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German Film Fest

Goethe Institut

Australia (Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane, Canberra)

November 15-30, 2016

The 15th year incarnation of the the German Film Fest in Australia is going to be the last one for a while.

Four film industry guests and filmmakers were invited to attend the Australian premieres of their films, participate in talks, panels and Q&A sessions: 
Young hopeful Jella Haase attended the Festival. 
The young actress who received the European Shooting Star Award at the Berlinale earlier this year presented her most recent films; 4 Kings and Looping. 
Stage and screen actor Clemens Schick, known on international terrain for starring in Casino Royale (2006) and Point Break (2015), presented his two films featured in this year’s festival programs; drama 4 Kings, and sci-fi film Hidden Reserves.

Leonie Krippendorff traveled to Australia to present her first award winning feature film Looping at the German Film Fest and former head of corporate affairs with Football Federation Australia and one of the first people to publicly raise concerns about the integrity of FIFA Bonita Mersiades joined the Dirty Games panel discussions in Brisbane, Sydney and Melbourne to share her insights into the ethics of international sports.

Having been involved with the topic of queer identity and how it translates to the big screen, Jella Haase, Clemens Schick, and Leonie Krippendorff were joined by Australian film industry members for an open talk following the screening of Looping.

In addition to the opening and closing night parties, the Goethe-Institut presented themed events, e.g. the Swiss Soiree (an evening organized in tandem with the Swiss Consulate, which culminated in the screening of Alain Gsponer’s adaption of Johanna Spyn’s classic Heidi and the audience being sustained with delectable Swiss specialties).

A highlight of the German Film Fest was a tribute to one of the most controversial characters in German film history: The gradnmaster Rainer Werner Fassbinder.

Fassbinder, who notoriously never ceased to burn the candle from both ends, is not for nothing  held responsible for the injecting much needed fresh blood into German cinema in the 1970s.

Fassbinder has been heralded as ‘’the most original talent since Godard” and while his films are intentionally a  little strange and never dull. Indifference has certainly never been a reaction his emissions elicited.
With Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, featuring beloved Brigitte Mira of Drei Damen vom Grill fame, demonstrated what the critic Manny Farber called a ''radical mix of snarl and decoration.''

It would have been fantastic to have Fassbinder grace the German Film Fest in Australia with his paunchy presence, given that in 1977, being at an alltime height career-wise, he announced in perfect English that he was not able to speak English, only to then indulge in extense arguments  his interpreter about every phrase that was conveyed to the English speaking journalists.

Pure class.

Celebrating Germany’s vibrant underground party scene, a Club Night with a screening of the anarchic, drug filled As We Were Dreaming, followed by AKIZ’s It Follows meets Spring Breakers teen-oriented German horror Der Nachtmahr, which was followed by a silent disco.

Western and Eastern philosophies clashed during the insightful panel discussion following the screening of My Buddha Is Punk, a thoughtful documentary looking at a group of young idealists in Myanmar who combine punk and Buddhist philosophies.

Paying homage to the classics of German film history, the DEFA Retrospective celebrated the work of former East German film studio:The Murderers Are Among Us (1946), the first DEFA production, featuring Hildegard Knef; Divided Heaven (1964), based on Christa Wolf's internationally-renowned novel; The Legend of Paul and Paula (1973), a controversial love story and one of DEFA’s greatest successes; andComing Out (1989), the only East German film to discuss homosexuality and depict punk culture. In Melbourne the DEFA screenings were introduced by film experts Peter Krausz and Cerise Howard.

The festival was bookended with a collision of music, circus and comedy: Mic Conway and his partner in crime Sean ‘T-Bone‘ Curtis performed an array of idiosyncratic songs live at the Variete? Closing Night in Sydney, and multi-genre band 8 Foot Felix closed the Festival in Melbourne with their whimsical mix of sea shanties, hip-hop and blues.

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Photos by KAVV

Bill Bailey

State Theatre

Sydney, AUS

November 30, 2016

Rare it is that you turn up to a show expecting so little and end up loving it so much.

Bill Bailey, to most people probably known for his starring role in award-winning sitcom Black Books and as a panel show regular on "Never Mind the Buzzcocks," is a comedian, talented musician, writer and actor who – along with other accomplishments - has created his own distinctive brainy brand of stand-up comedy fusing jokes with musical interludes and parodies, extended monologues and borderline surreal tangents.

Apart from being a narrative-driven, seasoned entertainer who wears on his sleeve that the English performance poet John Hegley was a major inspiration in his formative years; Bailey is also an avid advocate of the flora and fauna: Being a patron of the International Animal Rescue, the author of a book on British Birds and the “Nepenthes Bill Bailey” being a pitcher plant named in his honour, are only few examples.

He has also been somewhat stigmatized as a “leftie funnyman” by his home country for taking a political stance when he supported Brown and the Labour Party in 2010 – a derisive label that impacted on his perception by fellow, especially conservative Englishmen and finds his way into his current show numerous times.

His “Larks in Transit” show that brought him to Oceania is an endearing, whimsical free-form and playful compendium of anecdotes, general shenanigans of twenty years as a traveling comedian and both subversive and hilarious musings on the big questions in life – politics, pursuit of happiness, philosophy and how to craft a future techno classic from random noises, play "Smoke on the Water" on cowbells and create a symphonic masterpiece based on an annoying ring tone.

He seamlessly transitions from political jokes via observational humour to spontaneous exchanges spawned by hecklers or surprising (i.e. plainly weird) repartees from audience interactions.

Bailey does not suffer fools gladly, yet abstains from foul lingo or blatant sarcasm.

What makes him compelling is that however absurd his angles might be, they are solidly grounded on moral and intellectual beliefs, which are his raison d’être.

His musical and playful interludes are funny and truly enjoyable on a variety of levels – based on his immense talent as a multi-instrumentalist and his engaging demeanor.

From the moment Bailey enters the stage he is completely in control and has the audience in the palm of his hand:

While his commentary on the political landscape and recent changes in the Anglo-centric world at the beginning of the show was lower hanging fruit yet nonetheless met with overly boisterous laughter, it segued after 20 minutes into a performance that was both heart warming and hilarious.

What elevates Bailey’s show above the merely enjoyable is the fact that he is a skilled communicator and the remarkable musicianship that accompanies his razor sharp wit.

The Cult

Enmore Theatre

Sydney, AUS

November 25, 2016

It has been more than three decades years since The Cult settled on their current moniker. What started off inspired and spawned by the wake of punk rock as a psychedelic goth band, met morphed and broke mainstream in the late 1980s with a good ole fashioned Rick Rubin infused hard rock tinge, survived myriad of line-up changes and a few hiatuses and recently culminated in stadium scale tours alongside Guns ’n Roses, has not only become a staple in the canon of rock music but it has created a genre of its own.

Fronted by the remaining original members, charismatic and cosmically inclined front man Ian Astbury, and his lead guitarist Billy Duffy and touring in support of their tenth album Hidden City, The Cult proved that they are relevant as ever, powering through an energetic set list that did not rest on the laurels of the past but incorporated songs from each stage of their longstanding career with highlights from their Electric and Love albums.

The intentionally simplistic stage set up focused the attention on what The Cult does best: ignoring fashions and trends, concentrating on earthy riffs and hard-rocking songs and creating a vibe.

Duffy’s haunting riffage emitted from his signature Les Pauls was complemented by Astbury’s spiritual, focal point, and zenned out yet strong vocal performance, tambourine in hand conjuring his alchemy.

The chemistry between both was palpable and served as the foundation for their musical dialogue with Duffy’s accentuating and reparteeing with his guitar to the cues from Astbury’s verve.

Much to the delight of the largely middle-aged crowd, whose fist pumping and reveling in the exuberance of their youth and the fact that no song went unappreciated showed that they are longtime followers.

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Photos by KAVV

ThinkInc: An evening with Dr. Lisa Randall

Seymour Center

Sydney, Australia

November 19, 2016

What is science about?
What is it meant for?
Advancing information?
Advancing understanding?
A way of thinking?
A body of knowledge?
How did we end up here?
Why are we here?
Who is to blame?

Opinions. 
Truths. Subjective and objective.
Facts.
Uncertainties.
From an incandescent mass we have originated and into a frozen mass we shall return.
Is the world we live in a three-dimensional spatial region within a system of “warped” extra dimensions?
Would that explain the relative weakness of gravity?

Successful science tells the story of “how” culminating in the “why.”
Cue Dr. Lisa Randall.
Dr. Lisa Randall works on writing, revising and editing that story. 
A story in progress.
Randall has dedicated her life to finding unexplored corners by probing the abstract, unfazed by uncertainties. 
A quest fueled by passionate curiosity that propels her down the rabbit hole, off to explore a world of extra dimensions, intriguing particles and elusive dark matter.

Apart from being an accomplished author, more worldly appearances in the realm of pop culture have seen her opposite Jon Stewart on The Daily Show, appeared on Charlie Rose, the TV talk show, and a cameo on the sitcom The Big Bang Theory and ultimately a listing in TIME Magazine’s "100 Most Influential People" in 2007.

In person and in conversation during ThinkInc’s “An evening with,” Dr. Randall is refreshingly blunt, detached and has a “matter of factly” approach when she enlightened us about the fact that the universe is one.

Her at times steely expression is testament to the life of a theoretical physicist who traverses the abyss between the unknown and known, guided by intuition, stoically walking the thin line between making hypotheses that change our outlook on life or trailblazing wrongs that still help steer the way to the truth. She is an advocate of keeping an open mind and well aware that some of her more unorthodox ideas will be labeled as a “stretch” by her peers.

Without jargon or mathematics, she steers us through centuries of sometimes-tortuous astronomical history and is particularly illuminating when briefing us on the cosmic objects that sometimes land on planet Earth with unpleasant consequences.

Randall’s story draws on a wide variety of disciplines, including biology, paleontology, meteorology and mathematics. 
Yet by far the most compelling part of her is when she brings together all the strands of her theories, describes its genesis and looks to the future.

She is at ease with the unknown and explains her work of creative computational cosmology with carefully drawn analogies to the uninitiated. 

A lucid explainer, street-wise and informal. 
To the point.
Someone who has far bigger fish to fry than discussing the tedious subject of being a “woman in science” or feeling an urge to prove herself as a pioneer at every given occasion, something her male counterparts would not have to waste time on.

The event had something to offer to both – the initiated subject matter experts as well as the inquisitive general member of member of the public, which is something that has become a trademark of ThinkInc’s events.

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Photos by KAVV

20th Japanese Film Festival

Sydney, AUS

November 17-27

The Japanese Film Festival (JFF) is presented by The Japan Foundation, Sydney. The JFF started in 1997, 100 years after the first foreign cameraman arrived in Japan, with three free film screenings by former Festival Director Masafumi Konomi, and has become the largest Japanese film festival in the world, showcasing a vast, well curated variety of cinematic delights from classics to newly released films currently screening in Japan as well as bringing out special guests from Japan for exclusive Q&A sessions and film screenings.

The history of the cinema of Japan is an interesting one as its DNA and the distinctive narrative style that is the foundation of traditional Japanese filmmaking is infused with the idea of the haiku as poetic art, which narrates with images rooted in the traditions of Kabuki and doll theater.

The Japanese Film Festival caters to all of its distinctive genres: Be it the equivalent to the Hollywood western, i.e. Samurai cinema with honor as the main plot theme; or anti-war films, which JFF pays homage to with a range of post-war classic films by Tadashi Imai and Kaneto Shindo: With Japan being the only nation to have experienced a nuclear attack, it is literally the first and only post-nuclear, post-apocalyptic society. These movies often explore the trauma that resulted from the atomic bomb attacks, even when they are at face value not explicitly about the event.

Another curious genre in Japanese film originating from the late 1950s is Yakuza. With a clear relation to the Hollywood gangster films, documenting the uses and customs of the Japanese mafia, a cultural phenomenon that has its antecedents in the samurai tradition

A new audience spawned demand for ultra-violent movies bereft of plot and desensitized beyond recognition, which the JFF also caters to with 18+ flics.

Japanese animation deserves a chapter all to itself. Standing out for highlighting of human values based on an exceptional technique that connects with the public on an aesthetic level, creating a colorful mirror suspended in time.

Your humble narrator and Japan aficionado had the chance to watch Kampai! For the Love of Sake – a documentary about the passion that fuels the brewing and the spirit of sake.

Personal narratives of three modern sake brewers trace the global love affair with Japan’s favorite alcoholic beverage.
Following not only the fifth-generation brewery owner Kosuke Kuji but also the journey of the Westerners Philip Harper, who became a master brewer, and John Gauntner, who was re-christened the “evangelist of sake” by Japanese sake luminaries make the documentary all the more compelling, as it tracks the journey of sake from the brewery to the restaurant table.

The documentary was accompanied by a sake tasting event, during which Gauntner’s seven basic tasting parameters found their application – fragrance, impact, sweet versus dry, acidity, presence, earthiness, and tail – on the five basic types of sake, each having its own distinct brewing method and a different percentage of rice milling (seimaibuai).

The Japanese Film Festival will hold court in Sydney until 27 November and one does not have to be a movie buff to be well entertained.

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Photos by Wagamama Media LLC