Between 14 and 16 June, attendees can enjoy an outstanding selection of eight new Australian and international feature-length documentaries at Castlemaine’s historic Theatre Royal – the oldest continuously running cinema on Australia’s mainland.
In addition to the rich program of films, there will be Q&A sessions and audiences will have ample opportunity to engage with filmmakers, panellists and fellow festival-goers. Live music performances in the evening will ensure the Theatre Royal is the place to be this winter .
Highlights of C-Doc’s 2024 program include WINHANGANHA (“remember, know, think”), a deeply insightful examination and revisioning of Australian audiovisual history, by award-winning Wiradjuri poet and artist Jazz Money, with a brilliant score by Rhyan Clapham (aka Dobby).
Getting It Back: The Story of Cymande, about the incredible career of the greatest 1970s band you’ve possibly not heard of; and Apolonia, Apolonia, a lively, captivating enquiry into art, love, sexuality, motherhood and representation, that emerges through the director’s long-term friendship with the titular French artist, Apolonia Sokol.
Just across the road on Western Reserve, the popular Festival Yurt will host short documentaries and activities with a focus on younger audiences – as well as the sensationally spooky interactive game ‘Werewolves’.
The Festival’s annual showcase of regional talent – LOCALS – will kick off at 5pm on Saturday 15 with a fabulous collection of shorts by central Victorian filmmakers. It will also be a celebration of the Festival’s impressive achievements over the past decade.
Introducing the program, C-Doc’s Director, Claire Jager, said, “Our tenth anniversary is a milestone we’re thrilled to reach. It’s testament to hundreds of connections forged between filmmakers, films and audiences since the Festival’s inception.
“It also speaks to the enduring appeal of documentary cinema, which offers an extraordinary means of stepping into the lives of others, and brings out truths that are often more fascinating than fiction.
“As always, there’s something here to please film-lovers of all persuasions, not to mention the pleasures that come with a wintry Castlemaine weekend – bracing country air, warming fires, and fabulous coffee, food and wine.”
For more information visit cdocff.com.au.
CASTLEMAINE DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL – 2024 PROGRAM
FRIDAY 14 JUNE – Opening Night
WINHANGANHA (2023)
An exhilarating cinematic journey by acclaimed Wiradjuri poet and artist Jazz Money, WINHANGANHA (“remember, know, think”) is a bold revisioning of Australian audiovisual history – encompassing contemporary television, feature films, sports programs and music clips – highlighting the complex ways in which archives represent and affect First Nations peoples. It features an original score by Filipino-Aboriginal rapper and composer Rhyan Clapham, aka Dobby.
In Money’s words, “Working with archival footage has led me to consider the relationship between our recorded knowledges, and how we create new futures through which we inherit. My concept proposes an Indigenous perspective and lyrical journey through the NFSA collection, focusing on the human body as a location of expression and empowerment.”
1 hour 4 minutes
Director and writer: Jazz Money (a guest of the Festival) Producer: Elena Guest Composer: Rhyan Clapham, aka Dobby
SATURDAY 15 JUNE
Obsessed With Light (2023)
From the team who brought us Letters From Baghdad in 2022, Obsessed with Light is a mesmerising rumination on the qualities of light and the enduring obsession to create. It pulls back the curtain on Loïe Fuller, who was a midwestern vaudeville performer (working with Buffalo Bill) before becoming an international star in Belle Époque Paris, and the very embodiment of Art Nouveau – the “Fairy of Light”.
Wildly original, Fuller revolutionised early twentieth-century visual culture by inventing a new kind of spectacle – utilising dance, light and fabric in ephemeral, shape-shifting abstractions, and pioneering ingenious use of electricity for the stage. Recall any rock concert, and you’ll have seen a modern version of the lighting designs that Fuller patented more than a century ago. Accordingly, the film explores not only her life and art, but also her potent influence on contemporary artists, including The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Taylor Swift and William Kentridge.
1 hour 30 minutes
Directors and producers: Zeva Oelbaum, Sabine Krayenbühl
Co-producer: Christian Popp
Starring Jerry As Himself (2023)
This droll, fascinatingly unconventional documentary recounts the 2021 recruitment of a Florida family’s retired Taiwanese émigré father, Jerry, as a covert agent for the Chinese police – ostensibly to help them expose an international money laundering ring. Tumult and insidious implications ensue, and notions of truth are turned upside down time and again.
Per the film’s title, Jerry himself re-enacts some of the crazed events he experienced as an unlikely spy, alongside a mixed cast of family members and actors. Bringing a savvy balance of ironic humour and sincerity to the screen, director (and Jerry’s son) Law Chen delivers an unusually entertaining cautionary tale, significant in its circling of increasingly prevalent issues.
75 minutes
Director: Law Chen Producers: Jon Hsu, Law Chen
Writers: Jerry Hsu, Law Chen
LOCALS
A vibrant, warm-hearted celebration of regional talent, LOCALS presents a new collection of fabulous short documentaries of up to six minutes’ duration, made by filmmakers from all over Central Victoria. Great surprises galore!
1 hour 30 minutes
Getting It Back: The Story of Cymande (2022) – followed by live music with The Afrobiotics
Cymande is the greatest 1970s band you’ve possibly never heard of. But if you’ve listened to the Fugees, De La Soul or the Wu-Tang Clan – or simply been on a dance floor anytime in the past few decades – you’ll recognise their irresistible, infectious sound. Formed in south London by nine self-taught Caribbean-born musicians, Cymande meshed funk, soul, jazz and Caribbean grooves to create a music that was political, spiritual, and brilliantly ahead of its time.
This is their incredible untold story, embellished by interviews with Mark Ronson, Laura Lee and Mark Speer, DJ Maseo, Jazzie B, Cut Chemist and Louie Vega, among many other admirers in the industry. It’s one of joyous creativity stifled by political and institutional obstruction, carrying themes both relevant and urgent. And one that’s deservedly garnering Cymande new generations of avid fans.
1 hour 29 minutes
Director: Tim Mackenzie-Smith Producers: Matt Wyllie, Tim Mackenzie-Smith
SUNDAY 16 JUNE
The Gullspång Miracle (2023)
A “divine” sign leads two pious Swedish sisters to buy an apartment in the small town of Gullspång, where they find the seller to be near-identical to their elder sister, who died by suicide thirty years earlier. From there, all three women’s lives gradually unravel to their collective detriment; and a riveting, cleverly structured exploration of serendipity, faith, social divisions, family ties and personal identity unfolds.
The film delves into some of the themes that made Tim Wardle’s Three Identical Strangers deeply affecting, but its canvas is one of a kind – a complex weave that also encompasses a haunting unsolved crime, imbued with unnerving real-life echoes of David Lynch’s Twin Peaks.
1 hour 48 minutes
Director and writer: Maria Fredriksson Producer: Ina Holmqvist
The Koalas (2024) – Australian premiere
In 2022 the Australian government listed the koala as endangered. After 25 million years’ survival, how can this iconic marsupial suddenly be at risk of extinction in the wild? Filmed in 4K on Australia’s east coast and in Ballarat, The Koalas investigates the devastating impact of habitat loss, and other mounting threats that necessitate urgent action.
We meet many a koala along the way, together with a cluster of passionate, compelling characters – scientists, wildlife carers, activists and ecologists – who are united in their dedicated fight for the future of the species.
1 hour 30 minutes
Co-directors and producers: Georgia Wallace-Crabbe, Gregory Miller (both are guests of the Festival)
Apolonia, Apolonia (2023)
When Danish filmmaker Lea Glob met French artist Apolonia Sokol in 2009, the latter appeared to have had a storybook life in the arts, having been born into an underground Parisian theatre group, raised within a community of artists and educated in her twenties at the prestigious Beaux-Arts de Paris.
But as Glob continued filming her friend while Apolonia sought her place in the art world, a far more complex story emerged. Thirteen years on, the women continue to reflect on each other’s paths in this captivating enquiry into art, love, sexuality, motherhood and representation. They also consider how women can succeed without compromising who they are at heart, in a world dominated by patriarchy, capitalism and war.
1 hour 56 minutes
Director and writer: Lea Glob Producers: Sidsel Siersted, Malgorzata Staron View trailer
The Road To Patagonia (2022)
The Road to Patagonia is a stunning, intimate, unflinching exploration of the human condition and the more-than-human world. Shot around the globe over 16 years, it’s a spectacular love story, a breathtaking paean to the natural world, and a heartfelt plea for our collective survival.
The verité narrative begins with director Matty Hannon’s solo motorbike quest to surf the entire west coast of the Americas. Deep in the wilderness, his plans fall unexpectedly to pieces.
1 hour 30 minutes
Director: Matty Hannon Producer: Tye Markey Writers: Matty Hannon, Michael Balson
