Friday 26th of June 5:00pm PETE MULLER | US | 2026 | 97″ In a remote American fishing village, where life unfolds with the seasons and the sea, Bucks Harbor explores the ways that men & boys understand their roles and themselves in a changing world. Downeast Maine is a stretch of rugged coastline chiseled […]
Friday 26th of June 2:00pm FIONA COCHRANE | AUSTRALIA | 2026 | 150″ Rod Quantock: Comedy Warrior charts the life and career of Australia’s pioneering stand-up comedian, Rod Quantock, and his tireless efforts over five decades to communicate the perils of neoliberalism and the cataclysmic urgency of climate change through comedy. Rod Quantock: Comedy Warrior
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Screening followed by In Conversation with festival guests, directors Sarah-Jane Woulahan (Human Algorithm) and Richard Moore & John Doggett-Williams (Stelarc). Friday 4th of July 5:00pm HUMAN ALGORITHMWORLD PREMIERE SARAH-JANE WOULAHAN | AUSTRALIA | 2024 | 16′ When machines reflect us, what do we see? The Human Algorithm explores how artificial intelligence is changing the way
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Friday 4th of July 8:00pm DZIGA VERTOV | RUSSIA | 1929 | 64′ A CASTLEMAINE DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL SPECIAL EVENT. No actors, no script — just the rhythm of life. Dziga Vertov’s playful 1929 Soviet silent documentary Man With a Movie Camera revolutionised cinema with dazzling never before seen techniques and playful energy. Filmed by his
Man with a Movie Camera + Live Score by Underground Lovers Moda Discoteca Read More »
Saturday 27th of June 2.00pm ELEANOR MORTIMER | UK | 2025 | 100″ With deep-sea mining looming, biologists race to collect and name the undiscovered species of the abyss, the last wilderness on earth. HOW DEEP IS YOUR LOVE follows biologists as they explore the deep sea, where 70% of our planet lies hidden. As
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Saturday 27th of June 11:00am CONSTANTINE COSTI | AUSTRALIA | 2026 | 75″ Once a year, contenders from around the globe descend on a picturesque village in the Scottish Highlands to compete for the title of World Porridge Champion. Amid intense rivalries, steaming bowls of porridge, and the lives of charmingly eccentric locals, we see
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Saturday 5th of July 11:00am (Australian Premiere) THOMAS RIEDELSHEIMER | GERMANY / UK | 2024 | 99′ Where quantum physics meets art, light reveals its magic. Light, without which life itself is impossible, is the working medium and obsession of director Thomas Riedelsheimer. Light, seen only in interaction with matter, allows us to explore the
Saturday 27th of June 8:00pm ELEGANCE BRATTON | USA | 2025 | 88″ Out of the underground dance clubs on the South Side of Chicago, a group of friends turn a new sound into a global movement. In the chaos of Disco Demolition Night at Comiskey Park, a teenage usher named Vince Lawrence witnessed the
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Saturday 27th of June 5:00pm ROB MOSS | USA | 2025 | 82″ Following and filming friends for nearly fifty-years. THE BEND IN THE RIVER is an exploration of the inexorable flow of aging and the unfinished project of living. The Bend in the River chronicles five close friends over nearly fifty years. Starting in
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Saturday 5th of July 2:00pm (Victorian Premiere) NAJIBA NOORI | AFGHANISTAN & FRANCE | 2024 | 90′ Hazara women write their fate Filmed over five years, Writing Hawa is the story of three generations of Hazara women from the same family in Afghanistan. With unique access and empathy, director Najiba Noori films her mother, Hawa,
SOLD OUT Saturday 5th of July 4:30pm NATURE LOVES TO HIDE LEONIE VAN EYK | AUSTRALIA | 2025 | 22′ Nature Loves to Hide follows artist John Wolseley as he paints the hidden habitats of desert animals across Australia. Filmed in the Tanami, Great Sandy Desert, and the Wimmera, the documentary captures Wolseley—often in camouflage—stealthily
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Saturday 5th of July 8:00pm (Victorian Premiere) LOLA ARIAS | ARGENTINA / GERMANY / SWITZERLAND | 2024 | 82′ A CASTLEMAINE DOCUMENTARY FESTIVAL SPECIAL EVENT. The power of wishing. Reas flips the script on the prison film, blending gritty reality with explosive musical fantasy. Yoseli has a tattoo of the Eiffel Tower on her back
Reas + Sugar Fed Leopards Gig Read More »
Sunday 28th of June 11:00am JOLYON HOFF, MUZAFAR ALI | AUSTRALIA | 2025 | 90″ Stuck in Indonesia after Australia ‘Stops the Boats’, a group of refugees start a school and prove that hope, community and connection can change the world. Ten years ago Muzafar Ali and his wife Nagina escaped the Taliban in Afghanistan.
We Are Not Powerless Read More »
Sunday 6th of July 11:00am (Australian Premiere) SINÉAD O’SHEA | IRELAND/ UK | 2024 | 98′ In 1960, a young Irish woman named Edna O’Brien wrote a sexually frank debut novel, The Country Girls. She became a literary sensation, writing for The New Yorker, delivering provocative interviews, and authoring screenplays. Her success enraged her writer
Blue Road – The Edna O’Brien Story Read More »
Sunday 28th of June 2:00pm FRANK PAVICH | DOMINICAN REPUBLIC | 2025 | 98″ A coming-of-age story set in the Dominican Republic, where a group of aspiring young Bachata artists search for answers to love and life through their music. In the Dominican town of Cabarete, Bachata is a way of life. While fans across
Agridulce (Bittersweet) Read More »
Sunday 6th of July 2:00pm JOHAN GRIMONPREZ | BELGIUM / FRANCE / NETHERLANDS | 2024 | 150′ History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes. Soundtrack to a Coup d’État is a powerful archival documentary that dives into one of the 20th century’s great untold stories — how jazz, politics, and colonial power collided in
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Sunday 28th of June 5:00pm AMBER FARES | USA, FRANCE | 2025 | 95″ Noam Shuster Eliassi grew up the literal poster child for the Israeli-Palestinian peace process before making a hard pivot to stand-up comedy and political satire. But as the region sinks deeper into devastating violence, she must meet the moment by challenging
Coexistence, My Ass! Read More »
Sunday 6th of July 5:00pm (Victorian Premiere) GABRIELLE BRADY | MONGOLIA/ AUSTRALIA/ GERMANY | 2024 | 96′ Davaa and Zaya are a young nomadic couple in the vast Bayanhongor region of Mongolia who are in the throes of animal birthing season when a seismic event suddenly changes their lives. They are forced to migrate to
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Sunday 6th of July 8:00pm (Victorian Premiere) LANA WILSON | USA | 2024 | 106′ Is it performance? Is it ‘real’? Does it matter? A group of New York City psychics conduct deeply intimate readings for their clients, revealing a kaleidoscope of loneliness, connection, and healing. In this intimate film, director Lana Wilson (‘Miss Americana’)
A fundraiser for Castlemaine Community House’s food pantry SOUP TO WARM YOUR SOUL Available across the weekend in the Theatre Royal Garden Friday: 6pm – 8pm Saturday: 12pm – 2pm, 5pm – 8pm Sunday: 12pm – 2pm, 5pm – 8pm The Castlemaine Community House’s Pop-up Kitchen is your cosy festival haven, tucked into the backyard
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