Documentary

'T' is for Teacher

Documentary
Director: Rohan Spong
Four transgendered school teachers wish to transition whilst employed within the U.S school system. Director Rohan Spong interviews them about their struggles and triumphs, with issues such as gendered bathrooms, the impact of their transition on students and the depiction of trans-gendered people in the media.
12 Canoes

Documentary
Director: Molly Reynolds, Rolf de Heer
12 Canoes is a re-working of the website developed by a Ramingining consultative committee. It is structured in 12 parts which deal with dreamtime stories, contact history with Macassans and Europeans, the flora and fauna of the country as well as kinship systems, ceremonies.
2 Mums and a Dad

Documentary
Director: Miranda Wills
Fiona is 33 and ready to have a baby. But her partner, Kellie, is a woman. Fiona has a solution: a gay friend from work who passionately wants to be a Dad.
5 Lost at Sea

Documentary
Director: Jesse Martin, Josh Schmidt
Young. Real. Naïve. In 1999, 21-year-old Jesse Martin became the youngest person ever to sail solo, non-stop and unassisted around the world. On his return he took four other young people sailing on what was planned to be a three-year voyage, stopping at the world’s most remote and beautiful places. Dubbing the trip the 'Journey of Young People', Martin intended to make a 13-part documentary series to help fund the voyage. But his crew were quickly stripped of their idealism.
A Fortunate Soldier...

Documentary
Director: Nicky Crowther
One man's journey from soldier to civilian life during and after the Apartheid era in Southern Africa.
A Good Man

Documentary
Director: Safina Uberoi
"A Good Man" is the story of an Australian farmer Chris Rohrlach, his quadriplegic wife, their new born baby, and Chris’s plans to open a brothel in their small country town.
A Loving Friend

Documentary
Director: Kerry Negara
Across The Plateau

Documentary
Director: Zhang Zeming, Paul Liu
Seven retired Chinese people from different backgrounds and life experiences come together to realise their long cherished dream of crossing the roof of the world on bicycles.
Aunty Betelnut

Documentary
Director: Natasha Henry
A diverse group of five Papua Ginean aunties gather to partake in a timeless tradition and share memories of their homeland.
Back to Bourke

Documentary
Director: Selmon Beha
We follow four generations of a normal working Aboriginal family who wouldn't live anywhere else but their country.
Bastardy

Documentary
Director: Amiel Courtin-Wilson
An actor, Aboriginal elder, ex-junkie, cat burglar and jailbird, Jack Charles tells all.
Big Stories, Small Town

Documentary
Director: Jeni Lee, Sieh Mchawala
A documentary which tells the story of a small country town as seen through the eyes of long term residents.
Bouncer

Documentary
Director: Tom Vogel
A rare insight into the world of crowd controllers. Seven bouncers are interviewed and give a rare insight into a dangerous profession.
Celebrity: Dominick Dunne

Documentary
Director: Kirsty de Garis & Timothy Jolley
Hollywood outcast, best-selling author and chronicler of the rich and famous, Dominick Dunne is one of the world’s leading journalists and society commentators. This is his story.
Christmas Lights

Documentary
Director: Lizzie Fisher
Ever wonder what drives people to spend up to 11 months of the year and thousands of dollars on Christmas Lights?
Cicada

Documentary
Director: Daniel P. Jones
An incendiary visceral monologue, cicada is a retelling of the first memory of Daniel P Jones who, aged 5, witnessed a brutal execution style murder.
Contact

Documentary
Director: Bentley Dean
In 1964 Yuwali was 17 when her first contact with whitefellas was filmed. Now 62 she tells the story behind this extraordinary footage.
Coober: A Desert Speedway Story

Documentary
Director: Tanya Curnow & Caro Macdonald
Speed, dust and heartbreak in the middle of the Australian desert: this is speedway racing Coober-style.
Dance Like Nobody's Watching

Documentary
Director: Elizabeth Collins
This is the story of Down Syndrome, told through the eyes of a young man who has Down Syndrome.
Duke Vin And The Birth Of Ska

Documentary
Director: Gus Berger
Duke Vin was the first person to bring the sound of jamaica into England in 1956 and he still DJs today.
Eclipse: An Indian Odyssey

Documentary
Director: Mark Lapwood
This visually based film journeys through India's economic capita, Mumbai contrasting portraits of people who live in the streets with the natural beauty that surrounds them.
Fire Talker

Documentary
Director: Ivan Sen
The film uses archival footage, spanning forty years, to build a candid portrait of the life and times of Charles Perkins. Aboriginal activist & bureaucrat. Perkins was on the frontline of the emerging Aboriginal rights movement and infamous for his straightforward thinking and sometimes aggressive temperament which made him friends and foes, both black and white.
Gandhi's Children

Documentary
Director: David MacDougall
Gandhi's children are several hundred boys -orphans, runaways or abandoned; about half of them are held on court orders. The 'real slumdogs' they are accommodated, fed and educated in the Prayas Children's School for Boys run by a non-profit NGO in a poor area on the outskirts of Delhi. David MacDougall spent months filming in the school. He has an accomplished filmmaker's eye for the image but refuses conventional devices of documentary filmmaking such as commentary. This is true observational
Glottal Opera

Documentary
Director: John Fink
Golden Sandals

Documentary
Director: Haydn Keenan
Rock Star, Artist, writer Reg Mombassa has influenced Australian culture for thirty years.
Grind Girls

Documentary
Director: Poppy Shmith
The all-female, bash-em-up sport of Roller Derby is having its Australian renaissance- and profoundly changing the lives of two young women.
Hairtales

Documentary
Director: Scott Otto Anderson & Cath Moore
A portrait of 12 diverse characters whose strange and at times startling connections to hair reveal long-held secrets and life-changing experiences.
Heart

Documentary
Director: Amy Gebhardt
Home Away From Home

Documentary
Director: Riyadh Abdul Hussein
The story of an Iraqi refugee's settlement in Australia, and his family's adjustment to a new life in a new country. Hussain, formerly Marketing Manager at Al-Jazeera TV, now works as an Adelaide taxi driver.
Indonesia Calling: Joris Ivens in Australia

Documentary
Director: John Hughes
“Our documentary history shouldn’t be forgotten.” – filmmaker John Hughes. In 1946 celebrated Dutch documentarian Joris Ivens defied his government and released a radical film supporting Indonesian independence. This feature documentary revisits Australia’s early relationship to its northern neighbour, and the impact of this small film on emerging Australian film culture.
Intangible Asset #82

Documentary
Director: Emma Franz
“People with no common language whatsoever can form quite deep relationships through music, and that to me is a beautiful thing.” – filmmaker Emma Franz. Australian jazz drummer Simon Barker hears a rare recording of shaman Kim Seok-chul ­– officially recognised as South Korea’s 82nd ‘intangible asset’ – an event that triggers an obsessive crusade to meet the elusive grandmaster musician. Barker’s journey becomes a rite of passage that sees him return to Korea 17 times.
Into the Shadows

Documentary
Director: Andrew Scarano & Phil Hignett
We journey behind the big screen to discover the past, present and future of Australian cinema.
it's raining pleasure

Documentary
Director: Steven Levett
The desire to mark the passing of one of Australia's contemporary songwriters has inspired this feature length rockumentary.
John Gollings: Eye For Architecture

Documentary
Director: Sally Ingleton
Known as the unofficial curator of Australian architecture, John Gollings is a wizard who can turn a building into an award-winning piece of art. Combining his two loves, architecture and photography, this man has conceived the most memorable of architectural images ­– whether detailing the modern metropolis of Melbourne, or the rapidly changing topography of Asia. This documentary offers a peek through the personal lens of Gollings, and takes a walk along the razor’s edge of architecture.
Lesbanese

Documentary
Director: Alissar Gazal
Revealing documentary which explores the lives of lesbians living in lebanon. Delight in this hidden world of women who are savvy, sexy and confident within themselves despite the social and cultural difficulties they face.
Lessons from the Night

Documentary
Director: Adrian Francis
As dusk approaches and workers stream out of the city, Maia is about to begin her day. She reflects on life, work and toilet bowls as she goes about her nightly cleaning round through silent empty spaces.
Lionel

Documentary
Director: Eddie Martin
In 1968 a young aboriginal boxer punched his way to history when he stopped Fighting Harada in Japan over fifteen rounds. His name was Lionel Rose and he became the undisputed world bantamweight champion. Two hundred and fifty thousand people hit the streets of Melbourne to welcome him back and he went on to become a symbolic figure in the interracial politics of the times. Combining a remarkable selection of archival and present day observational footage and interviews.
Love The Beast

Documentary
Director: Eric Bana
A simple tale of one man’s 25 year long relationship with his very first car.
Mankind is no Island

Documentary
Director: Jason van Gendere
‘Mankind is no island’ is a film shot entirely on a cell phone, using found signage on the streets of New York City and Sydney to tell a touching story from the very heart of two cities.
Maverick Mother

Documentary
Director: Janet Merewether
At 39, Janet’s biological clock was chiming a deafening tic toc’. A film about solo motherhood by choice/chance and the contemporary role of the father.’
Meet Me At The Mango Tree

Documentary
Director: Brian McKenzie
A compelling trio of stories, filmed in Tamil Nadu (southern India), from veteran director Brian McKenzie.
Muscle

Documentary
Director: Natasha Gadd
Muscle is an intimate narrative documentary that explores the life and work of an unusual acrobatic trio whose extraordinary bodies and the feats they perform have become the site of their art, their identity and for Mozes, his survival in the shadow of HIV.
My Asian Heart

Documentary
Director: David Bradbury
An Australian photojournalist, Philip Blenkinsop - a portrait by David Bradbury.
My Dad Susan

Documentary
Director: Tegan McCarthy
A young filmmaker who is estranged from her father meets him for the first time.
My Uncle Bluey

Documentary
Director: Britt Arthur
'I never met my Uncle Bluey and my family never talked about him...'
Poly People

Documentary
Director: Muffy Potter
Revealing documentary about the world of polyamorous relationships. Three couples who practice polyamory reveal how each have come to develop and sustain these 'poly' relationships within a world that defines monogamy as the norm.
Private Baby

Documentary
Director: Leila Koren
Miss Sugar Puss dazzles you with her surreal- comic, sensual, world of burlesque dancing; revealing hyper-femininity being a source of confidence, sexuality and female empowerment.
Queer Science

Documentary
Director: Rohan Spong
Ramones Are Not Dead

Documentary
Director: Andrew Bunney, Suzy Ramone
Local band Ramonettes set out on a campaign set out on a campaign of world domination, seeking to unite all the Ramones fans of in the world.
Rock n Roll Nerd

Documentary
Director: Rhian Skirving
Filmed over 3 years, ROCK N ROLL NERD is an intimate tale that charts the rise of one of Australia’s most unique young talents from obscurity to celebrity. Capturing Tim Minchin’s first frenzied break onto the comedy scene ROCK N ROLL NERD is a highly charged personal journey of love and ambition.
RoyBoys

Documentary
Director: Brett Swain & Michael Wannenmacher
History unites with the community as a football team returns to their roots. A local match for local people.
Rubbings From A Live Man

Documentary
Director: Florian Habicht
From New Zealand, a flamboyant, tour-de-force exploration of the life and times of the incomparable Warwick Broadhead, whose career as a performing artist and director has spanned for decades.
Salt

Documentary
Director: Michael Angus, Murray Fredericks
For six years photographer-artist Murray Fredericks has cycled out onto Lake Eyre. On the vast emptiness of the salt lake, he has created an amazing body of time-lapse photography. And like all wanderers in the desert, he has had to confront himself.
Salute

Documentary
Director: Matt Norman
Salute is a journey back to the 1960's and beyond, to examine what has now become one of the most famous Olympic moments in history.
Searching for Michael Peterson

Documentary
Director: Jolyon Hoff
In the 1970s Michael Peterson was the best surfer in Australia. But there is a fine line between madness and genius.
Shadow Play

Documentary
Director: Josh Whiteman
Famed photographer and, most recently, feature filmmaker Anton Corbjin is a man of tremendous talent. In John Whiteman's stylish new documentary, Corbjin the creator and the man is put in the frame; in his Dutch birthplace, on the set and on the shoot.
Skin

Documentary
Director: Rhys Graham
Skin examines the 15 year collaboration between tattooist and artist eX de Medici and her subject Geoff O, as they negotiate the possibility of bequeathing Geoff's almost completely tattooed shin as an artwork when he dies.
Solo

Documentary
Director: David Michod and Jennifer Peedom
In December 2006 Andrew McAuley set out to become the first person to kayak solo across one of the world's fiercest bodies of water, the Tasman Sea.
Stolen

Documentary
Director: Violeta Ayala & Dan Fallshaw
Filmmakers Fallshaw and Ayala's journey of discovery among Saharawi refugees turns into a political thriller.
Tango With a Twist

Documentary
Director: Dominique Pile
A touching feel good doco about how learning the Argentine tango transforms the lives of four Sydney gay and Lesbian amateur dancers.
Taxi

Documentary
Director: Eva Di Blasio & Peter McConkey
Taxi sets out to display the world of cab driving through the eyes of Peter Jones. Peter's story portrays his love for the job and the more controversial aspects, which are conveyed through his experience. The window into the life of Peter Jones reveals the tribulations of taxi driving but also uncovers the life of Peter and his journey beyond the road.
Tea with Madame Clos

Documentary
Director: Jane Oehr
A documentary of humanity, old age and a vanishing way of life in provincial France. In a small French village, the world moves past the window of Madame Clos. Over countless cups of tea she remembers the things she’s seen, the people she knew and the world as it was.
The 10 conditions of Love

Documentary
Director: Jeff Daniels
Rebiya Kadeer spent six years in a Chinese prison before being exiled to Washington DC. A tireless advocate for the independence of her oil-rich Uyghur home-land known as east Turkestan. She has been punished at every turn by the Chinese authorities, who have now condemned two of her sons to lengthy prison sentences.
The Boot Cake

Documentary
Director: Kathryn Millard
It's Charlie Chaplin's birthday and a desert town in India, home to the world's largest population of Tramp impersonators, is throwing a party.
The Chifleys of Busby Street

Documentary
Director: Andrew Pike
Ben Chifley was a railway engine-driver who became Australia's best loved Prime Minister in 1945.
The Choir

Documentary
Director: Michael Davie
This Australian co-production, shot over six years, follows the story of Jabulani Shabangu battling to survive in South Africa’s biggest prison. Jabulani is rebellious and angry until he meets a wily old bank robber named Coleman who recruits him for the prison choir. Jabulani rises through the ranks and leads the inmates to an extraordinary performance at the National Prisoner Choir Competition. But there’s more at stake than just a contest of soaring voices. The brotherhood of choristers – alo
The Fabulous Flag Sisters

Documentary
Director: Franco di Chiera
How a Boy from Oz became an Italian superstar - in a frock! In 1977, a leading Italian television host invited three actors - Tito Le Duc (a Mexican), Mauro Bronchi (an Italian) and Neil Hansen, a boy from Perth, Western Australia - to appear in drag on his new variety show. They thought it would be the end of their acting careers. It wasn't. In a twinkling of the eye, The Flag Sisters were Italy's hottest act.
The Last Confession of Alexander Pearce

Documentary
Director: Michael James Rowland
NominatedActor: Ciaran McMenamin
Eight men escape from the most isolated prison on earth. Only one man survives and the story he recounts shocks the British establishment to the core. This story is the last confession of Alexander Pearce.
The Love Market

Documentary
Director: Shalom Almond
Like many young Australians, Shalom Almond has visited Vietnam and fallen in love with its landscapes and its people. In the northern highlands lies the remote town of Sapa which has been transformed by tourism. Shalom befriends four girls aged 9 to 16. The girls are savvy and streetwise but painfully aware of their vulnerability and of the heavily restricted choices facing them.
The Miscreants

Documentary
Director: George Gittoes
From Australian documentarist George Gittoes comes an impassioned and truly urgent film about the struggle against the Taliban. He becomes fascinated with the cheap, melodramatic films churned out in the frontier areas of Pakistan.
Three Hams in a Can

Documentary
Director: Kenta McGrath
A documentary about the real Tokyo dérive, three musicians - Chris Cobilis, Predrag Delibasich and Stina - travel to the floating world in order to perform their music crafted from laptops, guitars and keyboards.
Till Death Do Us Bark

Documentary
Director: Misha White
This short documentary takes a look at the touching and sometimes quirky business of pet burials & cremations and the many ways cherished pets are remembered.
Undressing Vanessa

Documentary
Director: Matthew Pond
Vanessa Wagner is true blue, an Aussie larrikin with razor sharp wit. But underneath the veneer, all is not what it seems!
Wanja

Documentary
Director: Angie Abdilla
Once a close-knit indigenous community with good housing and harmonious streets; now a renowned site of escalating tensions police and deteriorating houses on the brink of demolition.
Whatever Happened To Brenda Hean?

Documentary
Director: Scott Millwood
After the mysterious and suspicious disappearance of environmental activist Brenda Hean over Bass Strait in 1972, filmmaker Scott Millwood sets about uncovering the rumoured coverups and sordid tales to try and find out whatever happened to Brenda Hean.
William Yang: The Art of Seduction

Documentary
Director: Craig Boreham
Yajilarra

Documentary
Director: Melanie Hogan
In 2007 a group of Aboriginal women from the Fitzroy Valley in Australia's remote northwest decided enough was enough. Their community had experienced 13 suicides in 13 months. Reports of family violence and child abuse were commonplace and alcohol consumption was rising at an alarming rate. Something had to be done. Something had to change.
Yes Madam. Sir

Documentary
Director: Megan Doneman
Kiran Bedi is one of the most remarkable and controversial women in India. After winning the Asian tennis chamoionships in 1972, she became the first woman to join the elite Indian Police Service. Australian documentarist Megan Doneman has followed Bedi for a number of years to produce this detailed portrait of a mightily tenacious woman bent on making a difference.
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