Cirrus@Austlit

'The phrases “Tell him he’s dreamin’”, “That’s going straight to the pool room”, “How’s the serenity?” and “It’s the vibe” have become Aussie staples. These now-classic quotes all come from The Castle - voted the best Australian film ever in a recent poll.' 

'Soap operas have been around since television was invented. Often involving outlandish plots, exaggerated storylines and hyperbolic characters and dialogue, they labour each moment on screen for ultimate dramatic effect. The women are transcendingly good looking and the men impossibly buff.' (Publication summary)

'It is 25 years since Australian auteur Baz Luhrmann released his gloriously spectacular version of Shakespeare’s Romeo + Juliet, starring Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes as the doomed lovers.'

'In Stephen King’s Pet Sematary, caretaker Jud Crandall warns against burying bodies in the old Indian burial ground. “They don’t come back the same”, the old man drawls, with a mix of desperation and horror in his voice.' (Introduction)

A documentary detailing efforts to remove the word 'nigger' from a Toowoomba stadium sign, E.S. Nigger Brown stand, in southern Queensland. The sign was erected in 1960 to honour Toowoomba's first rugby league international Edward Stanley Brown.

'Nigger Lovers documents Stephen Hagan’s fight for the sign to be taken down. He discovered the sign in the late 1990s when he took his family to a rugby league game. Being the Aboriginal activist he is he decided to take action.'

'Stephen Hagan’s fight makes an interesting story. In 1999 the Toowoomba Sportsground Trust politely declined his request to take the sign down. In 2002 the High Court ruled that the sign could stay. In 2003 the United Nations found that the offensive name should be changed, however, Australian authorities simply ignored the ruling.'

'Nigger Lovers is not only a story of enormous strength, of determination and persistence, it’s also a story of a man being challenged to his limits, receiving death threats and bringing his family close to bankruptcy.' (Source: Creativespirits website)