Fatbelly: Chopper...Unchopped

Interview With A Murderer

June 2016 •English

A famed criminologist reexamines the evidence in this powerful interview with murderer Bert Spencer, suspected in the killing a paperboy in 1978.

Justice for Joy

January 1995 •English

Special documentary examining the death of Joy Gardner in 1993 and the subsequent public campaign that culminated in the trial at the Old Bailey of those accused of causing her death.

The Weird World of LSD

April 1967 •English

The 60s equivalent of Reefer Madness and all those other 30s drug exploitation flicks. Apparently, dropping acid leads to stripteases, cat fights, promiscuous sex, playing with kittens, and being convinced your dinner is much larger than it actually is. This is all illustrated in a series of silent sketches accompanied by a droll narrator who seems positively doped out of his mind.

13th

October 2016 •English

An in-depth look at the prison system in the United States and how it reveals the nation's history of racial inequality.

Pauline Hanson: Please Explain!

July 2016 •English

Director Anna Broinowski explores how Pauline Hanson's speech in 1996 and the decades of debate that followed has influenced Australia today; the impact of her political career on modern multicultural Australia, and the people who have helped her transition from local fish shop owner to Member for Oxley. Featuring many of Hanson's critics, opponents, advisors and commentators, from former Prime Minister John Howard, to current members of the media, including Margo Kingston and Alan Jones; and leading Indigenous commentator, Professor Marcia Langton.

Servant or Slave

August 2016 •English

During the time of the Stolen Generations, thousands upon thousands of Aboriginal girls were taken from their families and pressed into domestic servitude by the Australian Government. They were supposedly employed as servants, but with total control over their movements, wages and living conditions, their lives all too frequently became an inescapable cycle of abuse, rape and enslavement, with consequences that echo powerfully to this day. Recounting the stories of five of these women – Rita, Violet and the three Wenberg sisters – Servant or Slave is a commanding piece of first-person testimony to a dark and unacknowledged corner of Australian history. Shot with admirable craft and humanity by documentarian Steven McGregor (Croker Island Exodus, MIFF 2012), Servant or Slave is a work of great sadness and urgency, bringing to forceful life the human tragedy of Australia's Indigenous history in the unadorned words of those who lived it.

Cicada

July 2008 •English

Cicada is the immersive story of a five-year-old child who witnessed a murder. Daniel P Jones confronts a traumatic memory in an incendiary, visceral monologue.

Detainment

May 2018 •English

Two ten year-old boys are detained by police under suspicion of abducting and murdering a toddler.

The Family

July 2016 •English

Anne Hamilton-Byrne was beautiful, charismatic and delusional. She was also incredibly dangerous. Convinced she was the reincarnation of Jesus Christ, Hamilton-Byrne headed an apocalyptic sect called The Family, which was prominent in Melbourne from the 1960s through to the 1990s. With her husband Bill, she acquired numerous children – some through adoption scams, some born to cult members – and raised them as her own. Isolated from the outside world, the children were dressed in matching outfits, had identical dyed blonde hair, and were allegedly beaten, starved and injected with LSD. Taught that Hamilton-Byrne was both their mother and the messiah, the children were eventually rescued during a police raid in 1987, but their trauma had only just begun.

Packed Lunch

January 2005 •English

What is it about Speedos? Well here Australian director Tim Hunter is on a mission to find the answer to the question of why so many gay men can't seem to get enough of hunks in tight fitting trunks? Although somehow I think the answer can be found in the question! Anyway in a bid to discover the truth, Hunter has carried out a series of interviews with men who have more than a passing interest in this briefest of garment, including that of Speedo designer Peter Travis, who here relates his part in the history of 'the male equivalent of the Wonder Bra.'

Wasted Talent

July 2018 •English

Sylvie

October 2019 •French

In the suburbs of Toulouse, a group of queers and migrants are squatting a pink house. They find traces of the previous occupants, and try to live with the memory of a crime.

Nothing Can Stop The Radiance

January 2024 •English

Filmmakers Sam and Amy journey into rural Australia to explore how the legacy of an American legend has transmitted and warped itself over time, and across the globe, resulting in the 30th annual Parkes Elvis Festival.

Amber: The Girl Behind the Alert

January 2023 •English

For the first and last time, Amber Hagerman’s mother details her daughter’s shocking murder and shares chilling documentary footage that captures the 9-year-old’s final days; Amber’s legacy is an alert system that has saved over a thousand children.

Looking for Modern Art: Rethinking Art History

November 2018 •German

Many twentieth century European artists, such as Paul Gauguin or Pablo Picasso, were influenced by art brought to Europe from African and Asian colonies. How to frame these Modernist works today when the idea of the primitive in art is problematic?

The World of the Seekers

April 1968 •English

While flying to the first stop on their latest tour, the four members of the Australian music group The Seekers recall in flashback the origins of the group and their rise to success.

Alice is Still Dead

October 2019 •English

In an intimate and unflinching account dealing with grief, 'Alice is Still Dead' tells the story of a murdered loved one from the victim's family perspective. From the detective's notification to her family to facing the killer in court, we see the pain, anger and heartbreak a family must endure while the nightmare is investigated. The filmmaker is the brother of the late Alice Stevens and, in this tribute, ultimately asks if it's even possible to move forward after such a traumatic event.

Utopia

November 2013 •English

Documentary by John Pilger looks at the awful truth behind white Australia's dysfunctional relationship with Indigenous Australians

Looky Looky Here Comes Cooky

August 2020 •English

A new songline for 21st century Australia - a fresh look at the Cook legend from a First Nations' perspective - the songline tells of connection to country, resistance and survival and features the cheeky, acerbic and heartfelt showman - Steven Oliver and a host of outstanding, political Indigenous singer/songwriters.

Unfinished Lives

October 2020 •English

In 2014, 24-year-old USC graduate student, Xinran Ji, was beaten to death by four teens when returning home from a study session. A lawyer, Rose Tsai, took it upon herself to tirelessly advocate on his behalf and represent his parents, as they attempt to understand the senseless tragedy together.