Films and reviews

Message from the Future II: The Years of Repair is an animated short film that dares to dream of a future in which 2020 is a historic turning point, writes Susan Price.

The charming and humorous Sri Prem Baba

Chasing the Present focuses on the psychological and spiritual journey of a successful young New York businessperson who finds himself at a mental crossroads, beset by panic attacks while advancing a successful career, writes Barry Healy.

Yesterday is a family-friendly rom-com that satisfyingly reaches a heart-warming and highly ethical conclusion. It is almost ridiculously wholesome, writes Tracy Sorensen.

Red Joan
Starring Judi Dench, Sophie Cookson, Tom Hughes & Tereza Srbova
Directed by Trevor Nunn
In cinemas

Red Joan is loosely based on the spying activities of British civil servant Melita Norwood, who was nearly 90 years old when she was exposed as a Soviet agent.

Styx
Director Wolfgang Fischer, starring Susanne Wolff and Gedion Oduor Wekesa
English & German with English subtitles
Screening as part of the German Film Festival

The Styx was the name given by the ancient Greeks to the river dividing the land of the living from that of the dead, Hades. This film is a modern allegory for that journey.

Gundermann
Directed by Andreas Dresen
Starring Alexander Scheer, Anna Unterberger, Peter Schneider, Bjarne Mädel & Milan Peschel
German with English subtitles
Showing as part of the German Film Festival

Bauhaus Spirit: 100 Years of Bauhaus
Documentary directed by Niels Bolbrinker & Thomas Tielsch
German & English with English subtitles
Showing as part of the German Film Festival

The Bauhaus was a design school that flourished in Germany from the early 1920s through to the 1930s, when it was extinguished by Nazi repression.

What is the connection between economic crisis and crises of individual psychology? This subtle Mexican film is as good a representation of it as you could hope for.

"The issues raised in this film are vitally important: it is a history of the involvement of journalism and the mainstream media in not merely reporting on, but collaborating with, the making of wars," John Pilger, radical filmmaker, journalist and author, told the audience at a showing of his 2010 film The War You Don't See.

The film was part of the Power of the Documentary: Breaking the Silence film festival, curated by Pilger and showing at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Sydney between November 28 and December 9.

“At a time of an information onslaught, the critical differences between fact and fiction are blurred,” says radical filmmaker John Pilger of the “Power of the Documentary: Breaking the Silence” festival he is curating in Sydney from November 28 to December 9.

Two new documentaries that screened at the recent Sydney Film Festival shine a light, in contrasting but powerful styles, on an important, yet often neglected story in the refugee narrative — why people seek asylum.