Check out the latest and best in world cinema, documentaries, retrospectives, experimental work, late night thrillers, animation, children’s films, a short film competition and much more! BIFF provides a focus for film culture in Queensland by showcasing the best and most interesting cinema from around the world. Each year St.George Bank BIFF draws film enthusiasts to view an entertaining mix of local and international films, retrospectives and colourful events that embrace the vibrant art of filmmaking.

Since the first festival in 1992, more than 350,000 film-goers have immersed themselves in the BIFF experience. St.George Bank BIFF has become a well-renowned Australian festival, launching films like The Full Monty, The Usual Suspects, Doing Time for Patsy Cline, Feeling Sexy, Gettin’ Square, In America, A Prairie Home Companion, Fay Grim and Where in the World is Osama bin Laden?.

Brisbane International Film Festival opens today with the charming coming of age film AN EDUCATION directed by Lone Scherfig and based on a script by Nick Hornby. Starring new talent Carey Mulligan, Peter Sarsgaard and Alfred Molina it is set against the backdrop of swinging sixties London.

The “Colourise BIFF” strand has been programmed in conjuction with the “Colourise Festival” and presents films made by or about indigenous people from around the world including Marco Bechis’s BIRDWATCHERS about the tensions that arise when the indigenous Guarani-Kaiowa community attempts to reinhabit their land in Takuara, Brazil.

Other international highlights include Claire Denis’ 35 SHOTS OF RUM, Costa Gavros’ EDEN IS WEST, Ken Loach’s LOOKING FOR ERIC, and Jerzy Skolimowski’s FOUR NIGHTS WITH ANNA, and Venice 2008 favourites Ramin Bahrani’s GOODBYE SOLO and Agnes Varda’s THE BEACHES OF AGNES. There is also a chance to see parts 1 & 2 of Steven Soderbergh’s epic CHE starring Benecio Del Toro as the young revolutionary.

While new Australian cinema goes from strength to strength with inclusions of Ana Kokkinos’s gritty portrayal of the complicated relationships between children and their mothers in BLESSED, Jonathan Auf der Heide’s Tasmanian convict drama VAN DIEMEN’S LAND and David Caesar’s truckin’ great PRIME MOVER – an love story with action and drama and a lot of big roadtrains!

The City of Sydney is encouraging local artists and illustrators to explore what contemporary Australia means to them in this year’s ‘Multicultural Art Competition – capturing Australia’s Identity’ now open for entries.

The competition, now in its second year, is a City initiative showcasing artworks that acknowledge and promote Sydney’s diverse cultural background. This competition asks local emerging and established artists to draw inspiration from our cultural diversity by exploring their own ideas and experiences of what it means to be Australian.

The finalists will be announced at the exhibition launch at Customs House on 17th October 2009, with more than $4000 in cash prizes up for grabs, including $2000 for first prize. The artworks will be exhibited at Customs House Library from 17th to 30th October 2009 and at Pine Street Creative Arts Centre, a unique arts centre in the heart of Sydney, from 4th 22nd November 2009.

The judges will be looking for artworks that explore the diversity of Australian identity in an original way, are stylistically strong and adaptable to various formats.

Entries close at 5pm on Monday 24th August 2009.

For more details about the competition, including artwork specifications, judging criteria and submission forms, please visit www.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/grants or call 02 9265 9296.

Don’t miss Kate Ceberano as she lights up the stage revisiting the highlights of her career and more.

You can check out Two Flat Whites interview with Kate Ceberano here.

A group exhibition featuring new artwork by twelve artists who deconstruct and re-address materials, processes and designs relating to the textile industry. A connecting conceptual thread runs between the artists’ works linking how we value fabrics from the contemporary, to the traditional and ancient. Textiles can be warm and comforting; they can communicate glamour and wealth, they can also convey cultural, national or religious significance.

Participating artists include Hannah Bertram, Linden Braye, Sophia Egarchos, Kath Fries, Michelle Heldon, Sahar Hosseinabadi, Chrissie Ianssen, Shannon Johnson, Michele Morcos, Jade Pegler, Megan Yeo (pictured) and Melinda Young.

Le Fil (The Thread)
When: 30th July to 11th August 2009
Where: Gaffa Gallery
Address: Level 1/ 7 Randle Street, Surry Hills

The band are an anagram of 80s Soho chic, all pointy collars, shiny shoes and a swing that starts at the foot and works its way through your hips and to your head.

The Paper Scissors are back on the road after releasing their new EP titled ‘Howl’. The track is getting flogged nationally on Triple J and is in the safe hands of community radio such as FBI 94.5.

The guys begin their journey on Friday the 31st July in Adelaide before heading up and down the East Coast. You can download the ‘Howl’ EP here.

Why not check out our interview with The Paper Scissors right here.

Investigating the way in which clothing is produced, used and discarded, Fashioning Now is an exhibition and accompanying symposium featuring innovative research projects from Australian and international practitioners. Through a dynamic array of fashion garments, textile objects, photography, illustration and time-based media, Fashioning Now seeks to highlight the diversity of sustainable solutions currently being explored by designers, researchers and manufacturers, while predicting possible scenarios for a future fashion industry.

When: 28th July to 29th August 2009
Where: University of Technology Gallery
Address: 702 Harris Street, Ultimo
More info: www.utsgallery.uts.edu.au

Stroll down Darling Street and you find a beautiful little Moroccan restaurant nestled in between boutique shops, cafes and old Victorian townhouses called Kazbah Restaurant.

A modern Balmain restaurant with hearty servings of Moroccan and Middle Eastern cuisine, Kazbah displays an open seating plan, plenty of natural light and once inside you feel the true Moroccan culture encompass your entire body. A feast for the eyes as well as your stomach, and if this becomes a little too much, you can always pick up a crayon and create your own masterpiece on your butcher paper covered table top.

Kazbah is open for dinner and breakfast on weekends. Be prepared for a short wait, but you will not be disappointed as Kazbah offers a breakfast with a difference. Whether you have had a big night, out with friends or a quiet read of the morning newspapers, my suggestion is to try the tagine, where spicy diced lamb is deliciously mixed with fetta, spinach, capsicum, sucuk, caramelised onion, tomato and eggs still cooking by the time it reaches its destination, your table.

The dinner menu has plenty to offer, including Chicken Stuffed with Halloumi, Sucuk and Green Olives, Chickpea Fritter, Asparagus with a Capsicum Sauce, Pan-Fried Duck Breast with Falafel, Honey Baked Quince and Sweet Potato Chips or the Char-Grilled Quail topped with Pomegranate Sauce. There are dips, a variety of entrees, scrumptious desserts and the coffee is pretty damn good too.

The service staff were attentive without being intrusive and the prices are quite reasonable. Kazbah is a complete dining experience with great decor, wonderful food and an exciting atmosphere.

Kazbah on Darling
379 Darling Street, Balmain
Phone: 02 9555 7067

Opening Hours:
Breakfast - Saturday, Sunday & Public Holidays – 9:00am – 3:00pm
Lunch - Saturday, Sunday & Public Holidays- 12:00pm – 3:00pm
Dinner - Wednesday to Saturday – 6:30pm – Late

Article written by Liam Gibbs

This year the festival is bigger than it’s ever been, with a vibrant cocktail of events, exhibitions, speakers, tours, markets and workshops designed to engage and inspire audiences.

Highlights at the festival’s main precinct, the Powerhouse Museum, include Eat Green Design, Young Blood: Designers Market, Australian International Design Awards exhibition, late night event Play Late, and the Design Underground tours.

Sydney Design 09 extends all over the city too, with more than 70 events and 35 venues around Sydney.

When: Saturday 1st to Sunday 16th August 2009
Where: Various venues across Sydney
www.sydneydesign.com.au

The Qantas Spirit of Youth Awards (SOYA) is the leading grants program for emerging creative talent. SOYA provides practical support in the form of $10,000 in flights and cash, but the real incentive is the opportunity to build a professional mentoring relationship with creative leaders.

By entering SOYA, Australia’s top emerging artists, designers and creatives aged 30 and under are given the chance to win a 12 month mentorship with inspirational industry leaders across seven creative fields: fashion, film, visual arts, visual communications, music, industrial and object design and photography. SOYA also gives young, talented Australians the financial support they need to share their talents with the world.

Get your submission in by 31st July 2009 for your chance to be recognized as one of the bright sparks of creativity in Australia. Two Flat Whites interviewed one of the winners in Lang Leav, you can find the full interview right here.

The Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) is an iconic Melbourne event. MIFF hosts a feast of cinematic delicacies from over 50 countries for seventeen days, heavily garnished with a range of parties and special events that cast a celebratory mood over the city. The Festival enjoys over 185,000 people every year, making it one of Melbourne’s significant public events.

Drama has hit this year’s festival with the Chinese Government demanding that the festival dump a documentary about an exiled minority leader that they label a terrorist and blame for instigating this month’s ethnic riots in Xinjiang, which left more than 180 people dead.

The Australian film about millionaire Uighur businesswoman and Grandmother Rebiya Kadeer, who was once feted by the Chinese Government as an example of ethnic harmony in China, is scheduled to premiere on August 8.

Festival director Richard Moore said the Chinese consulate in Melbourne phoned him late on Friday after the festival’s full program was published in The Age, insisting that the documentary, The 10 Conditions of Love, be withdrawn.

The consular official, Ms Chen, who is believed to be the new Melbourne cultural attaché, demanded that Mr Moore justify his decision to include the film. She also castigated him for allowing Ms Kadeer to be a guest of the festival. Ms Kadeer is due in Melbourne next month to speak at the premiere.

The Melbourne International Film Festival runs from the 24th July to 9th August 2009.