paintings with accompanying historical notes. Having lived in Italy for many years and influenced by its relics and icon industry, she has combined a love of language with her vivid imagination to create this deliciously irreverent book filled with fascinating and confronting images and stories in the style of absurdist humour. The Preposterous Saints is a must-see/have/share experience. She would be delighted if you could join us on this uproarious occasion to celebrate her quirky and irreverent publication of the secret lives of some Preposterous Saints.This is more than a book launch; it is a revelation into a fascinating and little-known crooked cranny of church history.These are the Saints that the church wants to hide! To add to the pleasure of this miraculous event, we will be graced by the presence of Pope Ubiquitous XXII, who will be reading praises of the author’s illustrious work.To support the Pope in this dubious duty there will be other prestigious personages such as the glorious Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence and the undesirable addition of Cardinal Putredinous Smell.The book will be launched by the Splendiferous Irina Dunn. As an option, you are encouraged to add to the spirit of the occasion by adopting any dress or accoutrement of ecclesiastical style. (ID) Sep 25, 2:30-5:30pm. Balmain Town Hall Meeting Room, 370 Darling St, Balmain. Free. You are invited to enjoy some delicious nibbles with a glass or two of bubbly or red wine and, of course, non-alcoholic beverages. For this reason, RSVPs are essential. Please reply to Chaia’s email: artcreatures@yahoo.com.au

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The Hon Tanya Plibersek MP Member for Sydney TEMPORARY OFFICE CLOSURE ADVICE 150 Broadway, BROADWAY is closed while works are undertaken for urgently required building repairs. The office remains contactable: Tel: (02) 9379 0700 Postal: 150 Broadway, Chippendale NSW 2008 Email: Tanya.Plibersek.MP@aph.gov.au Please call or email us - 9AM-5PM, Monday-Friday city hub 22 SEPTEMBER 2016

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Blair Witch

Seventeen years ago the horror genre was revolutionised with the creation of the ‘found footage’ sub-genre thanks to the release of The Blair Witch Project. In 2016 Blair Witch has us tagging along with James Donahue, the brother of Heather Donahue from the original, and his friends as they document their

attempts to locate his missing sister after the discovery of mysterious footage found online which indicates Heather may still be out there. Unfortunately for this sequel (I use this term incredibly loosely) the addition of new technology and even more cameras this time around removes the sense of mystery and dread that made the original so compelling.This time around there is an over abundance of jump scares and loud noises, which rather than adding to the horror actually detracts. Essentially this was a superficial beat-for-beat remake which somehow lost it’s soul and therefore the terror. (JA) W1/2

France and Belgium have collaborated with Japan to make this the first international co-production from the widely recognized Studio Ghibli. The Japanese filmmaker’s power of storytelling and profound passion for beautifully crafted animation films is exceedingly evident and will leave audiences anticipating further animated gems from the studio. Superbly animated, this dialogue-free feature examines the phases of life of a man shipwrecked on an island, whose attempts to flee are foiled by a large red turtle. The beautifully coloured sketchy animation adds dimension and uniqueness to the landscapes and sea creatures,

Spin Out

There’s a lot you can do with 90 minutes: you can pick out the scum from around your toenails, you can tidy your sock drawer, you can try again to fill out your census form – or you can go and see Spin Out… but ONLY if the other options aren’t available. This new Australian film is a Tim Ferguson imprint: he co-wrote the script with Edwina Exton and co-directed with Marc Gracie. His wacky, derisive humour is all over it, but it lacks his sharper, introspective wit.

The Red Turtle

The setting, a ute rally and B&S Ball in the country, is like flies to a rotting kangaroo when it comes to attracting cliches.To its credit, the film does include some interesting characters, however the cast is too crowded to fully develop any. Ironically, the least interesting people are the leads, Billy (Xavier Samuel) and Lucy (Morgan Griffin), whose story arc has the scope of an instant coffee ad. As for the plot – it must have fallen off the back of a ute on the way to filming. (RB) WW1/2

further propelled by Studio Ghibli’s signature use of imagery which may have differing interpretations among mesmerized audiences. This glorious and entrancing minor masterpiece will quickly capture the imagination of audiences and retain their interest throughout, as they connect with this lost soul destined to remain on the island until his death. Unlike previous animated efforts from this studio which seem nonsensical with convoluted themes and storylines (e.g. Spirited Away), this film is coherent and the final scenes should reduce sensitive movie-goers to tears. (MMo) WWWW

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