Art Smitten - The Podcast

The 1966 book Hitchcock/Truffaut was as intriguing and exciting a read as its title suggested. Based on Francois Truffaut's 8-day interview with Alfred Hitchcock, it offered readers the chance to feel like a fly on the wall for the meeting of two of the most avant-garde film directors of the decade. At the time of their meeting at Hitchcock's Universal Studios office in 1962, the British auteur had recently released his fortieth feature, the hugely successful Psycho, while the young man from across the chanel had completed his directorial debut, The 400 blows, only 3 years ago. Hitchcock was arguably more open and generous with Truffaut than he was with any of his press interviewers, which was surely a testament to the depth of their shared love and understanding of the art form they were both dedicating their lives to. Present day filmmaker Kent Jones is evidently on this same level of cinematic appreciation. His documentary, which shares the same title as Truffaut's book, is much more than just a companion

La Mama Theatre is an ideal place to host the Australian premiere production of Lars Noren’s Courage to Kill. This tense two-hander, sometimes three-hander, from Sweden’s most celebrated playwright definitely works best in an intimate venue. It is one of those many plays that take place entirely in a domestic setting, in this case inside a young man’s apartment that he is forced to share with his father. While in some plays this makes the home seem like a bigger, grander place for having been the site of so much drama, Noren, and indeed set designer Charlotte Lane make it feel as though the walls are closing in on its inhabitants, largely because those walls are covered in sticky-taped newspaper clippings that keep being added to. As the audience takes their seats, director Richard Murphet places the son, Eric (Luke Mulquiney) at his desk and has him sort through the clippings while smoking a cigarette, in the manner of the classic film noir detective. He might have the jaded look, the unhea

Cut The Sky is a dance theatre work by Marrugeku Theatre. It is in interdisciplinary work combining dance, video, poetry and song. Cut The Sky is part of the ‘Performing Climates’ for the Performance Studies International Conference or PSI hosted by Arts House. This year PSI is in Melbourne and it focus is on making conversations and exploring climate change though the lens of performance. Cut The Sky is an intercultural exploration of how climate change is affecting the earth. It explores what climate change means for the indigenous Australians and its impact on traditional stories and customs, and it also explores what it means to be a ‘climate change refugee’. The structure of this piece is abstract and chaotic - it flings us forward and back in time. It opens with an apocalyptic version of Australia in the future ravaged by climate change and sends us into a cyclone imagined by the dancers wearing makeshift clothes of plastic and storage bags. Cut The Sky is highly provocative

Come Away with Me to the End of the World by Ranters theatre was a series of conversations between nameless characters on stage. The actors seemed to be playing nobody or themselves - they talked of seemingly random things like their trip to Japan or the Italian dance classes they were taking, or meeting someone while going for a morning jog. Some of these conversations were mundane or even boring, some were absurd and surreal, some were long and winding, some were very short, and some conversations ended in song. These conversations were spoken over a soft backing track of ambient instruments and sometimes bird noises, which I found calming and it made the conversations easier to listen to. To my understanding, Come Away with Me to the End of the World was at least partly an one dimensional exploration of culture and/or travel seen though a white lens, most conversations centered around travel and experiences with other cultures while abroad, or experiences with other cultures that happened locally. Of

Our Kind of Traitor may well be the least confusing film adaptation of a John le Carré novel that we are ever going to see. If you enjoy political thrillers but don't exactly the have the head for real, convoluted espionage, Susanna White's film is sure to be the thing for you. Unlike the rather cold and brittle Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, this story of a man about to inform on the Russian mafia has a much stronger human element, one that often even takes precedence over the political machinations, which are explored in unusually sparse detail. Dima (the always brilliant Stellan Skarsgard) wants to defect to Britain, using the central intelligence he has been privy to in order to gain safe passage from the British Secret service for himself, but also, more importantly, his family, whose lives have been threatened by the vengeful new mafia boss, "The Prince" (Grigoriy Dobrygin). MI6 won't officially go anywhere near Dima, but an agent named Hector (a perfectly British Damien Lewis) reaches out to him wit

This season Art Smitten asked each guest to contribute a sentence to an ongoing story. Guests were only read the previous contributed line of the story. The end product was read aloud by producer Lauren on the last show of season 1, Sunday April 10th.  STARTING SENTENCE: Sarah didn't know what to expect when she walked in... Gemma Flack: She glanced around the room and noticed a strange triangular mound in the corner. Erkki Veltheim: In this mound there is a very small door with a very small keyhole through which a light could be seen, flickering. Louisa Rankin: Did she dare see what was on the other side or did she stay in the safety of her surroundings Belinda Campbell & Jennifer Piper: As she heard the door begin to creak, she knew at once she only had one choice. And swiftly - she drew her glowing blue khatana, holding it aloft akin to Shira and cried ---! Julia Mihai: GET THE PINEAPPLES! Rachel Dyson-McGregor: And suddenly, the ceiling opened and pineapples fell

Inspired by The Wheeler Centre's event, the Gala Night of Storytelling: The Booked That Changed Me, hosts Andrew and Ebony, and producer Lauren, discussed the books that influenced them. Ebony: 'Men Who Explain Things to Me' by Rebecca Solnit Andrew: 'Jasper Jones' by Craig Silvey Lauren: 'The Witches' by Roald Dahl  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hosts Will & Ben (not the flowerpot men) chat to the comedic duo behind YETI’S: Demon Dive Bar - Jennifer Byrne and Vicky Falconer-Pritchard. YETI’S: Demon Dive Bar is being performed at The Roxanne until April 17th as part of the Melbourne International Comedy Festival.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hosts Will and Ben were joined in the studio with Melbourne International Comedy Festival Moosehead Award recipient, Kate Denhert. Her new show SHABAMALAM is on until April 17th at the ACMI Games Room.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hosts Rebecca and Jonathan are joined in the studio with award-winning Gaulier –trained sketch, clown, and dance comedian, Tessa Waters. Tessa returns to the Melbourne International Comedy Festival with her new show Over Promises.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Dramaturg Tom Middletitch chatted to hosts Katie and Rebecca about Genius, an immersive encounter with 8 unique thinkers and their perspective on the topic of their expertise. Tom explains what ideas lie behind the concept of neurodiversity, and how important it is for people to see life through an alternative lens.  Genius is part of the Festival of Live Arts, and is being performed on Saturday 12th and Sunday 13th March at the St Kilda Town Hall.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Ebony MonCrief, the producer and host of VOICES IN THE ATTIC spoke to host Emma about how she discovered spoken word performance, and how it let to hear setting up an open genre mic night in the heart of Melbourne's CBD. Ebony even performed one of her original poems! VOICES IN THE ATTIC - is held at Ferdydurke every 2nd and 4th Tuesday of the month at 7pm NEW EVENT LAUNCH - VOICES FROM THE BASEMENT is being held at Nieuw Amsterdam on Thursday 17th March. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Emma is fascinated with the haunting Australian story Picnic at Hanging Rock, originally a book published in 1967 by Joan Lindsay.  She had the opportunity to speak to Tom Wright, the playwright of Malthouse Theatre’s production of Picnic at Hanging Rock, and to visit the Macedon Ranges, the home of Picnic at Hanging Rock, to experience where the mystery all began.  Picnic at Hanging Rock is on at the Malthouse Theatre until 20th March.  Picture: Sourced from Malthouse Theatre website See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Melbourne/UK artist, illustrator and zine maker Gemma Flack joins hosts Christian and Michaela to discuss her solo exhbition Angry Girls Club, which is currently exhibiting at Off the Kerb Gallery in Collingwood. (5-19th February) Gemma unpacks her ideas of the importance of santuary, freedom of expresion, and how she tries to approach life with "the zine spirit". See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hosts Will and Beth discuss the recent announcement of the $152 million in new funds from the Victorian government's 2016-2017 Budget to support Victoria's creative and cultural sectors. How will these funds be allocated across the sector? What does this mean for arts funding in other states?See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

No cultural phenomenon is too low brow for Art Smitten. Hosts Beth and Will are joined by producer Lauren to discuss their experiences at Cat Cafes. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Hosts Beth and Will were joined in the studio with SIMON ABRAHAMS, CEO of Melbourne Fringe. Simon spoke about a new initiative to reach out to culturally diverse artists ahead of the opening for registrations for this year’s Fringe.  Melbourne Fringe applications are open from Monday 4 April – Monday 23 May. The Fringe will take place in Melbourne from 15 September – 2 October. Photo sourced from Melbourne Fringe website.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Super low-budget and full of charm, the Melbourne-made film Pawno, released in 2015 at the Melbourne International Film Festival to sell-out crowds, is the first feature from director John Ireland and scriptwriter Damian Hill, who also stars in the film. Pawno takes place over one whole day, and is largely centred around a Footscray pawn shop, referenced in the title. The shop is inhabited by Les, the kind-hearted grouch of an owner (played by John Brumpton) and his youthful dogsbody assistant Danny (played by Hill). As well as these two characters, the film is populated by an assortment of locals who add an offbeat vibrancy to the day's proceedings. There's two women who work in a bookstore, one of whom Danny has a crush on, there's a pair of smart-arse layabouts, there's a violent thug, there's a woman whose son is missing, there’s a trans woman whose visits to the shop are a form of solace from the harsh outside world, there's an Indian taxi driver who was a dentist in his home country... t

Hosts Christian and Andrew were joined in the studio with cast members Paul Knox, Hannah Vanderheide and producer Jorge Tsipos from Unnatural Selection Entertainment’s latest production –PURGATORIO.  PURGATORIO is playing at the Brunswick Mechanics Institute, 13th-16th & 20th – 23rd April at 7.30pm. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Curator of the Next Gen program, THOMAS CALDWELL joined hosts Beth and Talisse on the line to talk about the Next Gen program and where it fits within the Melbourne International Film Festival.  Next Gen and the Melbourne International Film Festival runs 28th July – 14th August. Photo: Still from Next Gen feature film - The Magic BrushSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.