Castlemaine Documentary Festival
The Castlemaine Documentary Festival (CDOC) is an annual three-day event held in June at the iconic Theatre Royal in Castlemaine, central Victoria, Australia. It features an international programme showcasing a series of fascinating worlds populated by even more fascinating characters.
a beautiful moment and AG FAB - From Paddock to Catwalk
Friday 14 June 2024
Screening as part of the Castlemaine Documentary Festival - A FREE OR PAY WHAT YOU CAN EVENT.
a beautiful moment
Castlemaine is home to three unique music making groups, each open to anyone, of any ability: CorkerOrchestra, Mainesong choir and the Brazilian forrógroup,Brazazul. Under the musical direction of national living treasure, Wendy Rowlands,the three groups come together for one night and perform publicly at an end of year concert
AG FAB - From Paddock to Catwalk
What do women on farms do after a hard day working on the land?
They get out the glue gun, the riveter, the sewing machine, and create extraordinary garments to enter into the national Ag Art wear competition.
Theatre Royal
Castlemaine Documentary Festival: Festival Pass & Day Passes
Friday 14 June 2024
This year is the 10th anniversary of the Castlemaine Documentary Festival. The weekend will once again provide a wealth of wonderful documentary viewing, music, conversation and fun. Buying a festival pass gives you the best possible value as you are able to attend every session at the Theatre Royal and the Yurt over the weekend (excluding Werewolves).
You also will be in the running to win some amazing prizes including Animus Gin, $100 vouchers to Wild Restaurant Castlemaine and Book Vouchers from Stoneman's Castlemaine! Entries in the prize draw close on 8th June so purchase your ticket by this date!
Love Shack Castlemaine - next door to the Theatre Royal, provides festival pass holders with an exclusive 10% discount off 1 meal per day and unlimited beer and house wine discounts!
Day passes are also available to purchase.
FESTIVAL PASS $160 AND $120 CONCESSION
DAY PASSES $90 AND $70 CONCESSION
Join us as we celebrate 10 wonderful years of documentary in Castlemaine.
Theatre Royal
WINHANGANHA
Friday 14 June 2024
Screening on the opening night of the Castlemaine Documentary Festival. Beginning with Welcome to County and then introduction to the festival.
WINHANGANHA (Wiradjuri language: Remember, know, think) – an exhilerating, cinematic journey by acclaimed Wiradjuri
artist, Jazz Money told through archival footage and sound, poetry and original composition.
TICKETS $25 AND $20 CONCESSION.
Theatre Royal
KIds on the Silk Road:Girl Away From Home & The Monkey King
Saturday 15 June 2024
First two films in a quartet of short films offering unique insights into the lives of children from countries along the ancient Silk Road – Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, China and Ukraine – aged between 10 and 14.
Each story explores one child’s responses to the challenges they face within cultural and social contexts, centering on an aspect of life about which they’re especially passionate. While each circumstance is different, the themes are universal – the desire to develop a talent and realise a dream, navigating disagreements with parents, and ways of dealing with loss and disappointment.
TICKETS $10 AND $5 CONCESSION.
THE YURT
Castlemaine Documentary Festival & ClubCDoc Networking Lunch
Saturday 15 June 2024
It is our pleasure to invite you to the annual 2024 Castlemaine Documentary Festival and Club CDoc’s lunch for a coming together of doco lovers and practitioners from regional and metro to meet and mingle over the festival weekend.
The wonderful team at Naam Pla Thai have prepared a delicious selection of their popular curries and entrees. Vegetarian, vegan and gluten free options are available, beverages can be purchased separately at the bar.
TICKETS $40
Check out the 2024 Festival Program for pre and after lunch screenings - or stay over for the Saturday night’s screening Getting It Back: The Story of Cymande.
NOTE We’re an easy 1 hr 20 mins direct access on VLine if you don’t feel like driving.
RSVP 31st May 2024
Naam Pla Thai
WEREWOLVES AT THE YURT
Between Saturday 15 June 2024 and Sunday 16 June 2024
Get ready for a thrilling game of accusation, trickery and fun at the CDoc YURT. Games Master Nick Phillips will transport us to the town of Millers Hollow, where werewolves are hunting the villagers, and it’s up to you to locate the culprits before it’s too late. Join us as we immerse ourselves in this interactive survival game and try to weed out the werewolves among us.
Will you become a detective to identify the true villains or will you become their next victim? Come put your deduction skills to the test and find out!
Suitable for everyone aged 8 and upwards!
TICKETS $20 AND $15 CHILD/CONCESSION
THE YURT
Starring Jerry as Himself.
Saturday 15 June 2024
Saturday 15th June 2pm screening at Castlemaine Documentary Festival.
A family documents how their immigrant father Jerry, a recently retired Florida man, was
recruited by the Chinese police to be an undercover agent, only to discover a darker truth.
TICKETS $25 AND $20 CONCESSION.
Theatre Royal
a beautiful moment with film maker Q & A
Saturday 15 June 2024
Screened in the Yurt, the glorious sound of community: three vibrant Castlemaine groups unite for a concert under the brilliant direction of Wendy Rowlands.
Duration: 25 mins
TICKETS $10 AND $5 CONCESSION.
THE YURT
LOCALS
Saturday 15 June 2024
A favourite Castlemaine Documentary event! Screening short films made by locals.
TICKETS $15 AND $10 CONCESSION
Theatre Royal
Getting it Back: The Story of Cymande
Saturday 15 June 2024
15th June 8pm screening at the Castlemaine Documentary Festival. Stay for party afterwards with band The Afrobiotics. Ticket price includes entry to the Afrobotics gig.
The British group Cymande are unsung heroes whose message of peace, love and funk sailed beyond Britain's shores and helped shape music for five decades. Long after they stopped playing, the music played on, so they returned to play some more.
Now their story is told on screen for for the first time, with tributes from a galaxy of musicians and producers influenced and enthralled by their music, including Mark Ronson, Norman Jay, Jazzie B, DJ Maseo of De La Soul, Jim James and Louie Vega.
TICKETS $25 AND $20 CONCESSION.
TICKETS FOR BAND ONLY $10.
Theatre Royal
Obsessed with Light
Saturday 15 June 2024
Saturday 15th June 11am screening at Castlemaine Documentary Festival.
Obsessed with Light is a meditation on light and the enduring obsession to create. It is a film about transformation and about a trailblazing artist who disrupted the prevailing notions of dance and the imagined limits of the human body, while merging cutting edge technology with her art.
The film pulls back the curtain on Loïe Fuller, a wildly original performer who revolutionized the visual culture of the early 20th century. Creating a dialogue between the past and the present, the documentary features Jody Sperling and her Time Lapse Dance ensemble and delves into the astonishing influence Fuller's work has on contemporary culture including artists like Red Hot Chili Peppers, Taylor Swift, Bill T. Jones, Shakira and William Kentridge, among many others.
TICKETS $25 AND $20 CONCESSION.
Theatre Royal
The Gullspang Miracle
Sunday 16 June 2024
16th June 11am screening at the Castlemaine Documentary Festival.
A divine premonition leads two sisters to buy an apartment in the small Swedish town of Gullspång. To their surprise, the seller looks identical to their older sister who died by suicide 30 years earlier. What begins as an eerie story of family reunification soon becomes a Pandora's Box as all three women's lives spiral out of control.
TICKETS $25 AND $20 CONCESSION.
Theatre Royal
The Koalas
Sunday 16 June 2024
16th June 2pm screening at the Castlemaine Documentary Festival.
On the East Coast Australia, where ancient forests meet the urban fringe, koalas are facing unprecedented challenges. The Koalas sheds light on a disturbing truth: the very entities entrusted with safeguarding our natural treasures are contributing to the demise of these emblematic creatures.
TICKETS $25 AND $20 CONCESSION.
Theatre Royal
Kids on the Silk Road:The Tamarind Singer & Girl with Goals
Sunday 16 June 2024
Second two films in a quartet of short films offering unique insights into the lives of children from countries along the ancient Silk Road – Kyrgyzstan, Pakistan, China and Ukraine – aged between 10 and 14.
Each story explores one child’s responses to the challenges they face within cultural and social contexts, centering on an aspect of life about which they’re especially passionate. While each circumstance is different, the themes are universal – the desire to develop a talent and realise a dream, navigating disagreements with parents, and ways of dealing with loss and disappointment.
TICKETS $10 AND $5 CONCESSION.
THE YURT
AG FAB: From Paddock to Catwalk with film maker Q & A
Sunday 16 June 2024
Screened at the Yurt.
A peek behind the scenes of the national Ag Artwear Competition, which celebrates the ingenious creativity of rural women.
Duration: 28 mins
TICKETS $10 AND $5 CONCESSION.
THE YURT
Apolonia, Apolonia
Sunday 16 June 2024
16th June 5pm screening at the Castlemaine Documentary Festival.
When Danish filmmaker Lea Glob first met Apolonia Sokol in 2009, she appeared to be leading a storybook life. The talented Apolonia was born in an underground theatre in Paris and grew up in an artist community — the ultimate bohemian life. In her 20s, she studied at the Beaux-Arts de Paris, one of the most prestigious art academies in Europe. Over the years, Lea kept returning to film Apolonia as the latter sought her place in the art world, grappling with the agonies and joys of womanhood, the relationships with others and her own body and creation.
The result is a fascinating portrait of the young woman’s trying voyage into the art world. Apolonia is confident in her talent, but her path is not always an easy one to tread. Life is not a storybook, and Apolonia learns that women painters have to make more sacrifices and overcome greater obstacles than their male counterparts.
TICKETS $25 AND $20 CONCESSION.
Theatre Royal
The Road to Patagonia
Sunday 16 June 2024
16th June 8pm final screening at this year's Castlemaine Documentary Festival.
The Road to Patagonia is a stunning, intimate and unflinching series of love letters within a documentary – firstly a love between two people, and secondly between humanity and the Earth. We follow Matty Hannon on an incredible solo adventure, to surf the west coast of the Americas by motorbike, from the top of Alaska to the tip of Patagonia. But deep in the wilderness – alone with the wolves and the bears – the journeyer’s plans unexpectedly fall to pieces.
TICKETS $25 AND $20 CONCESSION.
Theatre Royal
Castlemaine Documentary Festival 2024 Industry Lunch (CANCELLED)
Wednesday 1 May 2024
2024 Castlemaine Documentary Festival & Club CDoc Networking Lunch
Come and meet doco lovers and practitioners over lunch during the festival weekend. Just a one minute walk from the Theatre Royal. We look forward to welcoming you to Castlemaine!
ROYAL SULTAN
The Disappearance of Shere Hite.
Between Thursday 7 March 2024 and Saturday 9 March 2024
The Disappearance of Shere Hite
Screening for International Women's Day
Thursday 7th March 7:30pm and Saturday 9th March 1:30pm
at Theatre Royal, Castlemaine. Tickets $25 & $22 concession.
Shere Hite’s 1976 groundbreaking study of the intimate experiences of women, The Hite Report, remains one of the bestselling books of all time. The book challenged restrictive conceptions of sex and opened a dialogue in popular culture around women’s pleasure. But few remember Shere Hite today. What led to her erasure?
Digging into exclusive archives, as well as Hite’s personal journals and the original survey responses, filmmaker Nicole Newnham (Crip Camp, 2021 Best Feature Documentary Oscar® Nominee, Audience Award Winner: U.S. Documentary, 2020 Sundance Film Festival) transports viewers back to a time of great societal transformation around sexuality.
This special International Womens Day Screening is proudly co-presented by Castlemaine Documentary Festival & Theatre Royal.
Theatre Royal
Club CDoc - Editing - Workshop 2
Saturday 2 March 2024
An all-day hands-on editing workshop with Bergen O'Brien and one other surprise. Participants can also bring in footage to edit.
Supporting entry into LOCALS – documentary films for locals by locals screening Opening Night at the Festival 2024.
Castlemaine Senior Citizens Centre
Club CDoc - Workshops 1 & 2
Between Saturday 25 November 2023 and Saturday 2 March 2024
Combine these 2 Club CDoc non-fiction /documentary production workshops.
Castlemaine Senior Citizens Centre
Grass - 1925 Silent Film with Live Score by ZÖJ
Friday 1 March 2024
GRASS - A Nation’s Battle For Life
The legendary silent masterpiece, GRASS, made in 1925. Heart-stopping adventure and beautiful photography accompanied by ZÖJ's evocative live score.
The filmmakers join Iranian Bakhtiari nomads on a challenging 48-day journey across harsh terrains, overcoming river crossings and perilous mountain ascents alongside 50,000 people and 500,000 animals to reach a lush valley.
Tickets $30 for general admission. Doors open at 7pm for a 7:30pm start.
ASTOR THEATRE
HELLO DANKNESS SCREENING AT THEATRE ROYAL
Tuesday 23 January 2024
HELLO DANKNESS
presented by Castlemaine Documentary Festival in partnership with Main FM & Theatre Royal
7.30pm start, followed by live Q&A with SODA JERK
Tickets $25 and $20 concession.
Theartre Royal
Club CDoc - Sound & Vision Workshop 1
Saturday 25 November 2023
A full-day workshop developing technical skills in sound and vision – focusing on getting content and coverage when making short non-fiction films - led by brilliant local practitioners, Kyla Brettle, Tony Jackson and Leonie Van Eyk.
Please bring your lunch with you!
Castlemaine Senior Citizens Centre
Club CDoc SENSES OF CINEMA
Saturday 7 October 2023
screening of the John Hughes and Tom Zubrycki film, followed by Q & A with director John Hughes
Northern Arts Hotel
DOCUMENTARY FILMMAKING MASTERCLASS FOR LOCALS
Saturday 9 September 2023
A Documentary Masterclass with three of the documentary world’s most experienced practitioners on hand to inspire and educate you. Producer/Director Tony Jackson, Editor Bergen O’Brien and Sam Dinning from VicScreen will be running a 3 hour storytelling masterclass with tips and techniques to help you create a compelling short documentary.
Whether you’re planning on shooting a grand production or a simple film shot on your phone, Tony, Bergen and Sam will help you tell the best story possible.
Northern Arts Hotel
YOUNG PLATO - Online
Sunday 18 June 2023
View YOUNG PLATO online for up to 72 hours from the screening time of 5pm Sunday 18th June
Online
WEED + WINE - Online
Sunday 18 June 2023
View WEED + WINE online for up to 72 hours from the screening time of 2pm Sunday 18th June
Online
INTO THE ICE ONLINE
Sunday 18 June 2023
View INTO THE ICE online for up to 72 hours from the screening time of 11am Sunday 18th June
online
THE THIEF COLLECTOR - ONLINE
Saturday 17 June 2023
View THE THIEF COLLECTOR online for 72 hours from the session Start Time
online
ONLINE - FESTIVAL PASS
Saturday 17 June 2023
If you can't come to us, we'll come to you!
Stream 7 feature documentaries- TRAINED TO SEE, WATANDAR MY COUNTRYMAN, EQUAL THE CONTEST, THE THIEF COLLECTOR, INTO THE ICE, WEED & WINE and YOUNG PLATO from your own home.
Films will be available to watch for 72 hours from the start time of the Theatre Royal screening.
Online
EQUAL THE CONTEST- ONLINE
Saturday 17 June 2023
Online Streaming of EQUAL THE CONTEST.
Available to view for 72 hours from 5pm Saturday 17th June
ONLINE
WATANDAR ONLINE
Saturday 17 June 2023
View WATANDAR on line for up to 72 hours from 2pm Saturday 17th June
Online
TRAINED TO SEE- ONLINE
Saturday 17 June 2023
View Trained to see online for up to 72 hours from the screening time- 11am Saturday 17th June.
Online
GRASS
Sunday 18 June 2023
The extraordinary early silent masterpiece, GRASS - made in 1925 accompanied by a live-music score by ZÖJ - a Ballarat-based duo featuring the exquisite voice of Gelareh Pour and Persian Kamancheh, and Brian O'Dwyer on drum kit.
GRASS is testament to the sheer forces of nature and the human spirit as we witness the annual migration of the nomadic Bakhtiari tribe into Iran. In this silent film, fifty thousand people and half a million animals make a perilous journey each year in search of fresh grasslands, crossing a raging river torrent nearly a kilometre wide and traversing over an impossible terrain up sheer snow-covered mountains to finally descend to their winter pasture.
An astonishing migration - never captured on film before - that proved to be a journey far more arduous — and cinematic — than the filmmakers ever could have planned. The achievements of the Bakhtiari migration grow more astonishing as they and their animals face greater and greater struggles.
Theatre Royal
WEREWOLVES
Between Saturday 17 June 2023 and Sunday 18 June 2023
Hunt down werewolves or tear villagers to shreds.
Fun for young & old in this interactive survival game in The Yurt
About this event
As night falls on the town of Millers Hollow, there’s trouble afoot and werewolves are stalking the innocent villagers. As each morning breaks, the death toll rises and it’s up to the villagers to try and find the werewolves lurking in plain sight among them.
In this immersive game of accusation, deceit and fun/murder, a room full of strangers are each given a card with their role and pitted against each other as they try to work together to weed out the werewolves and avoid hanging their own.
Is the person sitting across from you telling the truth? Are they a villager as they claim to be? Are they avoiding eye contact? Or are you being played and about to become the next corpse on the pile?
Presented by: the inimitable games-master Nick Phillips
The Yurt
YOUNG PLATO
Sunday 18 June 2023
An inspiring story that charts the dream of Elvis-loving school headmaster Kevin McArevey -- a maverick who is determined to change the fortunes of an inner-city community plagued by urban decay, sectarian aggression, poverty and drugs.
The all-boys primary school in post-conflict Belfast, Northern Ireland, becomes a hot house for questioning violence, as the headmaster sends his young wards home each day armed with the wisdom of the ancient Greek philosophers. The boys challenge their parents and neighbors to forsake the prejudice that has kept this low-level civil war on the boil for decades. YOUNG PLATO hums with the confidence of youth, a tribute to the power of the possible – and restoring hope in the heart of a battered community.
Directed by Declan McGrath & Neasa Ni Chianain
2021 Ireland 1 hr 42 minutes
English subtitles
Theatre Royal
CASTLEMAINE WARRIORS
Sunday 18 June 2023
CASTLEMAINE WARRIORS
The Unbelievable story of how history was remade in Castlemaine
The Yurt
TERROR NULLIUS
Sunday 18 June 2023
Part political satire, eco-horror and road movie, TERROR NULLIUS is a political revenge fable which offers an unwriting of Australian national mythologies. Binding together a documentary impulse with the bent plotlines of Australian film texts, Soda_Jerk’s revisionist history opens a willful narrative space where cinema fictions and historical facts permeate each other in new ways. The apocalyptic desert camps of Mad Max 2 become the site of refugee detention, feminist motorcycle gangs rule the highways, and flesh-eating sheep are recast as anti-colonial insurgents.
Director Soda Jerk
2018 USA/Australia 54 mins
The Yurt
WEED & WINE
Sunday 18 June 2023
Continents apart from one another, two farming families aim to reinvent themselves on their land. One family—a poised French matriarch and the son she raised among her vines—tends a centuries-old, biodynamic vineyard in the Southern Rhône in France. On the other side of the world in Humboldt, California, another family—a brash father and his more reserved son—carefully manage a state-recognized, organic cannabis farm.
Weed & Wine interweaves their stories, urging comparisons between France’s revered winemaking traditions and the entrepreneurial horticulture springing up with the legalisation of cannabis. But both farmers—the vintner and the pot-grower—face uncertainty. Can weed—long relegated to the criminal shadows—become the new wine? And can the ancient French winemaking industry survive intact into the twenty-first century, as climate change and a new generation of millennial winemakers challenge the old guard?
Director Rebecca Cohen
2022 USA, France , 89 mins
English & French
Theatre Royal
INTO THE ICE
Sunday 18 June 2023
INTO THE ICE follows groundbreaking and dangerous research expeditions over the Greenland Inland Ice. Melting ice caps are translating into rising sea levels, which will have major, global consequences.
Director Lars Ostenfeld has gained unique access to follow some of the world's leading glaciologists – quite literally - deep into the melting heart of climate change. They risk their own lives as they search for new and essential data to help answer one of the most urgent questions of our time. The answer lies within the ice itself.
Director: Lars Henrik Ostenfeld
Producer: Malene Flindt Pederson
2020 Denmark
1hr 26mins
English subtitles
Theatre Royal
SECRETS IN THE SCAT
Between Saturday 17 June 2023 and Sunday 18 June 2023
Join biologists on an ingenious hunt for the clues hidden in animal poop.
Scott Burnett is “Scatman”—an Australian ecologist on the trail of the secrets of poop. By identifying and analysing animal scat for DNA and hormones, he discovers essential details of their behaviour, how they fit in the ecosystem, and even how to protect them.
From the mysterious cubic poop of wombats to the precious pink waste of whales, join scientists as they explore nature’s smelliest secrets on an ingenious hunt for the clues hidden in animal poop.
Writer/Director Ruth Berry
2023 Australia/Germany
The Yurt
EARLY BIRD FESTIVAL PASS
Friday 16 June 2023
EARLY BIRD FESTIVAL PASSES - AVAILABLE UNTIL 5TH MAY
Enjoy the full Theatre Royal Program offering including:
LOCALS opening night celebration.
Friday's SENSILAB presentation
8 Feature Documentaries
Saturday Night Party with M79
SENSILABS Downloadable Augmented Reality Walking Tour of Castlemaine
Sunday Night Screening of GRASS with Live Musical Score by ZÖJ
(Excludes YURT Program and SENSILAB Workshop)
FESTIVAL PASS
Friday 16 June 2023
Enjoy the full Theatre Royal Program offering including:
LOCALS opening night celebration
Friday's SENSILAB presentation
8 Feature Documentaries
Saturday Night Party with M79
SENSILABS Downloadable Augmented Reality Walking Tour of Castlemaine
Sunday Night Screening of GRASS with Live Musical Score by ZÖJ
(Excludes SENSILAB WORKSHOP and YURT Program)
SATURDAY NIGHT PARTY
Saturday 17 June 2023
M79 are a five-piece electronic funk-rock dance band who cruise the sonic freeway of love and groove.
Briega Young and Lisa Mills deliver the sass with punchy lyrics and velvet harmonies, while Euan Williamson slides in hot licks, tight beats and soul vox. Telford Scully crafts sic beats, keys, slide guitar and vocoda, with Bradley Dawson driving the bass and holding the funk.
M79 have rocked Castlemaine’s Spring Ball, The Bridge Hotel, Theatre Royal, The Taproom and Shotkickers in Melbourne.
An M79 gig WILL put you in the driver’s seat.
Theatre Royal
COMBINATION TICKET: THE THIEF COLLECTOR + LIVE MUSIC
Saturday 17 June 2023
Enjoy the film and stick around for the dance!
THE THIEF COLLECTOR
It was one of the most audacious and puzzling crimes of a generation.
In 1985, one of the most valuable paintings of the 20th century vanished after being cut from its frame at the University of Arizona Museum of Art. 32 years later, the painting was rediscovered in the unlikeliest of places.
The Thief Collector will unravel the deeper layers of this infamous heist and explore just how far people are willing to go to weave their own grandiose narratives.
M79 LIVE
M79 are a five-piece electronic funk-rock dance band who cruise the sonic freeway of love and groove.
Briega Young and Lisa Mills deliver the sass with punchy lyrics and velvet harmonies, while Euan Williamson slides in hot licks, tight beats and soul vox. Telford Scully crafts sic beats, keys, slide guitar and vocoda, with Bradley Dawson driving the bass and holding the funk.
M79 puts YOU in the driver’s seat.
Theatre Royal
THE THIEF COLLECTOR
Saturday 17 June 2023
It was one of the most audacious and puzzling crimes of a generation.
In 1985, Willem de Kooning’s Woman-Ochre, one of the most valuable paintings of the 20th century, vanished into the desert after being cut from its frame at the University of Arizona Museum of Art. Over 32 years later, the painting was rediscovered in the unlikeliest of places.
The Thief Collector unravels the deeper layers of this infamous heist, exploring the complicated dynamics of family, the contours of criminality, and just how far people are willing to go to weave their own grandiose narratives.
A wildly entertaining film about a 1980s art heist that features twists, turns, and intentionally campy re-enactments.
Director Allison Otto
Producers Caryn Capotosto, Jill Howerton & Joshua Junau
2022 USA, 89 mins
Theatre Royal
EQUAL THE CONTEST
Saturday 17 June 2023
When the rules exclude you, rewrite them.
When a filmmaker joins a new local women’s footy club in Regional Victoria, a simple desire to play becomes a complex journey of inclusion and belonging. An unexpected turn means the team has to fight to play. Their campaign challenges age-old sporting traditions and joins the wider movement for gender equity.
Director Mitch Nivalis
2023 Australia Feature doc
Theatre Royal
CAMP DIFFERENT
Saturday 17 June 2023
50 young people of diverse ages and backgrounds with distinctly different backgrounds, each with their own unique abilities, interests and perspectives, came together in Maldon Victoria to share an extraordinary experience, attending a camp for three days to make a film about being different. This is what happened…
The Yurt
WALKING THE FISH - The Birth Of Castlemaine Fringe
Saturday 17 June 2023
WALKING THE FISH, a film by Michael Harkin tells the tale of the birth of Castlemaine Fringe. With interviews of the original participants, tales of scandal and the triumph of community arts, WALKING THE FISH delivers an insiders look into this intriguing local history.
Walking the Fish? You'd best come along to find out that that was all about! It’s a hoot!
The Yurt - Western Reserve
KEEP STEPPING
Saturday 17 June 2023
KEEP STEPPING follows the parallel stories of Gabi and Patricia, two remarkably different female street dancers, as they train for the biggest street dance competition in Australia: Destructive Steps. Filmed over seven years with intimate access to a breathtaking art-form, KEEP STEPPING is a coming-of-age story about love, obsession and transformative power of performance.
Competitive street dance is a multi-million-dollar global industry. Competitors dedicate their lives to winning, pushing themselves to the brink physically, mentally and financially. The sport exists in the urban fringes, largely discounted by the mainstream as a curiosity or misconceived as an Eighties hangover. Those within the world of street dance understand that it is more than this. It's a punishing mixture of athleticism and artistic expression, which promises empowerment and respect for those who rise to the top.
Director Luke Cornish
Producer Philip Busfield & Luke Cornish
2022 Australia, 93 mins
Western Reserve
WATANDAR MY COUNTRYMAN
Saturday 17 June 2023
Watandar, My Countryman spotlights the Afghan Cameleer Descendants. They are considered indigenous, colonial, and immigrants, all at the same time. When Muzafar began photographing them in an attempt to understand his own new Afghan-Australian identity, we began filming. His experience as a former Afghan-Hazara refugee along with his own wisdom and charisma presented a rare opportunity to re-examine Australia’s colonial history.
Watandar, My Countryman examines some of Australia and the world’s biggest geopolitical stories, including: the relationship between colonial, ancient, and immigrant Australians, our treatment of refugees, and the power of individuals to create change.
Director, Writer, Producer: Jolyon Hoff
Cast: Muzafar Ali
Australia 2022
Theatre Royal
TRAINED TO SEE
Saturday 17 June 2023
Three trailblazers enter an uncharted territory for women, fitted in combat boots as they stand in the annals of world history.
A hauntingly beautiful, archive-driven tribute to three legendary American women journalists - Martha Gellhorn, Lee Miller, and Margaret Bourke-White. 80 years ago, they shaped the burgeoning genre of photojournalism with a personal, empathetic perspective, making their way down the front lines to do so.
During the Second World War, women worked as official war correspondents for the first time. Through the eyes and thoughts of Gellhorn, Miller, and Bourke-White, we experience the horrors of war.
Director Luzia Schmid
2022 Germany, Italy, 106 mins
Theatre Royal
LOCALS 2023
Friday 16 June 2023
LOCALS is back with a wonderful selection of new creative short-form storytelling
After the roaring success of LOCALS at Castlemaine Documentary Festival 2022, we’re doing it all again!
In 2022 Castlemainians of all ages and experience produced an impressive slate of short documentaries to play on the festival’s opening night. The Theatre Royal was packed to the rafters with an eager audience ready to experience what our local talent had to offer.
In 2023 LOCALS is back with another selection of documentary shorts made by locals of Castlemaine and surrounds.
Come along to hear local stories told by local voices at this opening night celebration.
Theatre Royal Castlemaine
MONGOLIAN BLING
Friday 16 June 2023
Forget about nomads and monks, it's hip hop that's making Mongolia move in the 21st century. Mongolian Bling jumps into the thriving music scene in the capital; Ulaanbaatar, and follows stars as they rap nationwide.
Director Benj Binks
Editor Benj Binks, Davide Michielin
Producer Nubar Ghazarian
2012 Mongolia/Australia, 89 mins
Screened in the Yurt micro-cinema at Western Reserve.
The Yurt
SensiLab Presentation- XR Technology and Story Telling
Friday 16 June 2023
SITUATING XR TECHNOLOGY WITHIN THE BROADER HISTORY OF DOCUMENTARY AND NON-FICTION FILMMAKING AND ITS FUTURE DEVELOPMENT
Three world-renowned, leading industry experts Jon McCormack (SensiLab), Oscar Raby (SensiLab/VRTOV), and Nirma Madhoo (RMIT) will present the history of XR technology, and the future possibilities of XR to a general audience to get the community excited about the possibilities of XR technology, building an audience for future years. Following these presentations will be a panel discussion, moderated by Kate Clark (Monash University).
Phee Broadway Theatre
THE LAST DAUGHTER -Central Victorian Indigenous Film Fest
Saturday 3 June 2023
THE LAST DAUGHTER- THE STORY OF BRENDA MATTHEWS
Brenda’s first memories were of growing up in a loving white foster family, before she was suddenly taken away and returned to her Aboriginal family.
Decades later, she feels disconnected from both halves of her life. But the traumas of her past do not lie quietly buried.
So, she goes searching for the foster family with whom she had lost all contact.
Along the way she uncovers long-buried secrets, government lies, and the possibility for deeper connections to family and culture.
The Last Daughter is a documentary about Brenda’s journey to unearth the truth about her past, and to reconcile the two sides of her family.
The Engine Room
The UnRedacted : Club CDoc Screening
Wednesday 3 May 2023
A group of men trained by al-Qaeda are transferred from Guantanamo to the world’s first rehabilitation center for “terrorists” located in Saudi Arabia. Filmed over three years, with unprecedented access, this film is a complex and nuanced exploration of the men we have heard so much about but never heard from.
Join us for a special screening of The UnRedacted, “The Most Canceled Film of the Year” according to The Times. The film will be followed by a presentation and Q&A session with director Meg Smaker who will discuss what led to the film's blacklisting since its premiere at Sundance and how this film has now become the case study for freedom of speech and freedom of expression in the Arts.
Theatre Royal Castlemaine
PROGRAM LAUNCH and screening of BECAUSE WE HAVE EACH OTHER
Wednesday 26 April 2023
Join us for the first look at the Castlemaine Documentary Festival 2023 Program, premier screening of the 2023 festival trailer along side a screening of BECAUSE WE HAVE EACH OTHER.
Made over five years, BECAUSE WE HAVE EACH OTHER is a delightfully hyper-intimate feature from award winning
Australian Director Sari Braithwaite - a story of tenderness and turbulence, fragility and family, loss and love.
Theatre Royal Castlemaine
CDoc 2023 INDUSTRY LUNCH (CANCELLED)
Tuesday 25 April 2023
Come and meet other doco lovers and practitioners from regional and metro over the festival weekend.
Hosted by ROYAL SULTAN Castlemaine, a 1 minute walk from the Theatre Royal, this will be a BUFFET FEAST of Tandoori Cuisine.
We look forward to welcoming you to Castlemaine!
Royal Sultan
GUILTY - World Day Against the Death Penalty CDOC screening
Wednesday 10 October 2018
GUILTY is a very powerful and moving Australian-made feature documentary showing the final 72 hours in the life of Myuran Sukumaran, one of the Bali 9. Myuran was executed by the Indonesian authorities on 29th April 2015 along with fellow Australian Andrew Chan, but whilst on death row he became an accomplished artist under the guidance of Ben Quilty.
Phee Broadway Theatre
CASTLEMAINE DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL (CDOC) 2018
Between Friday 20 July 2018 and Sunday 22 July 2018
The Castlemaine Documentary Film Festival (CDOC) is an annual three day event held at the iconic Theatre Royal Castlemaine in central Victoria, Australia.
It features a world class program of 13 films showcasing a series of fascinating worlds populated by even more fascinating characters. In 2018 there are 6 Australian documentaries, live Q&A sessions with filmmakers and contributors, and 7 films directed by women, 4 of them Australian.
Theatre Royal Castlemaine
Castlemaine Documentary Film Festival roadshow - Dark Horse
Between Sunday 27 May 2018 and Sunday 24 June 2018
Experience the Castlemaine Documentary Film Festival (CDOC) as it takes to the road with a FREE film screening of the heart-warming film DARK HORSE, an inspirational true story of a group of friends from a working men's club who decide to take on the elite 'sport of kings' and breed themselves a racehorse.
The screening will be followed by a prerecorded Skype chat with the film director, Louise Osmond.
Various venues, see session times for details
CASTLEMAINE DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL (CDOC) 2017
Between Friday 21 July 2017 and Sunday 23 July 2017
The Castlemaine Documentary Film Festival (CDOC) is an annual three day event held in central Victoria, Australia.
It features an international programme showcasing a series of fascinating worlds populated by even more fascinating characters. The programme includes Australian cinema premieres plus live Skype and broadcast Q&A sessions.
Theatre Royal Castlemaine
CASTLEMAINE DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL 2016
Between Friday 26 August 2016 and Sunday 28 August 2016
The Castlemaine Documentary (CDOC) Film Festival is an annual three day event held in central Victoria, Australia.
It features an international programme showcasing a series of fascinating worlds populated by even more fascinating characters. The programme includes Australian cinema premieres plus live and broadcast Q&A sessions.
Presented by Festival Director and dual Emmy Award winner Geoffrey Smith
Theatre Royal
