Cirrus@Austlit

'Alena Lodkina's dreamlike film, about a pivotal friendship between two young Melbourne women, has a poetic and sometimes surreal narrative style that conveys a vividly emotional take on the world; it reveals profound truths about the characters, even if the precise detail of their story remains slightly – and deliciously – cryptic.' (Introduction)

'There's an urgent question that's slightly sidelined in the new Australian film Hearts and Bones — it involves the ethics of representation, and whether an outsider has the right to depict someone else's trauma.' (Introduction)

'Now that the HBO juggernaut Game of Thrones has lifted the drawbridge on its eight record-breaking seasons, you'd presume a ready-made audience is sitting fidgety on their couches, desperate for more royal intrigue and medieval-inspired carnage.

'Enter Australian director David Michod with a film adaptation of a couple of Shakespeare's bloodier works.' (Introduction)

'It's understandable that filmmakers are drawn to real-life atrocities. But dramatising evil can be a tricky endeavour if you're hoping to say something meaningful.' (Article summary)

'Growing up in Western Sydney near the migrant camp at Villawood meant Bruce Beresford had a personal connection to the characters in his latest film Ladies in Black.'  (Introduction)

'Tapping into current anxieties about tech companies that routinely peer into our private lives online, Upgrade is a sci-fi action movie set in the near future about a man who has an artificial intelligence device implanted into his brain.'  (Introduction)

'Perhaps some books aren't meant to be adapted for the screen. Or at least not on your first attempt as a feature director.'