|
This page presents a list (with brief annotations) of Australian independent filmmakers who may be designated a "new wave" of directors within Australia at the moment (2018-2023). They are mainly younger filmmakers (though not strictly), with their first features (or mini-features), made independently (often with no funding whatsoever), and the films and filmmakers are not acclaimed/recognised by the major Australian film festivals so far (with a couple of exceptions). This list is perhaps subjective, to my own taste, featuring as it does films that are formally experimental or dynamic, but every filmmaker on this list is deserving of more recognition. I also envisage that this list will change with time, but it will always feature directors who are not yet on the "shore". So, here they are – the current "Australian new wave". (Bill Mousoulis) |
 |
Mischa Baka (VIC) Melbourne indie filmmaker, with a dozen shorts since late 2000s, and researcher at VCA. Also works with theatre and dance. Check his website and YouTube Channel. Collaborating with Siobhan Jackson (see below) under the name "Jack Baka", they made debut feature You Can Say Vagina (2018, 71 mins), and have their 2nd feature Saltbush in post currently (2023). |
 You Can Say Vagina |
 |
Angie Black (VIC) Indie filmmaker since the late '80s, and film lecturer, Angie Black completed her debut feature in 2018, The FIVE Provocations (2018, 94 mins). A seemingly conventional narrative, the film has surreal incursions ("provocations") in it, making it a bold work. Read about the making of it. See the trailer. Read a profile of Black. |
 The FIVE Provocations |
 |
Allison Chhorn (SA) Young Cambodian audio-visual artist, check her website, she has made short films (like Last Time, 2018) and has also worked as a producer and editor on Mike Retter's films (see below). Her mini-feature The Plastic House (2019, 45 mins), an impressionistic, poetic, beautiful "slow-cinema" docu-fiction, had international festival success in 2020. See her Vimeo page. |
 The Plastic House |
 |
"Dry Winter" team (SA) Dry Winter (2021, 63 mins) is a low-key, authentic realist film, a collaborative student production made through Flinders University in Adelaide, set in country town Cowell, written by Bridget McDonald, lensed by Gere Fuss, directed by Kyle Davis and produced by Michael Harpas. World Premiere was in 2021. Check the trailer. |
 Dry Winter |
 |
Toby Feakin (SA) NEW Young Adelaide graduate film student, who has been making his own films since 2019, for example Bodies of the Well (2019). You can check a Wix web page about him here. Recently, he completed his first completely independently made first (mini) feature, Duplicity Strife (2022, 53 mins), a sci-fi comedy made for $0. An intriguing talent, one to watch. |
 Duplicity Strife |
 |
Darcy Gladwin (VIC) Free-spirit multi-artist who lives and travels between Australia, NZ, UK and elsewhere. After various short films, he is currently (2023) completing his debut feature Godplex, shot in Melbourne and New Zealand. Destined (ultimately) for cult status, Godplex is a carnivalesque tragi-comedy, part anarchic, part psychedelic. Read Gladwin's profile. |
 Godplex |
 |
Siobhan Jackson (VIC) Lecturer and researcher at VCA, Siobhan has made a dozen shorts since early 2000s. Check her website which has her thesis "DUMBSTRUCK: Lessons in Silence". Collaborating with Mischa Baka (see above) under the name "Jack Baka", they made debut feature You Can Say Vagina (2018, 71 mins), and they have a 2nd feature Saltbush in post currently (2023). |
You Can Say Vagina |
 |
Alice Maio Mackay (SA) NEW A precocious and prolific transgender Adelaide filmmaker, Mackay (born 2004) has been making films since she was 13, and already has 3 features (horror films, independently made) behind her, including So Vam (2021) and the lively Bad Girl Boogey (2022). Check her IMDb page and also a great long interview with her on Cinema Australia. |
 Bad Girl Boogey |
 |
Ivan Malekin (VIC) Melbourne indie filmmaker now living mainly in Europe, Malekin has recently turned his hand to making improvised features, working with Sarah Jayne, and the results are interesting: Friends, Foes & Fireworks (2017, 75 mins), and In Corpore (2020, 100 mins). Read Malekin's profile. See the trailer for Friends, Foes & Fireworks. |
 Friends, Foes & Fireworks |
 |
Jack Moxey (NSW) Sydney indie filmmaker who utilises the Western Sydney area brilliantly in his debut feature Bugs (2018, 86 mins), a perceptive teen study on the one hand, and a punky play with style and form on the other hand. See the trailer. Read an interview with Jack and his producer wife Elizabeta Moxey here. 2nd feature now (2023) deep in post-production. |
 Bugs |
 |
Matthew Victor Pastor (VIC) Australia's most dynamic indie filmmaker, Pastor is like a combination of Wong, Fassbinder and Godard, incredibly prolific and eclectic. Some highlights (all feature films): MELODRAMA / RANDOM / MELBOURNE! (2018), MAGANDA! (2018), Repent or Perish! (2019), The Neon Across the Ocean (2020), A Pencil to the Jugular (2021). Check his profile here. |
 MAGANDA! |
 |
Bryce Reimann (QLD) Like Georgia Temple (see below), Reimann is part of an intriguing group of filmmakers who graduated from Griffith Film School in Queensland a few years ago. His debut feature Hard Yakka (2017, 100 mins) is an astonishing minimalist/contemplative drama, highly unusual for Australia. Read a review of it, and Reimann's own thoughts. |
 Hard Yakka |
 |
Mike Retter (SA) Adelaide-based indie film advocate (see Cinema Now and Meat Bone Express) and creator of his own distinctive features, in the vertical cinema format, Stanley's Mouth (2015, 61 mins) and Youth on the March (2017, 80 mins), realistic but expressionistic youth dramas, in collaboration with Allison Chhorn (see above). Currently (2023) editing his 3rd feature, Clair de Lune. |
 Youth on the March |
 |
Caleb Ribates (VIC) NEW A young VCA graduate, with Filipino heritage, Ribates has made several great films already, including the complex, fast-paced Filo-Boy (2021) and the MIFF-selected disciplined slow-cinema portrait of a Filipino father and his son, Anak (2022), his debut feature, with Matthew Victor Pastor (see above) as a producer. A talent to keep an eye on. |
 Anak |
 |
Saidin Salkic (VIC) Bosnian refugee who has forged a productive artistic life for himself in Australia, as a musician, poet, painter and experimental filmmaker specialising in self-portraits. Read an essay on him. Also a profile page. Incredibly prolific, highlights are: Waiting for Sevdah (2017), Silence's Crescendo (2018), The Shocking (2019), The Shells Exploding Gently (2020). |
 Waiting for Sevdah |
 |
Luke Sullivan (NSW) AFTRS graduate, in his mid 20s, Luke Sullivan has made one of the most striking Australian features of recent years, Reflections in the Dust (2018, 74 mins), which had its World Premiere at the Karlovy Vary Film Festival in 2018 yet was overlooked by the major Australian festivals. Check the trailer. Distributed by The Backlot Films. Read an interview with Sullivan. |
 Reflections in the Dust |
 |
Georgia Temple (QLD) Young Queensland filmmaker (and Griffith Film School graduate) who has worked with Bryce Reimann (see above), Temple's debut feature Grace, Who Waits Alone (2016, 77 mins) is an assured effort, in Akerman-mode. Read a review of the film. Temple is currently helping fellow Griffith graduate Robert Douglas complete his first feature, and working on her own 2nd feature. |
 Grace, Who Waits Alone |
 |
Platon Theodoris (NSW) NEW After a busy 20-year career in music videos, commercials and other assignments, Platon Theodoris has, in recent years, carved out a niche for himself as the director of several quirky independent shorts and also two features, the latest of which, The Lonely Spirits Variety Hour, caused a nice little splash in film festivals in 2022. |
 The Lonely Spirits Variety Hour |
| One of these filmmakers was featured at Thornbury Picture House (Melb) in November 2022. Click on the banner at right, to go to the program of films, and media/video documentation. |
 |
| Four of these filmmakers were featured at Thornbury Picture House (Melb) in September 2019. Click on the banner at right, to go to the program of films, and media/video documentation. |
 |
| Four of these filmmakers were featured at Long Play cinema (Melb) in November 2018. Click on the banner at right, to go to the program of films, and media/video documentation. |
 |
| Four of these filmmakers were featured at the Adelaide Film Festival (Adl) in October 2018. Click on the banner at right, to go to the program of films, and media/video documentation. |
 |
The "Next Wave" ! Looking forward slightly, there are a number of younger filmmakers (up to late 30s) in Australia who are starting to gear up now with their work. None of the following have completed any feature film as yet, but a few have shot their first feature and we eagerly await their work ! - Bill Mousoulis, December 30, 2019
(March 2021): James Vaughan has completed and released his feature Friends and Strangers (2021).
Top row: Llewellyn Michael Bates, Iain Bonner, Ivana Brehas, Hanna Chetwin, Chris Cochrane-Friedrich 2nd row: Robert Douglas, Giles Fielke, Anthony Frajman, Jordan Giusti, Paddy Hay 3rd row: Lucas Haynes, John Hewison, Sam Hewison, Nicholas Ingerson, Laura Kennedy 4th row: Angus Kirby, Audrey Lam, Chris Luscri, Madeleine Martiniello, Gianna Mazzeo 5th row: Emma Northey, Biddy O'Loughlin, Fraser Fitzy Pemberton, Guy Tyzack, James Vaughan
|
Published July 12 2018, and revised continuously since. © Bill Mousoulis 2018-2022.
|
