Pellegrinis: A Melbourne Legacy

Bikes for Africa is an entertaining, insightful and moving documentary following the life adventures of Hap Cameron and Mandy Todd, and their attempt to help implement a self sustainable bike workshop in rural Namibia with a container load secondhand donated bikes from Melbourne. The film investigates how a bicycle can fundamentally change the lives of rural Africans, and brings to focus the great works of two-wheeled charities Bicycles for Humanity and the Bicycling Empowerment Network Namibia.

"I Build the Tower" is the true story of the life and work of Sam Rodia, the Italian immigrant who built the world-famous Watts Towers on a residential lot in South Central Los Angeles. These mosaic-covered spires of reinforced cement rising to almost one hundred feet were once scheduled for demolition by the City Building Department. The towers survived to become a symbol of the community in which they stand and they are now recognized throughout the world as a unique embodiment of the structural principles found in nature.

25 million Brazilians are of Italian origin. Almost all of them are the descendants of the Italians who left poor rural Italy at the end of the 1800's for a continent which promised riches and a better life. After only a century however, the direction of migration has been completely reversed. Italy, a century ago the place to escape from, has in time taken its place in the first world, the longed for final destination of immigrants throughout the world. The only thing which does not seem to change is the plight of those forced to migrate.

When Melbourne’s cultural hub is left devastated post-pandemic, the creative industry, like many others, is ravaged. Set amongst the ashes of the cities arts scene, BOHEMIA is a hybrid of documentary, music video, and next generation concert film that powerfully recounts the story of this fallen angel of Australian culture and asks the looming question: “what now?”. Shadowy underground musician VANTA and debutant director Madeline Royce team up with a decorated collective of young creatives to contend that art in the pandemic need not be a compromise, but an evolution.

New York Solo Andata tells the story of the American Dream from the first Italian migratory flows to nowadays through the voices of all those who truly believed and fulfilled it with determination. Davide Ippolito leaves Italy to meet Italians and important personalities living in New York to tell the most unusual aspects of the city to remind "if you can dream it, you can do it."

In the 1870s Victorian politicians debated the virtues of constructing a 20km-long railway through Melbourne's east, simply to circumvent a privately-owned railway from South Yarra to Flinders Street Station. By 1878 the private railway had been purchased by the Victorian Government and there was no longer a need to build the orbital railway. But greedy politicians pushed legislation through parliament, authorising the construction of the railway through their own private land holdings. This is the story of Melbourne's Outer Circle Railway.

30 years in the making, the film Jan Terri: No Rules tells the story of an irrepressible, and often delightfully perplexing personality. As a child, Jan would dance and sing for anyone who would listen. As a teenager, she began writing and performing her own songs. After earning her BA in Arts and Entertainment Management, she continued making music while working full-time as a limo driver. The income from that job allowed her to hire a studio as well as a videographer to help her make her unorthodox DIY music videos and distributing them on VHS tape. Without her knowledge, her videos made their way to the nascent YouTube. The fact that her most popular YouTube video was given the title “Worst Music Video Ever” didn’t dampen her spirit. Her fanbase grew to include such luminaries as Marilyn Manson and Cynthia Plaster Caster. Over the years, Jan’s independent spirit attracted many collaborators who’ve helped bring her vision to life.

The Ripple Effect is a powerful documentary primarily centred around St Kilda legend and proud Noongar Nicky Winmar's generation-defining stand against racism at Victoria Park in 1993.

Erna and Dževad are the owners of a pub in the vicinity of a steel mill, a complex that used to be one of the largest of its kind in Eastern Europe. Taking place one week before the pub’s official closedown, the film follows a series of conversations between visitors and frequent guests, who discuss the ways of reaching Germany – a new utopia of former socialist workers.

Rowland S. Howard, the Primitive Calculators, Ollie Olsen, Phillip Brophy and many others proffer their recollections and air their animosities in a tribute to the underground music scene of '77-'81 in Melbourne, Australia. This is a warts and all look at the Melbourne underground music scene of 1977 to 1981 that spawned the likes of Nick Cave, Rowland S. Howard, Ollie Olsen, The Birthday Party, the Primitive Calculators, The Ears as well as venues such as the Crystal Ballroom and others that fostered what became known as the Little Band scene.

"Café Quente" is a heartwarming documentary guided by Dona Ângela, a 69-year-old woman who, in addition to sharing life experiences, reflects on the arrival of old age.

A study of the alienated people who frequent the Ballhaus Barmbek dance hall, including an obese El groupie, an old man reciting poetry, two young women and a regular dance employee.

In the 1800s, brickmaking was one of the largest manufacturing industries in Australia. Hoffman's Brickworks in Brunswick, Victoria, was a leader of this industry, running for 133 years and fostering a strong union. Indeed Hoffman's was the birthplace of the Brickmaker's Union in Victoria. In this film, director Grant Hobson covers the final week of operation of this historic site, in December 1993. He interviews the union representatives and the close family of workers, some of whom he is able to reunite in May 2010 on the site. It is a nostalgic reflection on the heyday and demise of brickmaking in Victoria, as well as capturing the colourful personalities that illustrate the post-war migrant experience in relation to work and settling in Melbourne.

During the summer of 2023, my father decided to hang up the boots and walk away from the family business of 25 years. This is my love letter to the cafe in which my family and I have worked, encapsulating the good vibes and cheery nature the business held for a quarter of a century.

Born to an Algerian father and a Sicilian mother in Tunisia, I have always been wealthy of three cultures. This motherland is where were born my Algerian ancestors when it was called Ifriqya but also my Sicilian grand-parents whose parents were part of the important migration flux of the beginning of the last century. A reservoir of workforce by the thousands reached the shores of this "promised land". A hundred years later, I embark on a quest to rediscover my Sicilian family, exiled for the past sixty years, scattered between Italy and France.

With a career spanning well over a decade in the bloodiest, most violent subgenre of pro wrestling, David "Gweedo" Brown reflects on his time as a deathmatch wrestler.

A documentary about the life of a female inmate named Ria Megawati, often called IOT. Once known as the most problematic prisoner in Bandung Women’s Prison, she has since transformed into a better version of herself by immersing in artistic practices such as painting, batik-making, and songwriting. Art ultimately becomes her way out of a dark past, and a vessel for expressing emotions long kept inside.

A portrait of three generations of wonderfully eccentric Italian American women living in a small town near Boulder.

My grandfather Tuiu decides for the second time to leave his house and start a life elsewhere, he lives with the street hardships, and the fact of leaving is linked to the depredation of that place.

A look at the life of chef, restaurateur and cookbook author Lidia Bastianich both on and off the screen as she celebrates 25 years on public television.