Daytime Documentary Series Ochre and Ink & The Last Goldfish
About
Join us for a brand-new series of three documentary days. Each will be daytime screenings and link with social themes throughout Autumn. The films will be hosted by local film academic Dr. Damien Spiccia, with a lively post-film discussion following each documentary. This Month, to celebrate culture, we are screening: "Ochre and Ink" (2011) dir James Bradley and "The Last Goldfish: Uncovering a Family's History of Forced Migration" (2017) dir Su Goldfish.Films provided by Kanopy.
Ochre and Ink (2011) dir James Bradley
Trained as a traditional Chinese brush painter, Zhou Xiaoping arrived in Australia in 1988 knowing almost nothing about the country. Travelling to the heart of the outback, he was surprised to see Aboriginal people for the first time and became fascinated by their art and culture. They welcomed him into their communities and the artists showed him their techniques of painting with ochre on bark.
Fast forward many years, and Xiaoping visits the famous artist Johnny Bulunbulun and his family, working on paintings for a major exhibition to be held in Beijing, on the theme of the 300-year trade in Trepang (sea cucumber) from the Aboriginal people of northern Australia via Macassan traders to China. Johnny tragically dies before he can make the journey to China for the exhibition. Instead, his wife and son attend the exhibition opening at the imposing Capital Museum in Beijing and perform an emotional ceremony in his honour.
Duration: 27 min
THE LAST GOLDFISH:UNCOVERING A FAMILY'S HISTORY OF FORCED MIGRATION (2017) dir SU GOLDFISH
As a child, Su Goldfish didn't realise she was white. As an adult, she finds a new family in Sydney's queer community, learns she is Jewish and that she has half-siblings on the other side of the world.
Su’s search for her lost family stretches from Australia to Trinidad and WWII Germany. Rich with archival images, this autobiographical documentary echoes through all those touched by forced migration. A gripping and deeply-moving story of one person’s search for the story of her life.
Official Selection at the Sydney Film Festival and the Adelaide Film Festival.
Duration: 1 hour, 21 min
Date: Friday 6 Mar 2026
Time: 2pm to 4.30pm
Venue: City of Perth Library
Book: https://www.trybooking.com/DGJPE
Location
City of Perth Library
573 Hay St, Perth WA 6000
Two films Celebrating World Autism Awareness Day
and
Sensory Overload (2025) dir Kiana Moore
Nearly 20% of the world is believed to be neurodiverse. This groundbreaking documentary aims to help rewrite the narrative around neurodivergence and sensory sensitivity by telling the true stories of individuals who prove that these aren’t deficiencies—they’re just differences.
Filmed over the course of a year, it follows each of our heroes as they navigate the ups and downs of their everyday lives in a world that wasn’t designed for neurodiversity. We’ll witness the ways neurodiversity can be a superpower, how it exists on a spectrum that touches so many of us, and how a deeper understanding of neurodiversity can help to create a more inclusive—and wonderfully sensitive—world for everyone. This isn’t just a film about the neurodivergent spectrum, it’s about the spectrum of human experience.
Film Duration: 56 min
Time: 2pm to 4.30pm
Venue: City of Perth Library
Book: https://www.trybooking.com/DGJQG
A Life's Work (2019) dir David Licata
What’s it like to dedicate your life to work that won’t be completed in your lifetime? Fifteen years ago, filmmaker David Licata focused on four projects and the people behind them in an effort to answer this universal question. The subjects are Jill Tarter, involved in the search for extraterrestrial intelligence since the 1970s, David and Jared Milarch, tree farmers, who clone old-growth trees to combat climate change; Robert Darden, a gospel music archivist founder of the Black Gospel Music Restoration Project; Paolo Soleri, a controversial architect behind Arcosanti, a town designed to test theories about housing an overpopulated planet while also preserving and nurturing the natural environment; and Jeff Stein, Soleri’s mentee at Arcosanti in the 1970s and successor after his death. We discover what inspired them to begin, what obstacles they face, what drives and sustains them, how they measure success of an endeavour they will not live to see completed. And who among us will truly see our work finished before we leave this earthly plain?
Film Duration: 1hr 30min
Date: Friday 22 May 2026
Time: 2.30pm to 4.30pm
Venue: City of Perth Library
Book: https://www.trybooking.com/DGJQT
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