8th Down Under Berlin | 19-23 September 2018
News & Events
Follow our News & Events page to keep updated about Down Under Berlin and trends and developments in Australian and New Zealand film.
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LGBTQI films at Down Under Berlin
With this year’s motto Landscapes of Us Down Under Berlin celebrates diversity by showcasing a selection of exceptional films focusing on LGBTQI stories, shining a rainbow on the importance of diverse storytelling and represe (...)
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DUB at the 6th Lange Nacht der Berliner Filmfestivals
For the 6th year in a row Down Under Berlin is part of Festiwelt’s Long Night of The Film Festivals in Berlin on August 18th. We are very excited about our program this year.
But first, a little backstory - Festiwelt is THE (...)
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Female Filmmakers at Down Under Berlin 2018
Let's get an insight into the 50% of films we have in our program this year, which are made by female filmmakers. Hold on to your skirts ladies and gents, this will be an exciting ride.
In the last few years, the topic of gende (...)
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Expat Filmmakers in Berlin - Adam Thorogood
Fresh across the seas is our brand new Expat Filmmaker in Berlin, and he is also one of our attending filmmakers for DUB 2018: England cum NZ citizen, Adam Thorogood.
Adam was born in Essex in the UK but migrated to New Zealand (...)
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Opening night 2018 - Sweet Country
Warwick Thornton’s Sweet Country offers a harsh view of Australian colonial history that is less than hopeful but invites Australia to learn from its mistakes.
Sweet Country – A period western where justice itself is put o (...)
Program & Films 2018
Find out more about this year's festival program 2018 or click below for some samples.
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Battle of the Shorts: AUS vs. NZ - Round 2
Diverse directors | AUS & NZ | 2016-2017 | 90 min | English | Diverse Premieres
In this short film slot, Australian and New Zeland short films battle for pride and glory, and to win the audience's vote. Join the fun! Mute Adam Thorogood | NZ | 2018 | Drama, Coming-of-Age | 14 min | English, N (...) -
Mute
Adam Thorogood | NZ | 2018 | Drama, Coming-of-Age | 14 min | English, NZ sign language | European Premiere
Mila is a mute teenage girl struggling to fit in. Her criminal father uses her to mule cocaine to rich suburbanites in Auckland, New Zealand. After things begin to go awry, she must decide whether it is all worth it. Cast Mira (...) -
Zelos
Jo-Anne Brechin | AUS | 2017 | Drama, Comedy | 86 min | English | German Premiere
Bernard is the thirty-something he always planned to be. He has a successful career, a meticulously neat beachside apartment and a hairstyle with just the right amount of gel. He adores his girlfriend Sarah who’s about to move i (...) -
Kill Off
Genevieve Clay-Smith | AUS | 2017 | Drama, Comedy | 16 min | English | German Premiere
A woman with an intellectual disability forms an unlikely friendship with a Sudanese refugee through their mutual love of the street dance, Krump. Cast Jamie Brewer (American Horror Story) Abby Earl Mandela Mathia (...) -
An Exercise in Discipline: Peel
Jane Campion | AUS | 1982 | Comedy | 9 min | English
A red-headed family's drive in the countryside begins an intrigue of awesome belligerence and obstinacy. Cast Tim Pye Katie Pye Martin Pye Filmography Top of the Lake (2013-2017) Bright Star (2009) The Piano (1993) Sw (...) -
Fifty-Two
Brodie Stephenson | AUS | 2017 | Stop-Motion, Sci-Fi | 9 min | no dialogue | German Premiere
An employee by a decade long work placement contract grows tired of the isolation in his underground station and attempts to find his freedom. (...) -
Kiwi Shorts
Diverse directors | NZ | 2014-2018 | 78 min | English, Maori| Diverse Premieres
What combines Berlin street vibe, cow farmers, a struggling teenager and a longing-for-sex couple? Our "Kiwi Shorts" at Down Under Berlin 2018! Darksong Arthur Gay | NZ | 2018 | Music Video | 8 min | English (...) -
Motel
Lauren Porteous | NZ | 2017 | Drama | 15 min | English | European Premiere
A lonely rural motelier befriends one of her guests. For one night, the lives of someone who can't move, and another who can't stop, intersect. Reviews/Press Quotes “A pared back screenplay of incredible subtlety and maturi (...) -
Whoever Was Using This Bed
Andrew Kotatko | AUS | 2016 | Psychological Drama | 20 min | English | Berlin Premiere
A married couple is woken in the dead of night by a mysterious phone call. Unable to sleep, they are drawn into an unsettling examination of their fears and desires. Cast Jean-Marc Barr (The Big Blue, Nymphomaniac, Big Sur) R (...) -
Australian Short Film Today
Diverse directors | AUS | 1982, 2016-2017 | 101 min | English| Diverse Premieres
Down Under Berlin is proud to present this international travelling road show that showcases the very best of recent short films from Australia in cooperation with the Chris and Francesca Beale Foundation! An Exercise (...) -
The Eleven O'Clock
Derin Seale | AUS | 2017 | Comedy | 14 min | English | German Premiere
The delusional patient of a psychiatrist believes he is actually the psychiatrist. As they each attempt to treat each other the session gets out of control. Cast Damon Herriman (Down Under, The Little Death, 100 Bloody Acres) (...) -
Winner Winner Chicken Dinner
Claudia Holmes | AUS | 2016 | Drama | 12 min | English | International Premiere
Ellie is an insecure teenage girl who takes all her frustration out on her sweet and neglected mother, Sarah. Desperate to feel beautiful and loved Ellie enters a beauty pageant at the local RSL but by the end of the night Ellie r (...) -
Hotel Coolgardie
Pete Gleeson | AUS | 2016 | Documentary | 84 min | English, Finland-Swedish | European Premiere
Fresh off the plane, two female Finnish backpackers find themselves the latest batch of "fresh meat" sent to work as barmaids at the only pub in a remote Australian mining town. Confronted with a culture of alienation and impunity (...) -
Welcome Home Allen
Andrew Kavanagh | AUS | 2016 | Action, Drama | 11 min | no dialogue | German Premiere
Four soldiers return to a home they don’t recognise and that doesn’t recognise them. Cast Trevor Major Jane Bayly John Brumpton Petula Clark Filmography Men of the Earth (IFFR 2013) At the Formal (2011) (...) -
They Come Home
Rowena Potts | AUS | 2017 | Documentary | 21 min | English | European Premiere
The vibrant world of an enduring subculture comes to life in this observational portrait of two pigeon breeders who share a rooftop coop in Brooklyn. Filmography The Ern Malley Affair In That Darkness The Fish Market Kolkat (...) -
Fire in Cardboard City
Phil Brough | NZ | 2017 | Stop-Motion, Comedy | 9 min | English
When a city made entirely from cardboard catches fire it is up to the local fire chief and his brave deputies to save Cardboard City and its citizens from impending doom. Cast Leigh Hart Ella Wilks Anna Hall (...) -
Library of Love
Miranda Edmonds, Khrob Edmonds | AUS | 2017 | Musical, Romance, Comedy| 12 min | English | German Premiere
Isabelle is a hopeless romantic who spends her days as a librarian reading too many romance novels and dreaming of true love. Can she pull her nose out of the books long enough to write her own love story? Cast Trilby Glover ( (...) -
Battle of the Shorts: AUS vs. NZ - Round 1
Diverse directors | AUS & NZ | 2016-2017 | 87 min | English | Diverse Premieres
In this short film slot, Australian and New Zeland short films battle for pride and glory, and to win the audience's vote. Join the fun! Winner Winner Chicken Dinner Claudia Holmes | AUS | 2016 | Drama | 12 min | (...) -
Aussie Shorts #1
Diverse directors | AUS | 2016-2018 | 79 min | English | Diverse Premieres
Love, marriage, sex, and death - the first program of Australian short films will entertain and surprise. Come and watch! Lemons Eloise Walker | AUS | 2017 | Drama, Comedy | 13 min | English | World Premiere &nb (...) -
The Bookshop
Ashley Pollard | AUS | 2018 | Romance, Comedy | 9 min | English | World Premiere
A desperate writer tries to woo a publisher into taking on his manuscript. But has his arrogance, and stupidity, got in the way of something more real than a book deal? Cast Alastair Osment Emily Gruhl (Picnic at Hanging Roc (...)
Videos & Photos
Have a look at our Flickr and YouTube channel or click below for some samples.