Festivals were how we humans watched new documentaries before Netflix, and the annual Antenna Documentary Film Festival is how we watched a lot of them at once. Filled with 39 features from 18 countries, 14 shorts and 6 Virtual Reality experiences, the program Antenna announced today includes films from around the world when it runs from 11-16 October 2016 in Sydney, 26-30 October in Brisbane and 2-6th November in Melbourne.
Documentaries asking some of the big questions include Jared P. Scott’s THE AGE OF CONSEQUENCES, which takes the novel approach of examining the important issue of climate change as it relates to US national security and global instability, asking whether climate change leads to war? DO NOT RESIST ties into the recent #blacklivesmatter movement, examining the militarisation of the US police force, while BUGS has head chefs from Rene Redzepi’s Noma taking us on a journey around the world to look into insects as a possible solution for an ever-increasing, hungry world population. (This would be a great companion to SFF’s Ants on a Shrimp: Noma in Tokyo)
Far more personal documentaries can be found in the likes of THE PEACEMAKER, which is James Demo’s look at the titular Padraig O’Malley, whose life of brokering peace deals in difficult regions comes with significant personal consequences. BROTHERS is described as a real life recreation of Richard Linklater’s Boyhood. UNCLE HOWARD is an elegy to the Aaron Brookner uncle who passed away from AIDS in 1989, on the brink of becoming an acclaimed filmmaker himself.
Australian films include SERVANT or SLAVE, directed by award winning filmmaker Steven McGregor, told through the experiences of five indigenous women stolen from their parents, placed in institutions, and trained to serve white households. Also in competition is THE FAMILY, which was one of Australia’s most notorious cults led by Anne Hamilton-Byrne, a charismatic woman convinced she was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ. MONSIEUR MAYONNAISE, which debuted at MIFF this year, follows artist and filmmaker Philippe Mora in his attempts at producing a graphic novel about his late father.
Virtual reality seems to be the hot trend in festivals this year, following similar programs at Sydney Film Festival, MIFF and the Queensland Film Festival, including Easter Rising: Voice of Rebel, where the audience steps into one man’s memories and journeys back to the 1916 Easter Rising.
The full program and tickets can be grabbed from the festival website.
DATES AND LOCATIONS
Sydney
Tues 11 – Sun 16 October
Palace Cinemas, Blank Space Gallery and MCA
Brisbane
Weds 26 – Sun 30 October
New Farm Cinemas, New Farm
Melbourne
Weds 2- Sun 6 November
Palace Westgarth, Northcate
TICKETS
General Admission – Adult $19.50, Concession $16
Multi Passes – 5 films: $85, 10 films: $155
