Film & theatre

magic mushrooms

Can psychedelic drugs help people who are facing death cope with their fears and emotions? That question is examined in Dosed 2: the trip of a lifetime, a new Canadian documentary. Barry Healy reviews.

margrete_queen_of_the_north

With classy production values, consummate acting and tasteful direction, Margrete: Queen of the North is a very humane couple of hours of cinema. Barry Healy reviews.

New Theatre

A new collection of essays chronicles Australia’s radical New Theatre, writes Maree F Roberts, where women took on prominent roles, including as creative and production directors, and playwrights.

Oil Black Swan Theatre

Oil is a sprawling and epic play, spanning 160 years, which traces the petroleum industry’s problematic history and future. Barry Healy reviews.

Danger is omnipresent in this documentary by Australian filmmaker, Karl Malakunus, which accompanies unarmed environmental campaigners in the Philippines, as they confront illegal loggers and fishers. Barry Healy reviews.  

Still from 'My Imaginary Country' by Patricio Guzman

Artist and playwright Jepke Goudsmit presents her impressions of Patricio Guzman's new documentary on Chile's second revolution.

Renowned Māori militant, Tame Iti, playing himself in the hard-hitting film Muru

Derived from a police assault on the the Rūātoki valley Tūhoe hapū community in 2007, Muru is a powerful response that has shaken Aotearoa New Zealand. The film's writer/director, Tearepa Kahi and lead figure, Tame Iti explained the significance to Barry Healy.

Oil Black Swan Theatre

The forthcoming Black Swan Theatre Company production of Oil asks the question: "How do we manage our finite resources? Is there any resource more infinite than love?" Barry Healy reports.

Soldier

Cloaked in mesmerising cinematography and flashy special effects, the American production company Marvel has been instrumental in promoting militarism, writes Jessica Buxbaum.

Rachel Perkins

Rachel Perkins' new series, The Australian Wars, is a powerful history of colonial wars of occupation against First Nations peoples, writes Andrew Chuter.

Andrea Gibbs, AFL Umpire Dean Margetts, former West Coast Eagles player Rowen Powell, Youth Olympics

Perth's Black Swan Theatre Company has raised the profile of sport-related concussion in a new play, Barracking for the Umpire and by organising a public forum on the subject. Barry Healy reports.

Quant film

Quant is a new documentary examining the impact of fashion designer Mary Quant, whose style became synonymous with "swinging ’60s" London. Barry Healy reviews.