Click each image to play the film in full at SBS On Demand. Please note that the films on this list expire at various times throughout the month (If there is no 'play' button in the image, the film is no longer available).
The Wonders
M
Italy, 2018
Genre: Drama
Language: Italian
Director: Alice Rohrwacher
Starring: Alba Rohrwacher, Maria Alexandra Lungu, Sam Louwyck
What's it about?
This charming coming-of-age story, winner of the 2014 Cannes Grand Prix, follows a family of beekeepers living in stark isolation in the Tuscan countryside over the course of an unforgettable summer. The dynamic of their overcrowded household is disrupted both by the arrival of Martin, a German boy on a youth rehabilitation program, taken on as farm hand, and by the local community's participation in a TV competition, "Village Wonders", presented by the mysterious Milly Catena.
[link title="2014 Cannes Film Festival: The Wonders - press conference/grand prix highlights" url="node/17198"]
12 Years a Slave
MA15+
USA, 2013
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Steve McQueen
Starring: Michael Fassbender, Paul Giamatti, Brad Pitt, Benedict Cumberbatch, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Lupita Nyong'o
What's it about?
A free man from upstate New York is abducted and sold into slavery in the Deep South. Facing cruelty from his owner, Solomon (Chiwetel Ejiofor) struggles to stay alive, and to retain his dignity. Inspired by the true story of Solomon Northup.
[link title="'12 Years a Slave:' an American story unearthed by British filmmaker" url="node/1744"]
[link title="In '12 Years a Slave,' all eyes on actor Chiwetel Ejiofor" url="node/1794"]
[link title="12 Years a Slave: Interview" url="node/13892"]
[link title="'12 Years a Slave' makes history with best picture Oscar" url="node/14668"]
Jasper Jones
M
Australia, 2017
Genre: Thriller, Mystery
Language: English
Director: Rachel Perkins
Starring: Hugo Weaving, Toni Collette, Matthew Nable, Myles Pollard, Levi Miller
What's it about?
Based on the best-selling novel, Jasper Jones is the story of Charlie Bucktin, a young bookish boy living in a small town. One night, local mixed-race outcast Jasper Jones appears at Charlie’s window and the pair embark on a journey to solve a mystery that will consume the entire community.
[link title="Watch the teaser for 'Jasper Jones'" url="node/94521"]
[link title="“I want to know: What happened?” - Rachel Perkins talks 'Jasper Jones'" url="node/119266"]
Snow Flower and the Secret Fan
M
China/USA, 2011
Genre: Drama, History
Language: English, Mandarin
Director: Wayne Wang
Starring: Hugh Jackman, Li Bingbing
What's it about?
In 19th-century China, seven-year-old girls Snow Flower and Lily are matched as 'old sames' and communicate via a secret language between the folds of a white silk fan. Meanwhile, in contemporary Shanghai, their descendants, Nina and Sophia, struggling to maintain the intimacy of their own childhood friendship due to adult demands, look into their past for clues.
[link title="Snow Flower and the Secret Fan Review" url="node/5594"]
Mustang
M
France, Germany, Turkey, Qatar, 2015
Genre: Drama
Language: Turkish
Director: Deniz Gamze Erguven
Starring: Günes Sensoy, Doga Zeynep Doguslu, Tugba Sunguroglu
What's it about?
In a village in the north of Turkey, Lale and her four sisters innocently celebrate the end of the school year at the beach with some boys. The supposed debauchery of their actions causes their home to progressively transform into a prison; classes on housework and cooking replace school, and marriages are arranged. The five sisters, driven by the same desire for freedom, fight back against the limits imposed upon them.
[link title="Watch the mighty 'Mustang' at SBS On Demand" url="node/64951"]
Rabbit-Proof Fence
PG
Australia, 2002
Genre: History, Adventure
Language: [language]
Director: Phillip Noyce
Starring: Roy Billing, Kenneth Branagh, Jason Clarke, Deborah Mailman, David Gulpilil
What's it about?
Based on the true story of three young Aboriginal girls Molly, Gracie, Daisy (Evelyn Sampi, Laura Monaghan, Tianna Sansbury): in 1931 they were forcibly removed from their families at Jigalong WA and taken to a camp 1500 miles away at Moore River to be trained as domestic servants, all part of official Government policy. Molly leads her younger sister and cousin on a daring escape and in a bid to find her way home, following – on foot – the rabbit-proof fence that cuts across the Gibson Desert and towards Jigalong. But WA’s Chief protector of Aborigines, A.O. Neville (Kenneth Branagh) does his best to recapture them, with help from black tracker David Moodoo (David Gulpilil).
[link title="Rabbit-Proof Fence Review" url="node/3425"]
[link title="Rabbit-Proof Fence: Cheat Sheet" url="node/39429"]
Night Train to Lisbon
M
Germany, Switzerland, Portugal, 2013
Genre: Romance, Thriller, Mystery
Language: English, Portuguese
Director: Bille August
Starring: Martina Gedeck, Charlotte Rampling, Jeremy Irons, Lena Olin, Bruno Ganz, Tom Courtenay, August Diehl, Mélanie Laurent, Jack Huston, Nicolau Breyner
What's it about?
Raimund Gregorius (Jeremy Irons) is a Latin teacher from Berne. When he encounters a book by the Portuguese poet and doctor Amadeu de Prado, he drops everything and takes the night train to Lisbon. He is determined to find out more about this writer who appears to have been obsessed by the very same questions that plague him: the purpose of human deeds and the unrealised potential of each and every life. His restless quest across Lisbon uncovers a contradictory portrait of a clever and brave yet conflicted man who lived at the time of Salazar’s dictatorship.
[link title="Night Train To Lisbon Review" url="node/6391"]
Toni Erdmann
M
Germany, Austria, 2016
Genre: Drama, Comedy
Language: English, German, Romanian
Director: Maren Ade
Starring: Sandra Hüller, Peter Simonischek
What's it about?
Without a warning a loving father comes to visit his hard-working daughter abroad. He believes that she has lost her sense of humour and therefore surprises her with a rampage of jokes.
[link title="Toni Erdmann review: Quirky and fearless father-daughter comedy delivers bittersweet laughs" url="node/112251"]
[link title="'Toni Erdmann' is more than 'just' a German comedy" url="node/113779"]
Here I Am
M
Australia, 2011
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Beck Cole
Starring: Marcia Langton, Shai Pittman, Quinaiha Scott, Bruce Carter
What's it about?
Fresh out of prison, Karen (Shai Pittman), a beautiful, young Aboriginal woman, finds herself stuck on the streets. She finds sanctuary at a shelter for Aboriginal women where she begins the painful journey of reconnecting with her estranged mother and her young daughter.
[link title="Here I Am review: True grit, Australian-style" url="node/5482"]
Rabbit-Proof Fence
PG
Australia, 2002
Genre: History, Adventure
Language: English
Director: Phillip Noyce
Starring: Roy Billing, Kenneth Branagh, Jason Clarke, Deborah Mailman, David Gulpilil
What's it about?
Based on the true story of three young Aboriginal girls, Molly, Gracie, Daisy (Evelyn Sampi, Laura Monaghan, Tianna Sansbury): in 1931 they were forcibly removed from their families at Jigalong WA and taken to a camp 1500 miles away at Moore River to be trained as domestic servants, all part of official Government policy. Molly leads her younger sister and cousin on a daring escape and in a bid to find her way home, following – on foot – the rabbit-proof fence that cuts across the Gibson Desert and towards Jigalong. But WA’s Chief protector of Aborigines, A.O. Neville (Kenneth Branagh) does his best to recapture them, with help from black tracker David Moodoo (David Gulpilil).
[link title="Rabbit-Proof Fence Review" url="node/3425"]
[link title="Rabbit-Proof Fence: Cheat Sheet" url="node/39429"]
The Kid with a Bike
M
Italy, France, Belgium, 2011
Genre: Drama
Language: French
Director: Luc Dardenne, Jean-Pierre Dardenne
Starring: Cecile de France
What's it about?
Cyril (Thomas Doret), almost 12, has only one plan: to find the father who left him temporarily in a children's home. By chance, he meets Samantha (Cécile De France), who runs a hairdressing salon and agrees to let him stay with her at weekends. Cyril doesn't recognise the love Samantha feels for him, a love he desperately needs to calm his rage.
[link title="The Kid with a Bike Review" url="node/5555"]
The Hateful Eight
R18+
Estados Unidos, 2015
Genre: Drama, Thriller, Mystery, Western
Language: English
Director: Quentin Tarantino
Starring: Tim Roth, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michael Madsen, Samuel L. Jackson, Kurt Russell
What's it about?
Set 'six or eight or twelve years' after the Civil War, The Hateful Eight follows bounty hunter John Ruth (Kurt Russell) and his fugitive, Daisy Domergue (Jennifer Jason Leigh), who's being taken to town to be hanged. The teaser shows them hurtling through the Wyoming winterscape in a stagecoach as they encounter two strangers: Major Marquis Warren (Samuel L. Jackson), a union soldier-turned-bounty hunter, and Chris Mannix (Walton Goggins), a Southern renegade who insists he's the new sheriff in town. A blizzard soon overtakes their stagecoach on a mountainside stopover, where they meet a handful of dangerous characters who share a deadly connection.
[link title="Quentin Tarantino says he cut two different versions of 'The Hateful Eight' " url="node/48911"]
[link title="The Hateful Eight review: A grand, gory vision " url="node/56074"]
Inch'Allah
M
Canada/Jordan, 2013
Genre: Drama
Language: Arabic
Director: Anaïs Barbeau-Lavalette
Starring: Evelyne Brochu, Sabrina Ouazani
What's it about?
Chloe (Evelyne Brochu) is a Canadian obstetrician who moves to the West Bank to help treat pregnant women in a makeshift clinic in a Palestinian refugee camp. Chloe develops friendships with a number of people she meets there. Through these relationships, she learns much about life in this war-ravaged region.
[link title="Inch'Allah Review" url="node/6378"]
Tamara
MA15+
Venezuela, 2016
Genre: True Stories, Drama
Language: Spanish
Director: Elia Schneider
Starring: Luis Fernández
What's it about?
Lawyer Teo Almanza returns to his hometown in Venezuela, but a quick visit becomes a longer journey, as Teo overcomes his fears and the social boundaries in order to become what he always dreamed: a woman like any other.
Fantail
MA15+
New Zealand, 2013
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Language: English
Director: Curtis Vowell
Starring: Sophie Henderson, Stephen Lovatt, Jarod Rawiri
What's it about?
Tania (Sophie Henderson) thinks she's Maori. Working the night shift at a petrol station, Tania has to put up with her clumsy boss (Stephen Lovatt) and the romantic intentions of her regional manager (Jarod Rawiri), while trying to save money to take her little brother Pi (Jahalis Ngamotu) to Surfers in search of their father. But when Pi falls in with the wrong crowd, things go awry.
[link title="Fantail Review " url="node/19503"]
Weekend
MA15+
United Kingdom, 2011
Genre: Gay, Lesbian, Bi, Transgender, Queer
Language: English
Director: Andrew Haigh
Starring: Tom Cullen, Chris New
What's it about?
On a Friday night, after hanging out with his straight mates, Russell (Tom Cullen) heads out to a gay club. Just before closing time he picks up Glen (Chris New) and that weekend, in bars and in bedrooms, getting drunk and taking drugs, telling stories and having sex, the two men get to know each other. It is an encounter that will resonate throughout their lives.
[link title="Weekend Review" url="node/5388"]
Jobs
M
Switzerland/USA, 2013
Genre: Drama, Biography
Language: English
Director: Joshua Michael Stern
Starring: Dermot Mulroney, Lukas Haas, James Woods, J.K. Simmons, Ron Eldard, Matthew Modine, Lesley Ann Warren, Amanda Crew, Ahna O'Reilly, Josh Gad, Ashton Kutcher
What's it about?
The true story of one of the most famous entrepreneurs in American history, Jobs chronicles the defining 30 years of Steve Jobs’ life.
[link title="Jobs: Ashton Kutcher interview" url="node/1292"]
[link title="Jobs Review" url="node/6291"]
