by FilmInk Staff
Groovescooter‘s 6th Annual STROBE Film Festival returns from 5 August – 4 September 2026, celebrating the very best in music cinema with an exciting program of Australian and Sydney premieres alongside carefully curated retrospective screenings.
STROBE 2026 PROGRAM
THAT HALF BARBARIC TWANG
Sydney Premiere – Golden Age Cinema & Bar – Sunday 16 August
Special Event: Following the screening, legendary music journalist Stuart Coupe will host an exclusive Q&A with David Field, Geoff Morrell and Tim Oxley, before The No.4 Band perform a selection of songs live in the cinema.
More than a music documentary, THAT HALF BARBARIC TWANG is a celebration of mateship, resilience and the power of music to connect people across Australia’s most isolated communities. Funny, raw, moving and unmistakably Australian, it’s a film that will stay with you long after the credits roll. Along the way, the trio encounter an eclectic cast of locals, sharing songs, stories, laughter and the occasional hangover, revealing a side of Australia rarely seen on screen. Part documentary, part road movie, the film is an intimate portrait of friendship, music and the beautiful chaos of life on the road. Blending candid moments with breathtaking cinematography, it captures the spirit of Australia’s vast landscapes and the unforgettable characters who inhabit them. Imagine Werner Herzog meeting Jim Jarmusch somewhere on a dusty country highway. The No.4 Band are unlike any other. Mixing folk, blues, country, rock and their signature “bad-ass spiritual” sound, they create music that is heartfelt, uplifting and impossible not to tap your feet to. Armed with banjo, guitars, mandolin, harmonica, snare drum, djembe and soaring vocal harmonies, they deliver performances that are both joyous and deeply moving.
Australian Premiere Golden Age Cinema & Bar – Friday 21 August
Followed by a Northern Soul DJ Takeover at the Bar | 9:30pm–1:00am Sunday 30 August – 3:00pm
Following his acclaimed 2012 documentary Keep on Burning: The Story of Northern Soul, director Alan Byron returns with an exhilarating new exploration of one of Britain’s most enduring underground cultural movements.
NORTHERN SOUL: STILL BURNING traces the remarkable evolution of Northern Soul, from its origins in the working-class towns of Northern England and the Midlands to dancefloors across the globe. Combining beautifully restored archive footage with exclusive interviews featuring influential DJs, dancers, photographers, filmmakers and cultural
commentators, the film reveals how the scene has continually evolved while remaining true to its fiercely independent spirit.
FELIX: DARE TO DREAM
Australian Premiere – Golden Age Cinema & Bar – Wednesday 5 August – Sold Out, Saturday 8 August – (New Screening added soon), Sunday 9 August – Sold Out, Wednesday 3 September – (New Screening added soon)
Eclectic artist, existentialist and free spirit Felix Leu discovered tattooing as a way to support his nomadic lifestyle, ultimately becoming one of the pioneers of modern tattooing. The son of artist Eva Aeppli and raised in the creative orbit of Jean Tinguely, Felix grew up immersed in Paris’s vibrant 1960s art scene before embracing the ideals of the Beat Generation and the global counterculture movement. In New York he met Loretta, his lifelong partner, and together they chose a nomadic existence, raising four children while rejecting convention and valuing time, creativity and personal freedom above material wealth.
NO PICNIC
New 4K Restoration – Sydney Premiere – Golden Age Cinema & Bar – Sunday 23 August
A vivid black-and-white love letter to New York City’s pre-gentrification East Village, NO PICNIC is an extraordinary time capsule of a neighbourhood alive with musicians, artists, poets, hustlers and dreamers. Macabee Cohn (David Brisbin) is a former rock musician whose glory days are behind him. Driving a battered Volkswagen Kombi, he spends his days servicing jukeboxes across the city while watching his beloved Lower East Side rapidly transform. As soaring real estate speculation, rent strikes and an influx of artists reshape the neighbourhood, Mac’s own life begins to unravel. When a mysterious woman in a striped dress briefly crosses his path, his search for her becomes an unexpected journey of self-discovery. Premiering at the 1986 Sundance Film Festival, where cinematographer Peter Hutton won the Best Cinematography Award, writer-director Philip Hartman’s debut feature has become a treasured portrait of a vanished New York.
Beautifully restored in 4K, the film features an unforgettable cast including David Brisbin, Judith Malina, Luis Guzmán, Richard Hell, Steve Buscemi and Ryan Cutrona, with a soundtrack featuring music by Fela Kuti, Charles Mingus, The Raunch Hands and Student Teachers.
SAMPLE PEOPLE
Restored Australian Classic – Thursday 4 September – Sydney Opera House Playhouse. One Night Only – Includes a Special in Conversation with director Clinton Smith before the feature screening.
Making a long-awaited return to the big screen, SAMPLE PEOPLE is a stylish and edgy Australian cult classic featuring an outstanding ensemble cast led by Kylie Minogue, David Field, Simon Lyndon, Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton and Nathan Page. Set over one sweltering Sydney weekend, the lives of twelve strangers become unexpectedly
intertwined as they chase love, money, escape and redemption. With its fractured storytelling and intersecting narratives, the film recalls cult favourites such as Go and Pulp Fiction, while capturing a uniquely Australian energy and sense of place.
Directed by Clinton Smith, Sample People remains one of the most distinctive Australian films of its era, complemented by a celebrated soundtrack released through Mushroom
Records that reached No. 38 on the ARIA Albums Chart. This special restoration offers a rare opportunity to experience the film on the big screen once again.
