The Infinite Man
Monday 7 June, 9:30pm on SBS World Movies / Now streaming at SBS On Demand
MA15+
Australia, 2014
Genre: Comedy
Language: English
Director: Hugh Sullivan
Starring: Josh McConville, Hannah Marshall, Alex Demitriades
What's it about?
A young inventor (McConville) obsessively attempts to engineer the perfect romantic weekend and record every happy moment between him and his girlfriend, Lana (Marshall). When his idea is thwarted by the unexpected arrival of his partner’s aggressive ex-boyfriend (Demitriades), the technical wiz invents a time-travelling device to return to the exact moment the incident occurred to prevent it from happening. As a result, the three characters become trapped in an infinite metaphysical time loop. Reviewing the film in 2014, “this intelligent comedy is graceful enough to deserve comparison with benchmark films Groundhog Day and Back to the Future Part II.”
Streaming until 31 May 2022:
Strangerland
Tuesday 8 June, 9:30pm on SBS World Movies / Streaming after broadcast at SBS On Demand
MA15+, CC
Australia, 2015
Genre: Drama, Thriller
Language: English
Director: Kim Farrant
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Hugo Weaving, Joseph Fiennes
What's it about?
Newly arrived in the remote Australian desert town of Nathgari, Catherine (Kidman) and Matt Parker (Fiennes) are trying to adjust, when their two teenage children, Lily and Tom disappear in the desert, just as a massive dust storm is about to hit. Rumours start swirling about what could have happened to the children and, with temperatures rising and the chances of survival plummeting with each passing day, Catherine and Matt find themselves pushed to the brink. Writer-director Kim Farrant drew from her own experiences of grief over the passing of her father for this psychological thriller, which premiered at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival.
Ali’s Wedding
Wednesday 9 June, 9:30pm on SBS World Movies / Streaming after broadcast at SBS On Demand
M, AD, CC
Australia, 2017
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Language: English, Persian, Arabic
Director: Jeffrey Walker
Starring: Osamah Sami, Don Hany, Helana Sawires, Robert Rabiah
What's it about?
Ali (Sami) is the son of a Muslim cleric who, despite the best of intentions, just can’t seem to make the right life choices. Ali dreams big – he wants to be with the girl he loves, but he’s been promised to another girl at his father’s mosque. He wants to be the great doctor that the community expects him to be, but he doesn’t get the marks. And above all, he wants to make his father proud, really proud. So what will Ali do to live up to the impossible expectations? He must fake it, because as the son of the cleric, he doesn’t have a choice. Of the film’s instant connection with audiences, writer and star Osamah Sami reflected: “[W]e had a community screening in Parramatta and this 63-year-old father-of-six came up to me and he said, ‘This is my story’, and he explained why he hadn't seen his mother because of Saddam Hussein. And then this 20-year-old Iraqi girl came up to me and said, ‘this is my story’.”
The crowdpleasing hit romantic comedy Ali's Wedding airs Fri 14 June, 8:35PM on SBS Source: SBS Movies
Tracks
Thursday 10 June, 9:30pm on SBS World Movies / Streaming after broadcast at SBS On Demand
M, CC
Australia, 2013
Genre: Biography
Language: English
Director: John Curran
Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Emma Booth, Adam Driver
What's it about?
In 1977, a young Australian woman named Robyn Davidson (Wasikowska) set out from Alice Springs to trek across 2,700 kilometres of harsh desert of Western Australia to reach the ocean. Accompanied only by her dog and four camels, Davidson had no other purpose than to reach the ocean and find herself on a journey of self-discovery. “At the time, all young people pretty much wanted to do extraordinary things and extend the limits of what had been given to them as their roles,” said Davidson, when the film premiered at the 2013 Venice Film Festival. “So I think in that sense the trip caught the zeitgeist, but it also had other elements that make it relevant today.”
Animal Kingdom
Friday 11 June, 9:30pm on SBS World Movies / Streaming after broadcast at SBS On Demand
MA15+
Australia, 2010
Genre: Crime, Drama
Language: English
Director: David Michôd
Starring: James Frecheville, Jackie Weaver, Ben Mendelsohn, Guy Pearce, Joel Edgerton
What's it about?
Set amidst the explosive world of a family addicted to crime, as experienced through the eyes of a naïve 17-year-old youth (Frecheville) who enters their lair. It’s the Wild West, where criminals and police wage their war on the city’s streets, while the innocent suffer the consequences. Winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize (World Dramatic Competition) in 2010, the film was regarded as an instant classic of Australian cinema (“the best Australian film since Chopper”, ) and went on to re-launch the career of Jacki Weaver, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Academy Awards the next year for her unforgettably malevolent turn, before earning roles in Hollywood films such as Silver Linings Playbook, Widows and Bird Box.
Australia, 2010
Genre: Crime, Drama
Language: English
Director: David Michôd
Starring: James Frecheville, Jackie Weaver, Ben Mendelsohn, Guy Pearce, Joel Edgerton
What's it about?
Set amidst the explosive world of a family addicted to crime, as experienced through the eyes of a naïve 17-year-old youth (Frecheville) who enters their lair. It’s the Wild West, where criminals and police wage their war on the city’s streets, while the innocent suffer the consequences. Winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Prize (World Dramatic Competition) in 2010, the film was regarded as an instant classic of Australian cinema (“the best Australian film since Chopper”, ) and went on to re-launch the career of Jacki Weaver, who was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the Academy Awards the next year for her unforgettably malevolent turn, before earning roles in Hollywood films such as Silver Linings Playbook, Widows and Bird Box.
Source: SBS Movies
A Lion Returns
Monday 14 June, 9:30pm on SBS World Movies / Now streaming at SBS On Demand
MA15+
Australia, 2018
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Serhat Caradee
Starring: Moustafa Dennawi, Maha Wilson, Jacqui Purvis, Serhat Caradee, Danny Elacci
What's it about?
Jamal (Dennawi) has just returned to Australia after disappearing overseas for 18 months fighting in Syria. He’s back in the country and wants to see his terminally ill mother, however he has to deal with his strong-minded older brother Omar (Elacci), then his wife Heidi (Purvis) and their young son whom he left behind, but most importantly his unforgiving father. But why has Jamal really come back? Is he a militant with a cause or an easily led pawn in a bigger picture? A story about redemption, forgiveness and the consequences of your actions on loved ones and those you leave behind. Written and directed by Serhat Caradee (Cedar Boys) and nominated for an Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) award for Best Indie Film.
Streaming until 30 April 2022
Charlie’s Country
Tuesday 15 June, 9:30pm on SBS World Movies / NOTE: No catch-up at SBS On Demand
M
Australia, 2013
Genre: Biography
Language: English
Director: Rolf de Heer
Starring: David Gulpilil, Peter Djigirr, Luke Ford
What's it about?
Living in a remote Aboriginal community in the northern part of Australia, Charlie (Gulpilil) is a warrior past his prime. As the government increases its stronghold over the community’s traditional way of life, Charlie becomes lost between two cultures. For his performance, the iconic Gulpilil – the subject of the new documentary My Name Is Gulpilil – won the Best Actor prize in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival, his first major award at an international film festival.
The Proposition
Wednesday 16 June, 9:30pm on SBS World Movies / NOTE: No catch-up at SBS On Demand
MA15+
Australia, 2005
Genre: Drama, Crime, Western
Language: English
Director: John Hillcoat
Starring: Tom Budge, Danny Huston, Ray Winstone, Guy Pearce, Noah Taylor
What's it about?
In the harsh outback of 1880s Australia, the brutal Burns brothers are wanted for a vicious crime. When Charlie Burns (Pearce) is captured, the arresting officer makes a startling proposition to end the cycle of violence: Charlie must hunt down and murder his violent older brother Arthur (Huston) to save his youngest brother from the noose. This modern classic neo-western features a score by Nick Cave and Warren Ellis (Cave also scored, co-wrote and co-starred in Hillcoat’s 1988 prison drama Ghosts... of the Civil Dead).
Alex & Eve
Thursday 17 June, 9:30pm on SBS World Movies / Streaming after broadcast at SBS On Demand
MA15+
Australia, 2016
Genre: Drama, Romance
Language: English
Director: Peter Andrikidis
Starring: Richard Brancatisano, Andrea Demetriades, Ryan O'Kane, Simon Elrahi
What's it about?
Alex (Brancatisano) is a handsome schoolteacher in his mid-thirties and his parents want him to marry a good Greek girl. But Alex falls hopelessly in love with the gorgeous Eve (Demetriades), a lawyer, whose parents are Lebanese Muslim. Like oil and water, the two should never mix, only how can they stop themselves from falling in love? A family comedy about dating in a multicultural world, directed by Peter Andrikidis and based on the play by Alex Lykos.
Alex & Eve Source: Supplied
Jindabyne
Friday 18 June, 9:30pm on SBS World Movies / Streaming after broadcast at SBS On Demand
M
Australia, 2006
Genre: Crime, Drama, Mystery, Thriller
Language: English
Director: Ray Lawrence
Starring: Laura Linney, Gabriel Byrne, Deborra-Lee Furness, John Howard, Leah Purcell
What's it about?
Stewart Kane (Byrne), an Irishman living in the Australian town of Jindabyne, is on a fishing trip in isolated hill country with three other men when they discover the body of a murdered girl in the river. Rather than return to the town immediately, they continue fishing and report their gruesome find days later. The story of a murder and a marriage – a film about the things that haunt us. The third feature from writer-director Ray Lawrence (following 1985’s Bliss and 2001’s Lantana), and based on the short story ‘So Much Water So Close To Home’ by Raymond Carver.
Gabriel Byrne in Jindabyne Source: SBS Movies
Homegrown Cinema at SBS On Demand
Broke
MA15+
Australia, 2016
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Heath Davis
Starring: Max Cullen, Steve Le Marquand, Steve Bastoni, Brendan Cowell, Claire van der Boom
What's it about?
An old working class man named Cec (Cullen) stumbles upon his favourite footy star come gambling addict, Ben “BK” Kelly (Le Marquand), at the end of his shift. Taking pity on the one-time local legend, who he admired for his on-field fortitude, Cec offers to take the now homeless Ben home for the night where he resides with his single-mother daughter and fellow footy tragic, Terri (van der Boom).
Streaming until 31 May 2022:
Burning Man
MA15+
UK, Australia, 2011
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Jonathan Teplitzky
Starring: Matthew Goode, Rachel Griffiths, Essie Davis, Anthony Hayes
What's it about?
The reckless, sexy, funny, moving and ultimately life-affirming story of Tom, a British chef in a Sydney restaurant, who seems to have decided there are no longer any rules he needs to obey. Whatever Tom is up to, his actions seem to be tolerated by those around him. As Tom descends into darkness, fragments of a different story begin to emerge. All the women in his world are trying in their own very different ways to help put him back together.
Streaming until 31 May 2022:
Source: SBS Movies
Charlie & Boots
M, CC
Australia, 2009
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Language: English
Director: Dean Murphy
Starring: Shane Jacobson, Paul Hogan, Morgan Griffin, Roy Billing
What's it about?
After a family tragedy, Charlie (Hogan) and his estranged son Boots (Jacobson) try and put their differences aside and head off on the road trip of a lifetime – from regional Victoria to the Cape York Peninsula. They overcome many challenges to reach their dream, to fish off the northern most tip of Australia.
Streaming until 31 May 2022:
Dark Whispers – Volume 1
MA15+
Australia, 2019
Genre: Horror, Anthology Film
Language: English
Director: Marion Pilowsky, Jub Clerc, Isabel Peppard, Megan Riakos, Kaitlin Tinker, Madeleine Purdy, Briony Kidd, Lucy Gouldthorpe, Katrina Irawati Graham, Janine Hewitt
Starring: Andrea Demetriades, Anthony LaPaglia, Asher Keddie, Bree Desborough, Ed Speleers
What's it about?
This anthology of local horror films from women filmmakers opens with Clara (Demetriades) discovering her deceased mother’s revered ‘Book of Dark Whispers’; she can’t stop reading the strange stories within its mystical pages. Each weird tale reveals a new facet of the twisted human psyche… or the not-so-human, as the case may be. From the horror of grief to share-house living disaster, from existential dread to right-swiping vampires, there’s something for all tastes; as long as those tastes are twisted
Streaming until 28 February 2022:
Jirga
M
Australia, 2018
Genre: Drama, War
Language: English
Director: Benjamin Gilmour
Starring: Sam Smith, Mohammad Mosam, Kefayat Lag Humani, Naqibullah Khan Shinwari
What's it about?
Made under extraordinary and extremely dangerous conditions, and skirting the line between documentary and fiction, this film tells the emotional story of a former Australian soldier who travels to Afghanistan to seek forgiveness.
Streaming until 22 February 2022:
The Man from Hong Kong
MA15+
Australia, Hong Kong, 1975
Genre: Action, Crime
Language: English
Director: Brian Trenchard-Smith
Starring: Jimmy Wang Yu, George Lazenby, Hugh Keays-Byrne, Sammo Hung
What's it about?
Australian authorities arrest a man believed to be connected to the Sydney criminal underworld and send for Inspector Fang Sing Leng (Jimmy Wang Yu) from Hong Kong to question him. After the alleged criminal is assassinated, Inspector Leng and the Sydney police try to hunt down those responsible and hope to solve their case along the way. This classic ‘Ozploitation’ action film is from prolific genre maestro Brian Trenchard-Smith (BMX Bandits, Turkey Shoot).
Streaming until 30 September 2021:
My Mistress
MA15+
Australia, 2014
Australia, 2014
Genre: Drama, Romance
Language: English
Director: Stephen Lance
Starring: Emmanuelle Béart, Harrison Gilbertson
What's it about?
When a tragic family event tumbles Charlie (Gilbertson) into a world of pain, he tries to escape. Desperate and alone, he meets Maggie (Béart), the mysterious woman who lives down the street. She’s a professional, and she specialises in pain – giving it, exploring it and sharing it, all for money. Charlie insinuates his way into her life and despite herself Maggie can’t stop from going along with his wishes.
Streaming until 31 May 2022:
Oranges and Sunshine
M, CC
UK, 2010
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Jim Loach
Starring: Hugo Weaving, Emily Watson, David Wenham, Aisling Loften
What's it about?
Set in 1980s Nottingham, social worker Margaret Humphreys (Watson) holds the British government accountable for child migration schemes and reunites the children involved – now adults living mostly in Australia – with their parents in Britain. Directed by Jim Loach (son of renowned British social realist filmmaker Ken Loach) and based on the book by Humphreys.
Streaming until 19 November 2021:
Rabbit-Proof Fence
PG, CC
Australia, 2002
Genre: History, Adventure
Language: Walmajarri, English
Director: Phillip Noyce
Starring: Everlyn Sampi, Tianna Sansbury, Laura Monaghan, Kenneth Branagh, Deborah Mailman
What's it about?
Based on the true story of three young Aboriginal girls, Molly (Sampi) and Daisy (Sansbury) and their cousin, Gracie (Monaghan), who in 1931, were forcibly removed from their mothers and their home in Jigalong and moved over fifteen hundred miles away, as a part of official ‘White Australia’ government policy. Molly leads her younger sister and cousin on a brave escape and in a bid to find their way home, following, on foot, the rabbit-proof fence that cuts across the Gibson Desert and towards Jigalong.
Streaming until 1 March 2022:
Source: SBS Movies
Storm Boy
PG
Australia, 1976
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Henri Safran
Starring: Greg Rowe, Peter Cummins, David Gulpilil, Judy Dick, Tony Allison
What's it about?
Mike (Rowe) is a lonely Australian boy living in a coastal wilderness with his reclusive father (Cummins). In search of friendship he encounters an Aboriginal native loner (Gulpilil) and the two form a bond in the care of orphaned pelicans.
Streaming until 29 June 2021:
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Strange Colours
MA15+
Australia, 2017
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Alena Lodkina
Starring: Kate Cheel, Daniel P. Jones, Justin Courtin
What's it about?
Milena (Cheel) travels to a remote opal mining community to see her estranged, ill father (Jones). Lost and alone, she falls into his bewildering world, where men escape society and share ideals of freedom. Soon, he doesn’t want her to leave. Stuck in time, father and daughter try to mend their fractured bond, but their connection is fragile, like the strange, colourful gems he digs up from the earth.
Streaming until 31 May 2022:
'Strange Colours' (2017), directed by Alena Lodkina Source: SBS Movies
That’s Not Me
MA15+
Australia, USA, 2017
Genre: Comedy
Language: English
Director: Gregory Erdstein
Starring: Alice Foulcher, Isabel Lucas, Richard Davies, Andrew S. Gilbert
What's it about?
Polly (Foulcher) dreams of making it as an actor, but those dreams are shattered when her identical twin sister Amy lands the lead role in a huge TV show. Mistaken for her famous sister at every turn, Polly decides to use Amy’s celebrity for her own advantage – free clothes, free booze, casual sex… with hilarious and disastrous consequences for them both.
Streaming until 29 June 2021:
Tudawali
M
Australia, 1988
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Steve Jodrell
Starring: Ernie Dingo, Jedda Cole, Peter Fisher
What's it about?
Ernie Dingo delivers an outstanding portrayal of Robert Tudawali, the first Aboriginal film star, whose lead role in Jedda is iconic in Australian cinema. This film traces the life of Tudawali.
Streaming until 3 July 2021:
Source: SBS Movies
