It’s always good to start the year with new dinner party conversation starters - aside from where you went in the holidays and what the weather was like. So, catch Rialto Documentary this month for some cutting edge docos that will get you thinking and talking. Animal rights come under scrutiny in Aussie film The Animal Condition (Thursday 10^th February), Poverty Inc.(Thursday 18^th February) explores the downside to doing good in developing countries, and in The Emperor’s New Clothes(Thursday 25^th February), Russell Brand asks why nothing has changed economically since the GFC in 2008. 

Here are my highlights for the week. 

It’s always good to start the year with new dinner party conversation starters - aside from where you went in the holidays and what the weather was like. So, catch Rialto Documentary this month for some cutting edge docos that will get you thinking and talking. Animal rights come under scrutiny in Aussie film The Animal Condition (Thursday 10^th February), Poverty Inc. (Thursday 18^th February) explores the downside to doing good in developing countries, and in The Emperor’s New Clothes (Thursday 25^th February), Russell Brand asks why nothing has changed economically since the GFC in 2008. 

Here are my highlights for the week. 

Advanced Style… Wednesday 10^th February, 8.30pm
In Advanced Style, we meet seven unique and stylish American women who have all appeared in Ari Seth Cohen’s famed blog and book Advanced Style. Colourful, unique, dynamic and aged between 62 to 95, these stylish women are re-writing the book on aging, and thanks to their new found fame are challenging the fashion industry’s obsession with youthful marketing. Lina Plioplyte, who met Cohen in a café in Brooklyn in 2009, directed this entertaining and uplifting documentary. It took roughly six years to complete the documentary with Plioplyte filming most of the material on her HDSLR camera. When it came to post production, the duo set up a Kickstarter campaign that allowed them to hire professional sound engineers and an editor for 6 months. It might have been a lengthy project, but Plioplyte and Cohen have continued to work together, releasing the short film Advanced Style: Men.

The Dirties …Friday 12^th February, 8.30pm
The Dirties is the critically acclaimed debut from writer director Matt Johnson. As part of a school project, a couple of high school kids film a comedy about taking revenge on the bullies at school. Matt (played by Johnson) and Owen (Owen Williams) begin the project as a joke, but as time goes by, the idea of killing all the school bullies morphs into a reality for Owen. The film is shot documentary style – the boy’s film themselves prepping for and shooting their movie - and it makes for an authentic, gritty film. If you’re concerned your kid might not be able to tell the difference between pop culture and the real world, then this film will not sooth those fears. There have been many movies made about bullying and high school shootings, but The Dirties is insightful and unnerving because it stops at the point the news items about such a shooting would start. Johnson’s intention is to show real life well before the tragic event actually happens to shine some light on the issue of youth psychology in America. And it works. The Dirties starts out as a clever black comedy, and ends as a chilling horror.

Hinterland …Sunday 14^th February, 8.30pm
Scandinavia might lead the way when it comes to brooding, stylish crime dramas, but the Welsh are getting in on the act with detective drama Hinterland. The series premiered on Rialto Channel in 2015, and the much-anticipated second series kicks off this Sunday on Rialto British. As we’ve come to expect from atmospheric murder mystery series, the inclement weather and bleak landscape sets the tone for this quietly menacing series that’s set in Aberystwyth, a small town on the West coast of Wales. Hinterland follows DCI Tom Mathias (Richard Harrington), a brilliant but troubled detective who has fled London after a personal tragedy, and the equally complex DI Mared Rhys (Mali Harris) as they solve grisly murder investigations. Three feature length episodes screen this month followed by the remaining two in March, so if you like intelligent, gripping drama, get on board now.