- Closed Captions (CC) available for In My Own Words, The Fifth Element, Amy Winehouse: Back to Black, Swimming With Men, Precious, Love & Friendship
- Audio Description (AD) available for The Fifth Element and Love & Friendship
MONDAY 3 MAY
Long Distance Revolutionary: A Journey with Mumia Abu-Jamal
12:00pm, NITV (repeats 8:30pm, Saturday 8 May)
M
USA, 2013
Genre: Documentary
Language: English
Director: Stephen Vittoria
What's it about?
An inspiring portrait of Mumia Abu-Jamal, who many consider America's most famous political prisoner - a man whose existence tests our beliefs about freedom of expression.
In My Own Words
9:00pm, NITV (repeats Tuesday 4 May, 11:30am)
PG, CC
Australia, 2017
Genre: Documentary
Language: English
Director: Erica Glynn
What's it about?
In Australia today between 40–65 percent of Aboriginal adults are functionally illiterate in English. But out in north west New South Wales moves are afoot to whittle away at this appalling statistic, and give hope to some of the most marginalised people in our country. Using a Cuban method called ‘Yes I Can’, a group known as the Literacy for Life Foundation are moving into towns, setting up classrooms, and offering Aboriginal men and women an opportunity to learn to read and write.
WEDNESDAY 5 MAY
The Fifth Element
12:00pm, 2:15pm, 4:30pm, 6:50pm, 9:10pm, 11:30pm (all SBS VICELAND)
PG, AD, CC
France, USA, 1997
Genre: Action, Sci-Fi
Language: English
Director: Luc Besson
Starring: Bruce Willis, Milla Jovovich, Ian Holm, Gary Oldman
What's it about?
For ex-Marine Korben Dallas (Willis), life has become tediously repetitive: he drives a flying cab for a living, and eats take away from the same Chinese restaurant, which delivers directly to his window, every day. But little does Korben know, a great extra-terrestrial Evil has teamed up with Zorg, and threatens to destroy the Earth.
THURSDAY 6 MAY
Clockers
8:30pm, NITV (repeats Friday 7 May, 12:00pm)
MA15+
USA, 1995
Genre: Mystery, Crime, Drama
Language: English
Director: Spike Lee
Starring: Harvey Keitel, John Turturro, Delroy Lindo, Mekhi Phifer, Isaiah Washington
What's it about?
Strike (Phifer) is a young city drug pusher under the tutelage of drug lord Rodney Little (Lindo). When a night manager at a fast-food restaurant is found with four bullets in his body, Strike’s older brother turns himself in as the killer. Detective Rocco Klein (Keitel) doesn’t buy the story, however, setting out to find the truth, and it seems that all the fingers point toward Strike & Rodney. Directed by Spike Lee and based on the novel by Richard Price.
SBS On Demand: Interview with Spike Lee and Mehki Phifer (1995)
FRIDAY 7 MAY
The Unicorn
12:00pm, SBS VICELAND
M
USA, 2018
Genre: Comedy
Language: English
Director: Robert Schwartzman
Starring: Lauren Lapkus, Nick Rutherford, Lucy Hale, Dree Hemingway, Beverly D'Angelo
What's it about?
An engaged couple (Lapkus & Rutherford) is forced to visit Palm Springs for a weekend to celebrate her parents’ 25th wedding vow renewal and discover the apparent secret to their happy marriage — threesomes. Determined to properly celebrate their own “re-engagement,” they set out on a wild night in search of a threesome of their own but the experience takes an intense turn, exposing deeper relationship problems and threatening their future together.
Big Name No Blanket
9:30pm, NITV
M
Australia, 2013
Genre: Documentary
Language: English
Director: Steven McGregor
What's it about?
George Rrurrambu, legendary frontman of the Warumpi Band, made an extraordinary contribution to contemporary Indigenous music and awakened the Australian consciousness of a third world in its own back yard. This documentary tells his story; filled with interviews, clips and music, as we follow George from his island home to his premature demise.
Amy Winehouse: Back to Black
11:40pm, SBS
M, CC
UK, 2018
Genre: Documentary, Music
Language: English
Director: Jeremy Marre
Starring: Amy Winehouse, Mark Ronson, Salaam Remi
What's it about?
The true story of how Amy Winehouse’s best known and most celebrated body of work came into being. Featuring previously unseen footage of Amy, new interviews with producers Mark Ronson and Salaam Remi, and the musicians who worked with Amy on the album, offering fresh insights into Amy’s remarkable gifts as a singer, songwriter, musician and performer.
SATURDAY 8 MAY
Your Name
12:00pm, SBS VICELAND
PG
Japan, 2016
Genre: Romance, Animation, Drama
Language: Japanese
Director: Makoto Shinkai
Starring (voice cast): Ryûnosuke Kamiki, Mone Kamishiraishi, Masami Nagasawa, Etsuko Ichihara
What's it about?
Mitsuha and Taki are two total strangers living completely different lives. But when Mitsuha makes a wish to leave her mountain town for the bustling city of Tokyo, they become connected in a bizarre way. She dreams she is a boy living in Tokyo, while Taki dreams he is a girl from a rural town he's never been to. What does their newfound connection mean? And how will it bring them together?
Swimming with Men
10:20pm, SBS
M, CC
UK, 2018
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Language: English
Director: Oliver Parker
Starring: Rob Brydon, Rupert Graves, Jim Carter, Daniel Mays, Adeel Akhtar, Thomas Turgoose
What's it about?
Eric (Brydon), who is suffering a mid-life crisis, eventually finds new meaning to his life as part of an all-male, middle-aged, amateur synchronised swimming team. Together they make a bid to compete at the unofficial Male Sync-Swimming World Championships, and no doubt a shot at personal redemption along the way.
Precious
10:30pm, NITV
MA15+, CC
USA, 2009
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Lee Daniels
Starring: Gabourey Sidibe, Mo'Nique, Paula Patton, Lenny Kravitz, Bill Sage
What's it about?
Set in Harlem in 1987. Precious (Sidibe, in an Oscar-nominated lead performance) endures unimaginable hardships in her young life. She's pregnant for the second time to her abusive father; at home she must wait hand and foot on a poisonously angry mother (Mo'Nique, winner of the Oscar for Best Supporting Actress). In these conditions she grows up unloved and generally unnoticed. But underneath her impassive expression is a watchful, curious young woman with an inchoate but unshakeable sense that other possibilities exist for her.
Love & Friendship
12:05am, SBS
PG, AD, CC
UK, USA, 2016
Genre: Comedy, Drama, Romance
Language: English
Director: Whit Stillman
Starring: Kate Beckinsale, Chloë Sevigny, Xavier Samuel, Tom Bennett, Stephen Fry
What's it about?
From Jane Austen’s novella, the beautiful and cunning Lady Susan Vernon (Beckinsale) visits the estate of her in-laws to wait out colourful rumours of her dalliances and to find husbands for herself and her daughter. Two young men, handsome Reginald DeCourcy (Samuel) and wealthy Sir James Martin (Bennett), severely complicate her plans. An acerbic take on Austen from Whit Stillman, writer-director of Metropolitan & The Last Days of Disco.
SUNDAY 9 MAY
On the Record
8:40pm, NITV
MA15+
USA, 2020
Genre: Documentary
Language: English
Director: Kirby Dick, Amy Ziering
Featuring: Drew Dixon, Sil Lai Abrams, Sheri Hines, Kimberlé Crenshaw, Shanita Hubbard
What's it about?
The haunting story of music executive Drew Dixon as she grapples with her decision to become one of the first women of colour, in the wake of #MeToo, to come forward and publicly accuse hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons of sexual misconduct. A gripping and profound examination of race, gender, intersectionality, and the toll sexual abuse takes on survivors and on society at large. One of the most acclaimed documentaries from this year's Sundance Film Festival.
'On The Record' documentary: A #MeToo reckoning for Black culture
A Better Man
10:20pm, NITV
M
Canada, 2017
Genre: Documentary
Language: English
Director: Lawrence Jackman, Attiya Khan
Starring: Attiya Khan
What's it about?
Following a series of intimate conversations between a former couple who lived through two years of domestic abuse, this documentary is a fresh and nuanced look at the healing and revelation that can happen for everyone involved when men take responsibility for their abuse.
