It’s been an amazing year for Sydney songwriter, Ernest Ellis. His debut album ‘Hunting’ scored 5 star reviews, sold out headline shows and a slot on Splendour In The Grass.

Parades have had an equally dramatic rise after a national tour with Gomez and a slot at Homebake last year, their debut album ‘Foreign Tapes’ has received unanimous praise for it expansive, ambitious haze of pop harmonies, post rock guitars and electronic meanderings.

ERNEST ELLIS AND PARADES TOUR

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 15TH: ELSEWHERE, GOLD COAST
Tickets available from www.oztix.com.au or phone: 1300 762 545

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 16TH: THE ZOO, BRISBANE
Tickets available from www.thezoo.com.au, www.oztix.com.au, or phone: 1300 762 545

THURSDAY, OCTOBER 21ST: THE HARP, WOLLONGONG
Tickets available from www.oztix.com.au or phone: 1300 762 545

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 22ND: ANU BAR, CANBERRA
Tickets available from www.ticketek.com.au or phone: 132 849

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 23RD: THE GAELIC CLUB, SYDNEY
Tickets available from www.moshtix.com.au or 1300 GET TIX (438 849)

FRIDAY, OCTOBER 29TH: JIVE BAR, ADELAIDE
Tickets available from www.oztix.com.au or 1300 762 545

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 30TH: THE NATIONAL, GEELONG
Tickets available from www.oztix.com.au or 1300 762 545

MONDAY, NOVEMBER 1ST: EAST BRUNSWICK SOCIAL CLUB
Tickets available from www.eastbrunswickclub.com or at the box office 03 9388 9794

Natalie: I’m excited to get out of Melbourne, because it’s freezing. It’s fucking, freezing (laughs).

MF: Lucky for Blue King Brown – they’re currently travelling through Perth and warmer climates for their album tour supporting The John Butler Trio.

N: It’s also John’s album launch tour. The audience is going to get a lot of fresh material, which is great. We’ve been doing lots of stuff in the build-up to our new album. It’s been two years in the making! We’ve also just come off a European summer tour. So we’ve been keeping plenty busy.

MF: And your album’s in two parts.

N: That’s right. It’s called WORLDWIZE: PART 1 – North & South. So the first album that we’re releasing it part one,; it’s a double disc album, a Northside and a Southside. The concept is that there’s then part two, east and west. So eventually there’ll be four discs in this project, which wasn’t the initial intention at all (laughs). The Northside of this album is what we consider the main album tracks, and then the Southside is all dub tracks of the Northside, with some extra stuff as well.

One of the reasons we’re bringing out this release with a dub disc in it is because these sorts of genres are still underground in Australia. Our country is missing out on an incredible amount of sound that is going on around the world. It’s not hitting the mainstream, so that could help those things.

MF: Because you are aware of these new sounds, do you feel it’s your role to show it to the masses?

N: I don’t really think it’s our job, but we definitely get excited about performing live and sharing these sounds that we love. We like to share this music that we love and are inspired by.

MF: There’s a lot of deeper meaning to the upcoming album…

N: Yeah, for sure! Our music is definitely conscious music – its music with a message, its also music you can dance to and it’s positive. We like to remind people of our connectedness from being alive as human beings, that we are a global community, and that together we can overcome some of the world’s darkest injustices, so that’s what we’re passionate about, that’s what comes out when I write a song.

MF: What’s the vibe of the first release?

N: The main thing you’ll notice about this album compared to our first album, Stand Up – which was very Rootsy, very Roots-Reggae, everything was recorded live – is with this album we spent a lot of time in post-production. We’ve added program beats to the live drums; we’ve added a lot more digitally-generated sounds, we’ve really spent a lot of time on every song, producing it and making every song hold its own ground.

We call our sound urban-roots, because we’re not strictly one sound or the other, but with this album there’s definitely that roots-reggae vibe that you will know from BKB but it’s also combined with urban, in that sense bass and drums and beats.

MF: You had some pretty renowned producers jump on board for this album I heard?

N: We had a great engineer/producer from New Zealand, Chris Mackeroe, who came on board and really facilitated a lot of the post-production and was really a part of that. Also, we worked with a great mix engineer, James ‘Bonzai’ Caruso, and he is amazing, he’s basically the engineer for all the MARLEY music, Damien and Steve and Julian Marley, but you know he works with everyone from Alicia Keys to Madonna. Sonically, he’s amazing, and to work with.

Any advice I can give to other musicians is to make sure that when you’re mixing your album that you are 100% happy with the mix engineer and that you feel you can express your ideas.

MF: You had a ‘tight’ relationship this time round?

N: We did, and it’s great; it makes such a difference because it is a creative process. Even in the last moment when you’re just laying down the last mix of a song, and you might have an idea to just “oh can we try to take that out and put in something random”, and you really want someone on board who’s just going to say “Yeah man, lets try it!” because sometimes those ideas end up being what you love about the song in the end.

MF: Did that happen often with the new album?

N: Sure did (laughs). We’re very anal about our music. We want every moment to be perfect. We always want to try new ideas and that’s the thing – having a team that can try the ideas – but the important thing is identifying what ideas are good.

MF: How was your overseas tour?

N: We’ve just come from Europe. It was great; it was a European summer. We were there mainly to do festivals, many we haven’t played before.

MF: What was the reaction like to your music over there?

N: We had a really positive reaction in Europe. What we’ve found is that people are similar around the world and that people like the same things, and I think festivals have been such a good foundation for our Australian fan-base, and it seems that this is the thing that will happen for us if we can continue to make it overseas. Everyone at those festivals is pretty much seeing us for the first time, and we do pride ourselves on our live show, we really like to go in there ‘all guns blazing’ (laughs). Give it everything we’ve got. So we got a great response to that.

MF: What is your campaign with The Bodyshop about?

N: This campaign that we’re connected with is to raise awareness and petition the government on the issue of child sex slavery and the issue of the human trafficking trade. Once I heard some of the statistics, like 1.8 million children have been trafficked for the purpose of sexual exploitation – it’s one of those things that you must feel as a human being; I felt sick from the inside out.

I feel that this is such a huge issue that’s going on right under our noses and it’s not something we talk about a lot. I’m really grateful that The Bodyshop and Childwise are pushing it to the next level; we’ve already got 70,000 signatures from all over the country. As the youngest members of our global family, they deserve to be protected.



Having played together over the past few years with a line-up change here and there, the band have nevertheless refined their psychedelic swagger and bluesy attitude. Measured instrumentals and prominent lyrical vocals dominate the music. There is a real sense of consideration in it, and indulgence holds no sway.

Preparing for their upcoming show at MUM this Friday the guys were gracious enough to indulge our curiosity by answering a few questions.

Music Feeds: So how would you describe yourselves to someone who’d never heard you before?

Arc Archer: It’s like six guys trying to ride in a four-seater car. It’s like some kind of Frankenstein, made from Psychedelic, Folkie and Rock & Roll parts.

MF: It strikes me as if you guys have embraced a fairly broad range of influences in the production: soulful vocals; dark, sort of bluesy sort of grungy guitars; and deep harmonies. Would I be right in assuming the songwriting process is a very involved one?

AA: It can be, songs are usually based upon one person’s direction or idea, then it’s like a ‘Chinese whispers’ effect through the other musicians until a song comes out.

MF: How important are lyrics to the process; do you generally build the song around vocal ideas or do they come later once the music has been written?

AA: Lyrics tend to come after a song is partly drafted. We tend to write theatrically, so once we are moving in one direction we will start ‘story-boarding’ lyrics, so-to-speak. It’s important to have a tight bond between the words and the music.

MF: Now I couldn’t find much info about the band on MySpace; do you prefer to let fans judge you based solely on the music rather than the bio?

AA: Yes, that sounds good. The band is pretty elusive, even for the members in it. We’re kind of spread out in every possible corner of Sydney, so getting together can be an organisational Nightmare sometimes, hence, the things like MySpace and Bios suffer. That’s why this residency’s going to be such a great opportunity for us to stay pinned down in one spot and do our thing.

MF: Now your self-titled EP was out in March 2009; has the sound changed a lot since then? If so, how?

AA: In that year we’ve lost a member and gained a member and played a whole bunch of gigs, so things naturally change. But if anything, it feels like our songs and our writing has gained more of a personality.

MF: The MySpace says you’ve got Arc Archer and The Carnival Of Souls ‘coming soon’; is this a new album, EP, book of nude photography?

AA: It was a concept album based on Point Break and Total Recall.

MF: Assuming it’s a recording of some sort, did you approach it at all differently from the EP? I’d imagine with more experience from over a year of playing you would have some new ideas.

AA: The ‘Carnival of Souls’ was the Tadpole and Arc Archer is the frog. It’s like a forgotten child born out of wedlock. We had to drop a lot of the projects we were doing at the time because of the departure of one of our long-standing guitarists. However, now with the new line-up we’re working towards some kind of a release. Whether it’ll be an EP or an Album yet, we’re not sure.

MF: What else should we be keeping an eye out for?

AA: Collaborating with filmmakers, projects with other musicians, springtime gigs, wild new music and suntans.

To mark the occasion The Jezabels have announced a series of National dates. The tour will include their first ever headline show in Perth. The EP, titled Dark Storm, is due for release on October 1st, 2010.

THE JEZABELS TOUR DATES 2010

FRIDAY SEPT 3 – MANNING TURNS TEN, SYDNEY
www.manningbar.com Level Two, Manning House, Manning Rd University of Sydney with Cloud Control + Richard In Your Mind + Guineafowl. Tickets http://manningbar.oztix.com.au

WEDNESDAY SEPT 8 – BIG SOUND SHOWCASE
www.qmusic.com.au The Troubadour, 322 Brunswick Street, Fortitude Valley. Tickets http://tickets.oztix.com.au

FRIDAY SEPT 24 – MOJOS, FREMANTLE
www.mojosbar.com.au 237 Queen Street, North Fremantle
Tickets available from www.thejezabels.com; ph 1300 762 545,
www.heatseeker.com.au
*With special guests Felicity Groom & The Black Black Smoke

SATURDAY SEPT 25 – WAVE ROCK WEEKENDER
www.soulhighway.com.au

You Am I Australian tour dates 2010

Thursday October 14th – Waves, Wollongong
Supports: Richard in your mind plus Guineafowl
Tickets from MOSHTIX – Ph: 1300 GET TIX / www.moshtix.com.au

Friday October 15th – Level One @ Newcastle Leagues
Supports: Cabins plus Richard in your mind
Tickets from The Rock Shop – Ph: 02 4929 1856 / Northern Star Bottle Shop – Ph: 02 4961 1087
the venue – Ph: 02 4929 3067 / www.oztix.com.au / www.bigtix.com.au

Saturday October 16th -Metro Theatre, Sydney
Supports: Richard in your mind plus Cabins plus Guineafowl
Tickets from www.metrotheatre.com.au / Metro Box office – Ph: 02 9550 3666
www.ticketek.com.au

Sunday October 17th – The Beachcomber, Toukley
Tickets from BIG TIX: – Ph: 02 4968 3093 / www.bigtix.com.au / OZTIX – Ph: 1300 762 545 www.oztix.com.au / BEACHCOMBER HOTEL: 200 Main Rd, Toukley – Ph: 02 4397 1300

Wednesday October 20th – The Flying Horse, Warrnambool
Tickets from Flying Horse Bar and Brewery – Ph: 03 55 622254

Thursday October 21st -The Bluestone, Ballarat
Tickets from www.oztix.com.au / New Generation Clothing, Doveton St Ballarat – Ph: 03 53 33 2444

Friday October 22nd – Billboard, Melbourne
Support: Black Cab
www.moshtix.com.au
And 288 Flinders Lane, Melbourne – ph: 03 9663 8696

Saturday October 23rd – Inferno, Traralgon
Tickets from the venue – Ph: 03 5176 0464 / www.oztix.com.au

Thursday November 11th – The Irish Club, Toowoomba
Supports: The Fuss plus Mace & the Motor
Tickets from www.oztix.com.au

Thursday November 18th – Fly By Night, Fremantle
Support: Young Revelry
Tickets from www.heatseeker.com.au

Friday November 19th – Rosemount Hotel, Perth
Support: Young Revelry
Tickets from www.heatseeker.com.au

Thursday November 25th – Castle Hill RSL, Castle Hill
Support: Cabins
Tickets from CASTLE HILL RSL- Ph: 02 8858 4800 / www.castlehillrsl.com.au

Friday November 26th – Newtons nation Festival, Bathurst
Tickets from www.newtonsnation.com.au

Saturday November 27th – HiFi, Brisbane
Support: The Honey Month
Tickets from www.thehifi.com.au, / Ph: 1300-THEHIFI (8434434) / Rocking Horse Records / Butter Beats / Sunflower Pacific fair / Disasterpiece / Mosh Pit Music / Kill The Music / Gooble Warming Rockaway Records

Thursday December 2nd – Settlers tavern, Mildura
Tickets from settlers box office Ph: 03 5023 0474

Friday December 3rd – The Gov, Adelaide
Support: Leader Cheetah plus City Riots
www.moshtix.com.au

Jonti Danilewitz has to be one of the nicest and most huggable people in the world. Sitting in the courtyard of Saphos café and bookstore in Glebe his smile is wide and his laugh infective, showing a slight nervousness at the prospect of having to talk while being recorded. The mastermind behind dreamy beat driven pop project Danimals, you’d think with the myriad of interviews he’s had to endure he’d be more comfortable with it by now. His shyness however is a sign of how small a part ego plays in his music. It’s kind of funny though, because if anyone has a right to be a bit up themselves about their music, it’s Jonti.

The first ever Australian artist signed to legendary L.A. hip-hop label Stones Throw Records, the home of such luminaries as Madlib, J Dilla and Peanut Butter Wolf, and winning some competition last year where the band were handpicked by Mark Ronson to come work with him and a crew of his cronies in New York, you’d expect Jonti to be parading around the city with all the pompous swagger of Kiss from The Scare. Choosing to not be a dick though, Jonti’s humility is both refreshing and endearing.

Having moved to New York earlier this year with former band Sherlock’s Daughter, Jonti chose to return to Sydney recently to pursue his love of ‘Danamation.’

“There’s just this creative community here that’s still learning about itself and still open to try things,” Jonti explains in his usual excited mumble, “something you can get our head around and still feel encouraged to be a part of.

“New York was cool too, but there was just so much excitement around all the Danimals stuff I just had to kind of leave. Now I’m back it’s just great, all this fun stuff is happening and I can concentrate on goals and all that kind of stuff. I’ve just been feeding off people here you know. I didn’t really have the chance to get to know people over there, I kind of felt like everything was very temporary, everyone is like your friend for a day.”

Feeding off people, and people in turn feeding off him is what gives Danimals such a joyous and energetic presence. To use Jonti’s own Shakespearianism it’s ‘enjoyful,’ a mixture of joyful and enjoyable. “There’s just been this real brotherly vibe through the whole thing,” James Domeyko (Domeyko/Gonzalez, Arkestra, Aleesha Dibbs, PING!), the newest addition to the Danimals band explains.

“Obviously playing the shows it so much fun because it’s not dark and intense and brooding, you know we can dance on stage and it doesn’t look ironic. Also it’s just a totally different experience playing music that’s much more for enjoyment as opposed to being constantly challenging.”

With James joining the band, replacing drummer Will Russell who’s working with Sherlock’s Daughter in New York, there has been a bit of a reshuffle in the band. Originally made up of Jonti and three drummers, Will, Moses MacRae (Phrase) and Julian Sudek (Mercy Arms, FLRL), Jaie Gonzalez (Domeyko/Gonzalez, i like cats, Old Men Of Moss Mountain, PING!), joining as bass player in December of last year, more recently things have gotten a little less percussive.

Paring it back to one drummer at a time, with Mo handling the MPC at times while Sudek has taken control of the Synth station the band are weighted more towards the melodic end of the spectrum than they were previously. Add James on guitar and sax duties, amongst other instruments, with Jonti and Jaie sharing the sampler, as well as playing guitar and bass respectively, Danimals has begun to take on a shape more recognisable from Jonti’s bedroom recordings.

“Having the MPC has been an especially big change, and so we’ve just started doing lots more of that and bringing a more hip hop element back into it. The whole point of Danimals is supposed to be MPC plus vocals and Mo’s finally stole one from his sister. She wants it back but she’s not getting it back,” he confesses, laughter once again erupting around our little table.

It’s not just a matter of getting the right instruments and textures though, considering the dense layers in the Danimals recordings the band have had to really think about how they aim to recreate the songs live.

“We’re thinking a lot more about the arrangements now,” says Jonti, “the dynamics and harmonies and all that and having James on board has really added a lot. With signing I was always a little afraid and not very confident and with him, he’s a bit more muscular so I can feed of him a bit. And the sax has just brought a really good vibe. Girls just going crazy! I wish I was single,” he laughs.

“Also we maybe had too many drummers before, and having one is just a better balance,” he continues. “Also with the first band we were all between things like Sherlock’s and everything so we couldn’t really do it properly, only now are we starting to do things properly.”

As the new band well and truly hits its stride, having played to packed houses at The Espy and The Fitzroy Workers Club in Melbourne a few weeks back, it seems that it’s time for Danimals to put their experimental hats back on as they prepare to present a conceptual collaborative performance titled Rainy Day to headline the upcoming Eclipse festival at Hermann’s Bar this Saturday the 4^th of September.

“It’s something I’ve always wanted to do,” Jonti reveals, his usual childish glee brimming in his eyes, “just to play this Faust song for the whole set. It’s a really naive song and really simple and it’s got this great pop melody. We cover it in the Danimals set but this is more a chance to have fun with it and jam it out.”

“Somehow it turned into the headlining act for this awesome festival which is scary,” he laughs. “I was like fuck I better actually prepare, and I was working on all these little movements and things but I think it’s probably best to just keep it intuitive. Just have lots of instruments and non-musicians on the stage, maybe black out the keys on a keyboard so only the G note’s visible, something like that, where everyone can just keep the rhythm and have a party on stage. I don’t know if it could be anymore conceptual.”

Aiming to include a number of collaborators in the project, Middnight Juggernaut Daniel Stricker has been the first to throw his hat in the ring, bringing his barn-storming skin-bashing drumming to the fold. “Jaie told us when he was meeting with Stricker he just volunteered his services,” James explains, “apparently he was just like ‘I’ll get in on that.’”

With all this activity surrounding the band it’s easy to forget that despite having finished his first draft of the album more than a year ago, Twirligig has still yet to be released. “The album should be out next year sometime,” he explains at my urgent insistence. “It’s been ages though so what I’m doing is working on the second album and then release it as a double album. It was pretty short the first one and the second one has a lot more of a story to tell. There’s also just so much stuff I want to record now, so I thought I might as well just get it all in one package and give it my all. You only get so many chances in life to do this type of thing so I thought why not try and make a double album.”

Why not indeed.

You can have a listen to a taste of both album here myspace.com/jontidanimals

Danimals play Eclipse festival at Hermann’s Bar on Sep 4^th with Megastick Fanfare, Domeyko/Gonzalez, Old Men Of Moss Mountain, Ghosts, Disco Club and Sick Python. Art from The Oh Really Group, Katerina Valentine, Tara Cook, Joel Burrows, Kurt Davies. Fashion from Christina Bou and Lulu Ross.

Buy tickets here http://www.oztix.com.au/OzTix/Events/tabid/744/Default.aspx?en=eclipse&vn&st&dt=0

Blue King Brown have always impressed with their ability to mix social
awareness issues with funky music to groove to. Tracks like lead
single Women’s Revolution (feat. Queen Ifrica) and Say Peace
combine a positive message backed by Jamaican inspired sounds, where
majority of the vocals for the album were recorded. Second single
Never Fade Away opens with a piano riff before drifting into more
electronic beats. A song like Resist highlights Natalie’s beautiful
voice and lyricism, and Moment Of Truth is a stomping anthemic track
with a funky beat and great live vibe to it.

Guests include Voodoo Dred on Hammer, Sly and Robbie on Mo Truth
and Jah Mason on The March capture the global sound that the band
aimed to achieve with this journey they’ve taken to create this album.
This record musically expands on their previous album Stand Up and
takes the band into another level where musicianship and songwriting
talents come through.

The South component to the album sees Blue King Brown take digital
sounds and make them an organic piece to complement the first part to
the album. This new level of instrumentation serves to benefit their
sound and it becomes clear why international audiences are starting to
pick up on Blue King Brown.

With part 2 due for release in the New Year, Worldwize is the album to
define Blue King Brown. They’ve gone to great lengths to ensure
the best songs make the final product and makes the album one of those
records that demands you listen from start to end.

Screening 89 films over one huge weekend, the 2010 SUFF includes films from ten countries internationally (10 full length feature films and 79 shorts) with 7 features being Australian premieres. Below is a short rundown of each of the feature films on offer this year and you can check out the full program here.

FEATURE FILM SYNOPSES:

SOUTH OF THE BORDER (dir: Oliver Stone, USA)

www.southoftheborderdoc.com

There’s a revolution underway in South America, but most of the world doesn’t know it. Oliver Stone sets out on a road trip across five countries to explore the social and political movements as well as the mainstream media’s misperception of South America while interviewing seven of its elected presidents. In casual conversations with Presidents Hugo Chávez (Venezuela), Evo Morales (Bolivia), Lula da Silva (Brazil), Cristina Kirchner (Argentina), as well as her husband and ex-President Néstor Kirchner, Fernando Lugo (Paraguay), Rafael Correa (Ecuador), and Raúl Castro (Cuba), Stone gains unprecedented access and sheds new light upon the exciting transformations in the region.

ENTER THE VOID (dir: Gaspar Noé, France)

www.enterthevoid.com

Oscar and his sister Linda are recent arrivals in Tokyo. Oscar’s a small time drug dealer, and Linda works as a nightclub stripper. One night, Oscar is caught up in a police bust and shot. As he lies dying, his spirit, faithful to the promise he made his sister – that he would never abandon her – refuses to abandon the world of the living. It wanders through the city, his visions growing evermore distorted, evermore nightmarish. Past, present and future merge in a hallucinatory maelstrom.

RED, WHITE AND BLUE (dir: Simon Rumley, USA)

http://www.redwhitebluemovie.com/

In Austin Texas, the lives of three young people – Erica, Franki and Nate – intertwine in a fateful, tragic way and head down a rocky and violent road to heart-rending oblivion.

Erica (Amanda Fuller) lives rent-free in the local co-op, but spends her nights trawling the bars and beds of Austin.  Damaged, emotionally withdrawn, never really connecting with anyone, and sleeping with multiple men is just what she does… until she meets the older and mysterious Nate (Noah Taylor), working in a hardware store, but with an “honorable discharge” from Iraq.

Despite his quiet air of danger, Nate’s the only guy who doesn’t seem to want to get her into bed at the first opportunity, and the two form a hesitant bond.   But one of Erica’s casual sexual encounters is about to bite back.

Franki (Marc Senter) is a young, hot-headed wannabe rock star trying to make it big. Looking after a sick mother and estranged from his long term girlfriend, he “shared” Erica with his buddies one drunken evening.  A shocking twist of fate is all it takes throws his already crazy world into a spin, and in Franki’s eyes there is only one person to blame…

MEAT (dir: Victor Nieuwenhuijs & Maartie Seyferth, Netherlands)

A butcher operates what appears to be an ordinary meat market and Roxy is a pretty girl who helps out in the shop. She videos everything as part of her search for answers, her limits, her life. As the butcher gets into her head, they’re lives start to become involved. After hours, there isn’t the ordinary employer/employee relationship as they take part in bizarre sexual game playing, with Roxy capturing the action on her video camera. Yet to Roxy’s horror, she discovers their kinky after-hours activities are not the only thing at the shop that would shock their customers. When the miserable inspector comes to investigate the mysterious demise of the butcher, it seems that there is only one solution for the puzzle: recreate the death of the butcher.

THE TAINT (dir: Drew Buldoc & Dan Nelson, USA)

www.taintmovie.com

The water is tainted. The Taint poisons the minds of men. It turns them into raging misogynists: monsters who want nothing more than to crush women’s heads with rocks(or other objects). When society is transformed into a land of sadistic violence and horrible brutality, it is up to Phil O’Ginny and his hot friend, Misandra, to combat the horrible evil that is The Taint. Can they survive a world brimming with castration and endless head crushing?! The Taint is an independent low-budget horror-comedy feature film created by Drew Bolduc and Dan Nelson. It is a satirical horror-comedy that seeks to expose the misogynistic nature of many Hollywood and Independent films, by being one of the most misogynistic films of all time.  It was made for roughly $5,000 dollars and quite a good deal of blood, sweat, and tears.

AMERICAN: THE BILL HICKS STORY (dir: Matt Harlock & Paul Thomas, USA)

www.americanthemovie.com

15 years after his death Bill Hicks (16/12/61 – 26/2/94), is now more popular than ever, and is widely seen as one of the best comedian of the modern era. However, in America, where he challenged institutions and accepted ways of thinking, he suffered censorship and was never truly recognised by a wide audience. In the country which enshrines freedom of speech in its constitution his story is truly about what it means to be an American.

Now Bill’s remarkable story is brought to life in AMERICAN: THE BILL HICKS STORY, a feature-length documentary which combines live action with a stunning new animation technique manipulating 1,000s of photographs to uniquely immerse the audiences in his world, which is re-told from the point-of-view of the people who shared it with him.

LIFE AND DEATH OF A PORNO GANG (dir: Mladen Djordjevic, Serbia)

http://bascelik.net/films-gang.php

This razor-sharp and often perversely comic metaphor about the social pathologies of Serbian life in the 1990s was a major hit at the Rotterdam Film Festival. A travelling “porno cabaret” journeys from village to village across rural Serbia, performing live sex acts in radical framings as a means of sexual confrontation, often provoking violent responses from the locals. Situations take a turn for the darker when the troupe are approached by a shady foreign war correspondent who makes them an offer they struggle against refusing—a ton of money in exchange for shooting actual murders, theatrically “performed” on willing, consensual victims who no longer care about living.

BIKER FOX (dir: Jeremy Lamberton, USA)

www.bikerfoxmovie.com

Biker Fox is the story of Frank P. DeLarzelere III aka Biker Fox, Tulsa, Oklahoma’s misunderstood motivational bicyclist, nature conservationist and muscle car guru. Part-documentary and part-self-help testimonial, the film navigates the uneasy relationships DeLarzelere has with both the city of Tulsa and himself, as his Biker Fox character’s intentions of spirited goodwill sometimes neglect certain boundaries.

EL MONSTRO DEL MAR! (dir: Stuart Simpson, Australia)

www.monstromovie.com

After breaking down in their car in the middle of nowhere the three girls lure a car down to help them. But instead of waiting for the two men to get them back on the road, they pull out their switch blades and slit both their throats and steal their car. They set out towards their destination, a beach shack in a small isolated town to lay low for a while. But it doesn’t take them long to totally disrupt this tiny fishing community with their loud, brash and don’t take any shit attitudes. After swimming in the water and after being warned not to go in there (by a furious Joseph) they awaken the ancient evil that has plagued the town for as long as they can remember. That night the girls try to corrupt the innocent Hannah by getting her drunk while the local fishermen are ripped apart by the massive sea creature. The next morning, after discovering the bloody mess left behind, including one of their own, the girls go back to interrogate Joseph about what the hell is out there. Before long the answer is on their door step and the four of them (two Vixens, Hannah and Joseph) must fight for their lives in the confines of a small wooden shack.

Influences for the film range from the characters in Russ Myer’s Faster Pussycat Kill Kill and Ernest Hemingway’s classic book The Old Man and the Sea to the epic atmosphere of John Huston’s Moby Dick and Steven Spielberg’s Jaws.  It also draws reference from the stylistic violence of George Miller’s Mad Max and the playful Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead.

TRASH HUMPERS (dir: Harmony Korine, USA)

www.trashhumpers.com

A film unearthed from the buried landscape of the American nightmare, TRASH HUMPERS follows a small group of elderly ‘Peeping Toms’ through the shadows and margins of an unfamiliar world. Crudely documented by the participants themselves, we follow the debased and shocking actions of a group of true sociopaths the likes of which have never been seen before. Inhabiting a world of broken dreams and beyond the limits of morality, they crash against a torn and frayed America. Bordering on an ode to vandalism, it is a new type of horror – palpable and raw.

DATE: 9^th – 11^th September, 2010
LOCATION: Factory Theatre, Marrickville
TICKETS: www.suff.com.au