A screen lover’s guide to MWF
From film essays and dealing with death in the digital age to pop culture & feminism, get to these Melbourne Writers Festival events
With Melbourne Writers Festival fast approaching, we’ve combed the 300+ events to bring you our top picks for lovers of film, TV and all things digital.
Film Essays
Dive in to the film essay genre with two award-winning documentary makers. Director and producer Santilla Chingaipe (Date My Race) and writer–director John Hughes (Love & Fury: Judith Wright and ‘Nugget’ Coombs) share their knowledge, passions and industry experience on telling documentary stories.
Death in the Digital Age
When rappers are resurrected as holograms and actors appear in movies from beyond the grave, how is technology changing our understanding of death and reality? Technology researcher Michael Arnold, director of The Ethics Centre Simon Longstaff, and Elizabeth Tan, author of the speculative fiction work Rubik, explore the technological anxiety and ethical implications behind these innovations.
David Grann: Killers of the Flower Moon
Fresh off the back of The Lost City of Z’s showings at MIFF, investigative journalist and New Yorker writer David Grann returns with Killers of the Flower Moon, a gripping exploration of the murders of Osage Nation members in 1920s Oklahoma. With Martin Scorsese reportedly set to adapt this for the big screen, discover this thrilling true-crime story before everyone else.
The Dark Side of Womanhood
Get the jump on upcoming HBO series The Deuce, chronicling the rise of the porn industry in 1970s New York. Staff writer Megan Abbott shares her approach to depicting the dark, complicated interior lives of women in The Deuce and her many novels, and together with literature icon Joyce Carol Oates, explores the literary and cinematic predecessors of these narratives.
Pop Culture & Feminism
In the age of Beyoncé, Girls and Wonder Woman, how does pop culture help young women make sense of their place in the world? Amani Al-Khatahtbeh, Hera Lindsay Bird, Brodie Lancaster and Patricia Lockwood talk representation, diversity and online support networks — and how TV, music and the internet are shaping the next generation of feminists.
MWF is on from Friday 25 August to Sunday 3 September. From the page to the screen, there is something for everyone who reads.
Check out the full program here.
