ABC celebrates and debates the Arts
New film and TV review show Screen Time heads up an exciting and diverse slate of arts programs, coming soon to the ABC.
Ranging from fine art and fashion, to music and movies, the line-up celebrates the best of art and culture across the spectrum. We explore disparate worlds of music with Sarah Blasko and composer Nigel Westlake; and different approaches to art and life with Anh Do and comedian Hannah Gadsby. We look at the phenomenon of child prodigies, explore storytelling in its many forms, as well as cultural clashes playing out through film making and social issues. The centrepiece of the ABC’s upcoming arts programming is the multi-award-winning flagship documentary series, Artsville. This next season of beautifully crafted films includes a fascinating and funny look at the making of an Australian horror movie as well as a moving portrait of Australian band The Go-Betweens.
David Anderson, ABC Director of Television says, “At a time when arts coverage is fast losing space in the mainstream media, the ABC is proud to celebrate Australia’s cultural life and bring some great arts programs to all Australians.”
Screen Time, starts on Tuesday 17 October, 8pm on ABC and iview
Hosted by Chris Taylor, with an ensemble cast of regular panelists, Screen Time goes beyond the binge to bring you the latest from the world of TV, streaming, cinema and the web. From highbrow to lowbrow, prestige ‘golden age of television’ moments, to bedroom YouTube stars, it’s all worth talking about for our cast of screen timers. Entertaining, but rooted in cultural critique and analysis, Screen Time will be the go to show for anyone who likes to watch … just about anything!
Artsville, series starts Tuesday 31 October, 9.30pm on ABC and iview
Up first, two-parter Horror Movie – A Low-Budget Nightmare, follows actor-turned-filmmaker Craig Anderson, as he embarks on a rollercoaster – and at times - comedic journey to make his first super-low-budget horror feature film, Red Christmas. Tuesday 31 October & Part 2 - Tuesday 7 November, 9.30pm.
Production credit: Fridge Jam Productions. Screen Australia.
Blasko, Tuesday 14 November, 9.30pm
Sarah Blasko is a pioneer of the Australian indie music scene, walking the line between commercial success and artistic integrity with dignity. This film follows Sarah as she conceives and writes a new album of songs from scratch. Narrated by Sarah herself, this film promises to be a very intimate portrait of an artist at a crucial turning point in her career.
Production credit: Barefoot Communications. Screen Australia.
The Go-Betweens: Right Here, Tuesday 21 November, 9.30pm
Director Kriv Stenders tells the story of iconic Australian band The Go-Betweens and their intensely passionate and fraught relationships. This film follows a great creative adventure spanning three decades, countless successes and failures, romances and betrayals, and of course, unforgettable songs.
Production credit: Essential Media & Entertainment. Screen Australia. ABC TV Arts & Create NSW Documentary Feature Fund.
You See Monsters, Tuesday 28 November, 9.30pm,
Chronicles a new generation of prominent Australian Muslim artists who use their art to challenge stereotypes that incite fear and to examine what it means to be Muslim and Australian in the 21st century.
Production credit: Chemical Media. Screen Australia. Film Victoria.
My Mother’s Lost Children, Tuesday 5 December, 9.30pm
A tale of clashing cultures, telling the story of an eccentric Jewish Australian family thrown into turmoil when two stolen children reappear after 40 years. Melbourne filmmaker Danny Ben-Moshe weaves a story around his own extraordinary family saga.
Production credit: Unicorn Films. Screen Australia. Film Victoria.
The Book Club Christmas Special, Tues 19 December, 9.30pm on ABC and iview
Jennifer Byrne along with cohorts Marieke Hardy and Jason Steger return for their annual Christmas Special “Five of the Best.” Taking in their top five books of the year we will also open voting lines to the Book Club audience to nominate their 5 Best Books of the Year.
Underscore, Wednesday 1 November on iview
Acclaimed Australian composer Nigel Westlake has scored films like Babe and Paper Planes. In this iview original series he draws on his own deeply personal journey through grief and loss to create the soundtrack for a new film - Australia’s first Muslim rom-com, Ali’s Wedding. We follow the process from paper to recording with his many collaborators like singer Lior and the Sydney Symphony Orchestra.
HIVE, series of 3 films coming in 2018 to ABC and iview
An initiative between ABC Arts, the Adelaide Film Festival, Screen Australia and the Australia Council for the Arts, giving artists from many disciplines the chance to make their first film.
Guilty
A feature length film focusing on the last days of artist and executed Bali Nine prisoner Myuran Sukumaran. It is written and directed by visual artist Matthew Sleeth, who ran art workshops in prison with Myuran throughout his rehabilitation.
Remembering Agatha
A half-hour hybrid live-action whimsical drama overlaid with animation. Directed by artist and writer, Emma Magenta, it tells the story of a woman overwhelmed by family obligation and the domestication of her spirit, before she discovers a mysterious portal offering her the possibility of resolving her grief and saving her crumbling marriage.
Production credit: Create NSW.
Oddlands
A half-hour drama directed and co-written by Back To Back Theatre’s artistic director Bruce Gladwin. It tells the blackly humorous story of a team of people with intellectual disabilities from a supported employment service, who travel into a restricted zone to plug a hole in a deserted nuclear facility.
Hannah Gadsby’s Nakedy Nude, coming in 2018 to ABC and iview
Award-winning comedian Hannah Gadsby will apply her unique sensibility to the representation of the nude in art. Part lampoon, part deconstruction, Gadsby will draw on her art history background to navigate between dry humour, irreverence and serious art critique.
Production credit: Barefoot Communications. Create NSW
Anh’s Brush With Fame season three, coming in 2018 to ABC and iview
Archibald People’s Choice award-winner, comedian and author Anh Do returns with the much-anticipated third season of Anh’s Brush With Fame, getting up close and personal with an exciting new line-up of Australian celebrities, to be announced soon.
Production credit: Screentime.
Making Child Prodigies, coming in 2018
At a time when helicopter parents, tiger mums, multiple after-school activities and tutoring are par-for-the course, this 6 x 30 minutes series follows six Australian children who excel in the arts, science, and sport, and explores whether prodigious talent is genetically innate or can be taught. Along the way we ask what this pursuit of excellence says about our families, children, and beliefs about parenting.
Production credit: Screentime. Screen Australia. Create NSW.
Art Bites (series 2) coming in 2018 to ABC Arts on iview
A joint initiative between ABC Arts and Screen Australia, iview original series Art Bites returns with a new slate of short form content made by emerging documentary filmmakers, following everything from one man’s journey to write a hit song, to explorations of gender diversity in art, to examining what it means to create a self-portrait, to the journey of twin-sisters and former Countdown fans, in their efforts to track down their art icons.
The Mix, continues in 2018, Saturdays, 6.30pm on ABC NEWS and iview
The Mix has had a fresh coat of paint and brings you more great arts content from around the country. The new look weekly arts, entertainment and culture program features contributors including Zan Rowe, Myf Warhurst, and artists Eddie Sharp and Abdul Abdullah. Bringing audiences a unique look inside what’s happening in the arts and giving you a weekly culture fix! The program is repeated on ABC TV on Sunday afternoons.
