AustLit

'ALICK AND ALBERT explores the intersection of art, science and nature. At an exhibition of Torres Strait art in Monaco, artist-activist, Alick Tipoti, invites Prince Albert of Monaco to Badu Island. To Alick's surprise, Albert accepts the invitation but it takes some years before he is able to visit Badu with a delegation from the Monaco Oceanographic Museum. Albert stays at the local motel, goes reef diving with Alick, meets with artists and talks with Elders. The two friends reflect on the similarities of their tiny communities, worlds apart but interconnected by the ocean. They agree to raise awareness about the global tsunami of plastic pollution and rising sea levels facing the Torres Strait.'

Source: Screen Australia.

'Born in India but raised in Victoria, the late Geoffrey Tozer was a child prodigy who played with the Victorian Symphony Orchestra when he was nine years old, and at 13 became the youngest ever recipient of a Churchill Fellowship. He was a virtuoso pianist and improviser with an unprecedented repertoire, whose career saw him lauded around the world. But in Australia he struggled to achieve recognition, despite the well-documented patronage of then Treasurer Paul Keating. Tozer died in poverty in 2009, aged 54; at his memorial service, Keating delivered a characteristically unforgettable 45-minute address.

'Supported by the MIFF Premiere Fund and drawing extensively on Tozer’s own archives, The Eulogy sees Keating re-stage his famous funeral oration, around which director Janine Hosking (My Khmer Heart) weaves a long overdue commemoration for the under-appreciated musician. Conductor and music educator Richard Gill AO goes on a journey to rediscover and restore Tozer’s historical legacy, while interviews with family and friends offer revealing, previously un-earthed insights, into his life and loves.'

Source: Melbourne International Film Festival.

'Now in his 50s, David works as a janitor in a retirement home, his job a daily reminder of an existence that he's slowly tumbling towards and the yet unburied ghosts of his own past. David's younger wife, Maya, is wrapped in a world of technology that he cannot understand, and when he discovers the reason for her technical immersion, the walls of his reality come tumbling in.' (Source: MIFF website)

''Wattsy' Wirth is fresh out of prison and determined to go straight. But like his ex cell-mate, Johnny Spit, and reformed gangster Dabba Barrington, he discovers that getting on the straight and narrow is a lot harder than he thought. On the outside there are old scores and old enemies, as well as a few new ones, like the newly formed Crimes Investigation Commission. With the CIC breathing down their necks and pressure from underworld boss Chicka Martin and corrupt cop Arnie Deviers, it will take Wattsy, Spit and Dabba all their street smarts and rat cunning to stay one step ahead and become square-heads.'

Source: Screen Australia. (Sighted: 6/8/2013)