event: fred schepisi in conversation

 

Photo by Nancy Wong.

 

Film lovers, you’re in for a treat. This week’s Friday on My Mind event at ACMI will feature multi-award-winning director Fred Schepisi in conversation with Sandra Sdraulig.

Schepsisi’s credits include the iconic 1978 Australian feature The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith, the 1987 comedy Roxanne starring Steve Martin, the 1988 drama Evil Angels (or A Cry in the Dark) starring Meryl Streep, the 2001 drama Last Orders starring Michael Caine and Helen Mirren, and the 2005 HBO miniseries Empire Falls starring Ed Harris, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Helen Hunt and Paul Newman. His latest film, Words and Pictures, stars Clive Owen and Juliette Binoche and is due for release in 2014.

Free tickets to Friday on My Mind are released at 10am on the morning of the event. Places are limited and demand will be high for this particular session, so get in early.

 

Friday on My Mind: Fred Schepisi

Date: 14 June 2013

Time: 5pm

Venue: Australian Centre for the Moving Image (ACMI), Federation Square, Melbourne

Damage: free

 

event: australian democracy in 2013

 

By Michael Leunig.

 

‘Does democracy work? What does democracy mean to different people, and does everyone in Australia truly have access to it?’

These questions and others will be discussed tomorrow night at the Wheeler Centre event ‘Australian Democracy in 2013‘. The impressive panel includes feminist and journalist Anne Summers, prominent journalist Margaret Simons, journalist and former speechwriter John Button, historian Humphrey McQueen and Kon Karapanagiotidis from the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre.

Tickets are 20$ full / $12 concession. You can book tickets online here.

 

Australian Democracy in 2013 

Date: 12 June 2013

Time: 7.30pm–8.30pm

Venue: The Capital Theatre

Address: 113 Swanston St, Melbourne

Damage: 20$ full / $12 concession

 

event: free the asio 54

 

 

Here’s a last-minute heads-up on an event happening tomorrow.

‘Free The ASIO 54′ is a political demonstration to be held in Bourke St Mall at 12.30pm tomorrow (Friday) to protest the indefinite detention of 54 asylum seekers who have received negative security assessments by ASIO. The action is organised by the Justice For ASIO Refugees working group and the Refugee Action Collective.

If you feel strongly about this fraught issue and have some spare time (or if you simply want to learn more about the situation for asylum seekers in Australia), your presence will be appreciated. Head to the event’s facebook page for more information.

 

Free the ASIO 54

Date: 7 June 2013

Time: 12.30pm

Address: Corner Bourke St and Swanston St, Melbourne

 

melbourne’s the light in winter

 

 

The Light In Winter is a month-long arts festival held in Federation Square during June. This year, the program includes film screenings, forums, exhibitions, a Solstice Celebration and the premier of a new work called The Helix Tree by Bruce Ramus. Every June evening at dusk, choirs will light up The Helix Tree using technology that responds to voice.

Other activities and events include the Indigenous Campfire, the Solstice Weekend, and public forums The People’s Voice, The Future Journey of Democracy, The Molecular Machines, and Science City. Click here to view a PDF of the festival programme.

These are all free events, so make the most of them!

 

The Light in Winter

Date: 1–30 June 2013

Venue: Federation Square, Melbourne

Tel: 9655 1900

Email: info@fedsquare.com

Damage: free

 

the guardian australian edition launched

 

The Guardian Australia today

 

This morning, an exciting event took place on Australia’s somewhat barren media landscape: The Guardian news organisation launched its digital Australian edition.

Headed by editor-in-chief Katherine Viner (currently also The Guardian‘s deputy editor), the Guardian Australia team includes some impressive home-grown talents such as Lenore Taylor, David Marr and Katharine Murphy. Click here to read Viner’s welcome article in today’s Guardian.

With around 70% of the Australia’s newspapers controlled by Rupert Murdoch’s News Limited and most of the rest owned by Fairfax, Australia’s media desperately needs to diversify. The more voices Australians can access, the better.

So this Melbourne local welcomes you to Australia, Guardian. Please make yourself thoroughly at home.

 

emerging writers’ festival 2013

 

 

Tomorrow the 10th annual Emerging Writers’ Festival begins, bringing together writers, editors, publishers and performers for 50 events across Melbourne.

Many of the events are free, and the ticketed events are generally affordable. For a full run down of the EWF 2013 programme, click here. You can also find a full list of participating writers here. Many events have already booked out, so get in early if you want to secure tickets.

If you love writing, this one’s for you.

 

Emerging Writers’ Festival 2013

Date: 23 May — 2 June 2013

Festival Hub: Thousand Pound Bend, 631 Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne

 

through the lens

 

Photo: Marleena Forward

 

Photo: Marleena Forward

 

Photo: Marleena Forward

 
Melbourne takes its street art seriously — so seriously that kids are taught the craft in an organised (and legal) event in a lane-way just off Bourke Street Mall in Melbourne’s CBD.
 

melbourne: a beach city?

 

Photo: Marleena Forward

Photo: Marleena Forward

Photo: Marleena Forward

Photo: Marleena Forward

Photo: Marleena Forward

 

Most people don’t associate Melbourne with the beach. Culture, coffee, fashion, art — yes. Golden tans and bikinis? No.

The north–south cultural divide in Melbourne is strong — so strong, in fact, that many Melburnians who live north of the Yarra River very rarely clamp eyes on the sea.

But Melbourne is a beach city; Port Melbourne and St Kilda lie just 20–30 minutes south of the CBD by tram or bicycle. And while these may not match up to Sydney’s Bondi, or the glorious beaches of the Great Ocean Road, they are beautiful in their own right.

As the weather cools, you can still take advantage of Melbourne’s beaches by cycling the great bike paths that follow the coastline. You can find maps of these paths, and others, at bikemap.net and Bike Paths and Rail Trails.

 

event: anzac day is more puff than substance

 

Photo: Australian War Memorial

 

Every year on 25 April, Australians and Kiwis commemorate soldiers of the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps (ANZACs) who have fought in wars throughout history. Originally held to remember the victims of the devastating WWI Gallipoli offensive, the day has since become a memorial for all soldiers who have served in combat up until the present day.

If you ask a handful of Australians how they feel about ANZAC Day, you will likely hear many conflicting answers. Some believe this memorial day glorifies war, while others seem to feel it’s entirely appropriate to do so. Others, myself included, feel that ANZAC Day is a sad and sobering reminder of the horrors of war.

These issues and many more will be debated at a Wheeler Centre event to be held at the Melbourne Town Hall on 30 April. ‘Intelligence Squared Debates: Anzac Day is More Puff Than Substance‘ will feature a panel of five, including a war journalist (arguing against the proposition) and a former soldier (arguing for it).

If you’re interested in learning more about the effect that war has had on Australian culture, this event should be worth catching. Tickets are $20 full price or $12 for a concession. Bookings can be made online.

For more information about the coming Anzac Day events, visit the Shrine of Remembrance website.

 

Intelligence Squared Debates: Anzac Day is More Puff Than Substance

Date: 30 April 2013

Time: 6.30pm–8.30pm

Venue: Melbourne Town Hall, 90-120 Swanston Street, Melbourne

Damage: $20 full / $12 concession

 

 

 

free event: ‘more than honey’ film screening

Multi-award-winning documentary More Than Honey will show on the big screen in Federation Square on Thursday 18 April. Directed by Markus Imhoof, the film looks into the plight of honey bees in California, Switzerland, China and Australia.

The screening will be followed by a discussion with Professor Boris Baer and his wife Dr Barbara Baer-Imhoof (who is also the director’s daughter), both from the University of Western Australia–based Centre for Integrative Bee Research (CIBER). There will also be a short talk by Vanessa Kwiatkowski and Mat Lumalasi, founders of ‘Melbourne City Rooftop Honey’.

More Than Honey

Date: 18 April 2013

Time: 6pm–8pm

Venue: Big screen, Federation Square, Melbourne

Tel: 9864 8923