Erwin & Elmire

Director:: Michael Dominski
Country: Germany
Runtime: 62’
Language: German
Year: 2010

Elmire has been deserted by her sweetheart Erwin because of her apparent coldness and is now heartbroken about her loss. Her mother Olympia and her teacher and friend Bernardo try to cheer her up without success. Finally, Bernardo has an idea: Elmire should confide in an old and wise hermit who lives in a romantic hut in the forest. This hermit is Erwin in disguise, set up by no other than Bernardo. Erwin now hears from Elmire's own lips that she loves him.

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China: Off the Beaten Track

Director Shelly Huang
Country New Zealand, China
Runtime 5 x 30’
Language English

China, a nation of 55 minorities. Stunning foods, attractive costumes, interesting dialects …How would you explore the culture, myth and legend? Take a journey around ‘China off the Beaten Track’… What makes China so unique? How has China’s rapid changes over the past 20 years affected its minority cultures far removed from the urban landscape? ‘China: Off the Beaten Track’ seeks to answer these questions by taking you to ancient cities and almost-forgotten villages. There you will discover minority cultures untouched by China’s modernization and observe each culture’s unique food, ancient traditions, and distinct arts and crafts. Each episode also offers directions on how to reach these hidden treasures of China’s past so you too can experience life in China off the beaten track.

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Kangaroo Island

Director Troy Gray
Country Australia
Runtime 52'
Language English

Join Troy Gray, a host of local celebrities and a dozen South Australians as they embark on the adventure of a lifetime! The group travels to one of the world's last unspoiled wildernesses, Kangaroo Island. Over seven spectacular days, Troy and his team make their way around the entire island, and on the way participate in some life changing activities. Deep sea fishing, swimming with dolphins, adventure caving, quad biking and more... this documentary has it all!

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Seaman Dan and Friends
Welcome to the Torres Strait

Director: Fiona Cochrane
Country: Australia
Runtime: 26’
Language: English
Year: 2005

Although he has played music most of his life, Seaman Dan only released his first album Follow The Sun at the age of 71. It won ScreenSound Australia’s Inaugural National Folk Recording Award in 2001. His third album Perfect Pearl won the Best World Music Album at the 2004 ARIA Awards, and in 2005 he won the Red Ochre award (the Australia Council's premier Indigenous artist award).

Seaman Dan and his friends have lived and worked in the maritime industry in Torres Strait, particularly on pearling luggers. Seaman Dan was a hard-hat diver in the 40s and 50s and his songs document the work and lifestyles of that time. Of Jamaican and Melanesian heritage, he was born and raised around Thursday Island and Cape York and began working in the maritime industry after World War 2.

Seaman Dan tells wonderful anecdotes  - about hanging around in the legendary Darnley Deeps waiting to decompress, about sharks circling him as he waited, and about life on the strait, both on and off the luggers. His recollections recreate a time and atmosphere that is both romantic but also highly dangerous.

His friends include Izzie Shibasaki, the son of a renowned Japanese pearl-shell diver and a Torres Strait islander woman, who has also worked on pearling boats as well as playing ukelele with Seaman Dan for many years; and Ina & Cessa Mills, who were part of the well-known Mill Sisters singing group,  and were both married to pearl-shell divers (one Japanese and one Indonesian) so experienced the absence of their husbands for extended periods of time (up to 10 months) while they maintained their multicultural families and communities.

They tell of a history that is unknown to most Australians, and which we will soon lose if their stories are not heard.

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The Bhangra Generation

Director: R. Paul Dhillon
Length: 48’ 30”
Format: Beta SP
Year of Production: 2008

The Bhangra Generation is an electrifying, entertaining and enlightening film on the fast growing phenomenon called Bhangra and how it has influenced the young generation of South Asians in the West. The film is the first of its kind sociological-musical documentary that examines the lives of the second generation of Indo-Canadians who have been impacted by this music.

The film examines the lives of four Indo-Canadian artists, who are making their mark in the world through dance and music. Most prominent of the four is international Bhangra superstar Jazzy B.

Bhangra, which originated as both a dance form and a musical form in the Northern Indian state of Punjab, has become an integral part of the worldwide Punjabi culture and Diaspora, playing a revolutionary role akin to black music in America in shaping the identity of Non Resident Indians in the West.

According to tradition, the word Bhangra comes from an intoxicating harvest drink called Bhang (Siva's herb) which the farmers drank in celebration of finishing their spring harvest. Like the drink – Bhangra music has its own intoxication with its rhythms and beats working like a snake charmer.

Available: World excluding North America, UK and India.

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Music Is My Life, Politics My Mistress

Director: Donnie L. Betts 
Country: United States
Runtime: 56’ and 110’
Language: English
Year: 2005

2005 Awards

2006 Awards

Poet, jazz singer, composer (1000 songs), trade union activist, radio host and senatorial candidate, Oscar Brown Jr., was a self-educated polymath whose voice, both musical and political, reached the empowered and disempowered alike. A playful and charismatic performer, Brown was also an acclaimed jazz lyricist who worked closely with Abbey Lincoln and Nina Simone and collaborated with Max Roach, Miles Davis and Bobby Timmons on some of the most memorable compositions of the hard bop era.

Beyond his musical achievements, Brown also engaged in a parallel career as a lifelong political activist of tireless strength and unceasing moral stamina, and his entire life can be read as a parable of the civil rights and Black Power eras in the United States. His lyrics touching on every subject from human dignity and childhood wonder to marijuana and cockroaches, Brown emerges as a kind of Black Everyman.

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DAMBE � THE MALI PROJECT

Director: Dearbhla Glynn
Country: Ireland
Duration: 93�
Year: 2008

Renowned Irish musicians Liam O�Maonla� (The Hothouse Flowers) and Paddy Keenan (The Bothy Band) undertake a musical journey through the stunning landscapes of Mali to capture its musical richness. This sub-Saharan country is among the five poorest countries in the world, yet it is one of the richest historically and culturally from a musical point of view. Mali is considered the home of all string instruments and the original source of the Blues.

Paddy is a master of the Uilleann pipes and comes from a long line of pipers. He was raised on the road in a barrel top wagon in the traveller tradition that is steeped in musical history. Paddy has always dreamt of visiting Africa and spending time with nomadic musicians. Liam has a Rock & Roll background and has been described as the most soulful singer to come out of Ireland. Liam is plays a wealth of instruments from the bodhr�n to the didgeridoo and has always been deeply inspired by the music og indigenous people. Liam and Paddy develop a deep respect for each other�s music and are delighted in absorbing the culture and musical riches of Mali. Their collaboration subtly highlights the many similarities between Malian and Irish music: circular repetitive rhythms, similar instruments (the Kora and the Harp, the Gourd and the Bodhr�n) and the same style of singing (Griot & Sean N�s).
Liam and Paddy play with esteemed Malian musicians such as Afel Bocoum (�Mali Music� with Damon Albarn), Toumani Diabat� (Grammy award winning and master Kora player), Tinariwen (supporting The Rolling Stones �07) and Tartit, and nomadic herders. They all travel to Essakane, 90km outside of Timbuktu, where they give a unique and stunning performance to an audience of thousands at the world�s most remote music festival, the �Festival au Desert�.

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Words From The City

Running Time: 90’
Shooting Gauge: HD
Completed: 2008

Words from the City is a feature documentary exploring Australian hip hop through intimate and candid observations of some of the most potent and compelling MCs.

Focusing on the unique lyrical and verbal artistry of the form, the film follows a diverse range of artists from around the country, including Wire MC, Hilltop Hoods, Downsyde, Layla, Koolism, Bliss N Eso, Maya Jupiter, TZU and MC Trey. From social and political rage to personal and cultural storytelling, from laneways and parks to festivals and nightclubs, the film explores the diverse environments that shape these artists and their urge to make their voices heard.

Filmed across one long hot summer against the backdrop of an increasingly conservative mainstream, Words from the City follows the daily lives of these artists at the vanguard of Australian hip hop, a movement that is exploding onto the musical landscape as one of our most powerful and energetic creative forms.

For each of these artists, hip hop is deeply connected to their lived experience and the environment in which they live, work and perform. captures the cultural landscape and heartbeat of the cities that inspire these artists, shaping their diverse identities and unique Australian voices. Drawing on vibrant interviews, live performances and observational footage, celebrates the way that hip hop has been embraced as a powerful form of political and cultural expression and a potent form of resistance.

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