Doco festival back on big screen

THE oldest continuously operating cinema in Australia, Theatre Royal, is set to play host to the Castlemaine Documentary Festival later this month.

Known as C-Doc 2023, the event is now in its ninth year and will show eight Australian and internationally sourced films, as well as hosting panel discussions with filmmakers.

There will also be a chance to attend virtually with several films to be made available online.

Festival director Claire Jager said attendees are in for a treat this festival.

“The films in this year’s program are as entertaining as they are authoritative and generous,” she said.

“They’ll challenge our preconceived notions and norms and invite us to step into the lives of others and see their worlds.

“Audiences will have the chance to enjoy great immersive storytelling that exposes the range and layered depths of the people we are and the lives we inhabit.”

There will be a number of Australian-made films premiering at the festival including Trained to See – 3 Women and the War, Equal the Contest, and The Thief Collector and Weed Wine.

Ms Jager said the content of the films is varied and there will be something for everyone.

“We will see what’s happening deep beneath the ice caps, and the maverick Elvis-singing teacher who arms his young charges with lessons from Plato,” she said.

“The coming together of ancient cultures in a surprising take on our colonial past, the women trailblazers at the forefront of the birth of photojournalism and the unravelling of secret double lives during a 1980’s art heist.”

For the first time this year, there will also be a second venue, The Yurt, a micro-cinema that will host family-friendly sessions aimed at a younger audience with an interactive parlour game.

C-Doc 2023 will run from Friday 16 June to Sunday 18 June with tickets and the full program available at cdocff.com.au.