festivals

HOT: Land of Madness, Forum Theatre, 154 Flinders Street, Melbourne

July 29, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

MIFF #4: The filmmaker Luc Moullet hails from the Southern Alps of France and he has noticed a bizarre habit in the inhabitants of the region. Land of Madness is his quirky investigation as to why a ‘pentagon of insanity’ exists in this remote area of France and Moullet delivers his narration with deadpan drollness [...]

HOT: Humpday, Greater Union, 131 Russell St, Melbourne

July 28, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

MIFF #3: So one day your long-lost college buddy comes knocking on your marital home for a visit. You catch up over some drinks and you remember the free spirit you once were, before you became a married man with responsibilities. As the night wears on, do you reminisce over old times? Do you become [...]

HOT: Rough Aunties, Greater Union, 131 Russell St, Melbourne

July 27, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

MIFF #2: Our second MIFF film was another hard-hitting African documentary, this time set in South Africa. Rough Aunties is an inspirational film about a group of strong, feisty women who help and protect the abused children of Durban. The suffering of the little victims are horrendous, from beatings to molestation to rape to incest, [...]

HOT: My Neighbor, My Killer, Greater Union, 131 Russell St, Melbourne

July 25, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

Australia’s largest film festival is held every year in Melbourne in the depths of winter. Despite the icy chill of August, the Melbourne International Film Festival is one of my favourite times to be in town. I love seeing the snaking queues of black-clad cinephiles and feeling the palpable buzz of anticipation all around the [...]

HOT: 1277 Past Use By, Adelphi Hotel, 187 Flinders Ln, Melbourne

July 21, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

Another free exhibition in State of Design (seeing a theme here?), this time in the foyer of the Adelphi Hotel. All in Good Hindsight is a design practice all about sustainability, so they’ve come up with a novel way to use up all those millions of metcards Melburnians throw away every year. ‘1277 Past Use [...]

HOT: Baking Architecture, 41 Exhibition St, Melbourne

July 21, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

I was pretty sure that I’d enjoy the Baking Architecture exhibition (part of State of Design festival) as soon as I walked into the foyer of the Australian Institute of Architects and sniffed the aroma of patisserie. Melbourne architectural practices and chefs have collaborated to construct delicious models of unbuilt architectural structures in order to [...]

HOT: Visible Markings, Craft Victoria, 31 Flinders Ln, Melbourne

July 21, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

My favourite of the three exhibitions that Craft Victoria are hosting as part of the State of Design festival is Visible Markings. In a dimly lit room various pieces of armoury hang with ghostly stillness. However, the breastplates, collars and neckpieces have been constructed out of unexpected materials – knitted wool interspersed with leather, oak, [...]

NOT: Morphed, Craft Victoria, 31 Flinders Ln, Melbourne

July 21, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

Simply put, I didn’t like Emma Davies’ exhibition Morphed (another State of Design show) because I thought it was ugly. The works were apparently inspired by Davies’ recent trip to South Africa and ‘the visual intoxication of busy streets, road-side performances, and the bustling Johannesburg market’. I didn’t sense any of that in the lumpish [...]

HOT: UK Overgrown, Panelpop, 117 Brunswick St, Fitzroy

July 17, 2009 ⋅ One comment

I’m a little disappointed that I won’t be in Melbourne this weekend, as otherwise I’d be completely immersed in State of Design, Victoria’s design festival. Fortunately, some of the events are open during the course of ten day festival. So today I decided to visit the venue closest to me, Panelpop, which is displaying a [...]

HOT: Gertrude Street Projection Festival, Gertrude St, Fitzroy

July 9, 2009 ⋅ Post a comment

Like High Street Northcote, Gertrude Street is a creative hub which runs an arts festival in partnership with residents of the street. The annual Gertrude St Projection Festival exhibits projection art onto shops, restaurants and pubs and this year artists had to interpret the theme of ‘dream’. On a wintery Thursday night some of my [...]