Nine great Australians, nine remarkable films, nine nights at Surry Hills’ beloved Golden Age Cinema. Selected for their own connection to Vivid Sydney’s...

Golden Age of Humanity Film Festival

Location:

80 Commonwealth St
2010 NSW
Australia

Venue:
Golden Age Cinema & Bar
Golden Age of Humanity cinema door
Golden Age of Humanity cinema door

Featuring

Amar Singh

Amar Singh

Amar Singh is a charity founder, social entrepreneur, diversity advocate, and dedicated volunteer. Amar’s efforts were recognized with the 2023 Australian of the Year Local Hero award. Turbans 4 Australia, goes above and beyond to support people and communities in need. The charity has provided relief during many disasters such as Bushfires, floods, and COVID-19.

Saxon Mullins

Saxon Mullins

Saxon Mullins is Director of Advocacy at Rape and Sexual Assault Research and Advocacy. In 2018 Saxon appeared on Four Corners' episode ‘I am that girl’ where she gave up her anonymity to tell the story of her 2013 sexual assault and the subsequent criminal trials and appeals. The Four Corners episode led to the NSW Law Reform Commission to review the section of the NSW Crimes Act that deals with consent in relation to sexual assault and has ultimately led NSW to change their laws. Saxon is passionate about ongoing meaningful engagement with consent and healthy sexual relationships. 

Dr Daniel Nour

Dr Daniel Nour

In August 2020, Dr Daniel Nour identified a healthcare gap for vulnerable populations in New South Wales and founded Street Side Medics, a non-profit, GP-led mobile service for the homeless. With 600 volunteers, and ten clinics, his initiative has profoundly impacted thousands, addressing overlooked medical needs and diagnosing otherwise unnoticed conditions. Despite his full-time roll at Royal North Shore Hospital, Nour dedicates his afternoons to ensure the clinics operate smoothly, showcasing his firm commitment to enhancing Australian lives through healthcare. 

Kylie Kwong

Kylie Kwong

For Kylie Kwong cooking is a call to act.  The constant question that drives her practice as a cook, as a collaborator and creative is how her practice can drive positive social change.  This energy is driven by a philosophy that the best way to care of self is to be connected to community.  Through her multiple connections and collaborations, she creates space, time and experiences that allow us to imagine that there is a better, more sustainable more interconnected way. 

Megan Davis

Megan Davis

Scientia Professor Megan Davis is Pro Vice-Chancellor Society (PVCS) at UNSW Sydney and holds the Balnaves Chair in Constitutional Law and is director of the Indigenous Law Centre, UNSW Law. Professor Davis is the 2024-2025 Whitlam Fraser Harvard Chair in Australian Studies and a Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School.

Prof is a Sydney Peace Prize Laureate for the Uluṟu Statement from the Heart in 2022 and in 2023 Prof Davis was named on TIME Magazine’s TIME NEXT100 list of the Next Generation of Global leaders. She was also named Marie Claire “Powerhouse of the Year” in 2023. She is a previous Overall Winner of the AFR Women of Influence (now Women of Leadership) awards in 2018 and has previously been named on the AFR Annual Cultural Power list and AFR's Australia's top Legal Powerbrokers list.

Prof Davis was co-chair of the Uluṟu Dialogue and worked on the constitutional recognition of Indigenous peoples for over twelve years and was instrumental in the Uluṟu Statement from the Heart.

She is a globally recognised expert in human rights and Indigenous peoples rights and was formerly expert and Chair of the United Nations Expert Mechanism on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and expert member and Chair of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

Carly Findlay OAM

Carly Findlay OAM

Carly Findlay OAM is an award-winning writer, speaker, appearance activist and proud disabled woman. A vocal advocate for disability rights, she authored the memoir Say Hello, edited Growing Up Disabled in Australia and has contributed to CNN, Vogue, and ABC. In 2020, Carly received the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM), in recognition for her work as a disability advocate and activist. She continues to shape the discourse on diversity and representation and is recognised as a significant changemaker and community leader.   

Bernard Collaery

Bernard Collaery

Bernard Collaery is an esteemed Australian solicitor and barrister known for his advocacy in catastrophic personal injury cases and human rights. He represented families in major tragedies, including the Thredbo landslide and the Glenbrook rail disaster. As the Attorney-General for the Australian Capital Territory, he introduced significant human rights legislation. Collaery provided legal counsel to the East Timor Resistance for over three decades and faced charges in 2018 under the Intelligence Services Act, linked to allegations of ASIS bugging the East Timorese government. Although the charges were dropped in 2022, restrictions on discussing the case persist. Collaery continues to support Indigenous Australians and marginalised communities and is the author of Oil Under Troubled Water. His second book, The Trial is due to be released later this year.

Kate McClymont

Kate McClymont

Kate McClymont is an investigative journalist with the Sydney Morning Herald. She is a ten-time winner of journalism’s most prestigious award, the Walkley, including the Gold Walkley.

She was named the 2012 NSW Journalist of the Year for her investigations into the fraudulent activities of Michael Williamson, the head of the Health Services Union and the business activities of the now-jailed ex-NSW Labor minister, Eddie Obeid.

Kate was inducted into the Media Hall of Fame for her contribution to the industry in 2017 and in 2020 she was made a Member of the Order of Australia (AM) for her services to the print media and investigative journalism. 

Craig Foster AM

Craig Foster AM

Craig Foster AM was the 2023 NSW Australian of the Year, is a celebrated athlete, broadcaster and human rights advocate. With 29 caps as a Socceroo and a tenure as Captain of Crystal Palace FC, when he hung up his boots he then transitioned into a respected broadcaster at SBS for 20+ years and human rights champion. Foster's efforts include saving a Bahraini refugee, assisting Afghan women and girls escape the Taliban, and leading the 'Game Over' campaign for refugee freedom. Holding degrees in sport and law, Foster is also a prominent figure in anti-racism campaigns and continues to advocate for change through his speaking and writing. 

Access and Inclusion

  • Wheelchair Accessible - Access to the venue is suitable for wheelchairs (toilets, ramps/lifts etc.) and designated wheelchair spaces are available.

Event Details

Nine great Australians, nine remarkable films, nine nights at Surry Hills’ beloved Golden Age Cinema. Selected for their own connection to Vivid Sydney’s 2024 theme of humanity — through their advocacy, work or life story — nine notable Australians will introduce the film they have specially selected that connects with the festival theme.

A celebration of each of the curators, their contribution to culture, and some cinematic greats, join us at Golden Age Cinema for nine nights of illumination and surprise.  

Program

25 May - Viceroy’s House with Amar Singh
28 May - Bend It Like Beckham with Saxon Mullins (Sold out)
30 May - The Tracker with Megan Davis (Sold out)
1 June - Sicko with Daniel Nour
4 June - The Quiet Girl with Kylie Kwong
6 June - Clueless with Carly Findlay
8 June - Beau Travail with Bernard Collaery
13 June - All the President’s Men with Kate McClymont
15 June - Flee with Craig Foster

About the program

Amar Singh & Viceroy’s House

Saturday 25 May | 8pm

Delhi, 1947: Lord Mountbatten (Hugh Bonneville) has been assigned to the position of the last Viceroy, overseeing the last days of British colonial rule in the transition to Indian independence. The Viceroy and his wife Edwina (Gillian Anderson) must navigate culture shock, the expectations of propriety and simmering political tensions between the Hindu, Muslim and Sikh household staff. Among them are star-crossed lovers Jeet (Manish Dayal) and Aalia (Huma Qureshi), torn between their desire and sense of familial duty. This upstairs-downstairs conflict provides a fascinating glimpse into the lives of ordinary people caught up in forces beyond their control as writer-director Gurinder Chadha (Bend It Like Beckham) broadens her canvas to make the complex web of history accessible and engrossing.  

Saxon Mullins & Bend It Like Beckham

Tuesday 28 May | 8pm  

Instead of wanting to be like her older sister, who is preparing to be a traditional Indian wife, young Jess (Parminder Nagra) dreams of playing football professionally, much to her parents’ chagrin. Jules (Keira Knightley) notices Jess’s skills on the field and invites her to try out for the local women's football team. The two become close friends, bonding over parental strife, budding romances and their football-shaped dreams. Will Jess’s family accept her passion, or will she be forced to choose between her family and the sport she loves more than anything?

Megan Davis & The Tracker

Thursday 30 May | 8pm  

More than twenty years since its release, Rolf De Heer's mythic Western The Tracker has only grown richer and more haunting in its depiction of Colonialism's violent legacy. It is 1922, and government trooper the Fanatic (Gary Sweet) is leading an expedition to capture the Fugitive (Noel Wilton), an Aboriginal man accused of murdering a white woman. He and his white associates, the naive Follower and the jaded Veteran, recruit a skilled Aboriginal Tracker (David Gulpilli) to navigate their way through the outback, but as the pursuit grows more dangerous the crew begins to turn on each other and lines of loyalty are drawn in the sand.  

Daniel Nour & Sicko

Saturday 1 June | 8pm  

Sicko sees filmmaker-provocateur Michael Moore take on his most intimidating adversary: the US health insurance and the pharmaceutical industries. A brief primer on the history of American health care unpicks the tangled web of corporate malfeasance that has left almost 50 million (in 2007 numbers) citizens uninsured, while many of those who do have coverage find themselves ensnared in a nightmare of red tape and government-approved fraud that leaves them high and dry. Moore travels to Canada, the United Kingdom, France and Cuba, comparing the possibilities of a publicly funded health care system against the for-profit model that sees Americans from all walks of life forced into medically-induced poverty.  

Kylie Kwong & The Quiet Girl

Tuesday 4 June | 8pm  

A film that’s already made history as the highest-grossing Irish-language film of all time, The Quiet Girl feels like an instant classic. Child actor Catherine Clinch delivers an astounding debut performance as Cáit, a nine-year-old girl from an overcrowded, dysfunctional and impoverished family. Struggling at school and at home, she has learnt to hide in plain sight from those around her. As summer arrives and her pregnant mother’s due date approaches, Cáit is sent to live with distant relatives, the Kinsellas. In the warmth and love of their care, Cáit blossoms and discovers a new way of living. But in this house where affection grows and there are meant to be no secrets, she discovers one painful truth.  

Carly Findlay & Clueless

Thursday 6 June | 8pm  

A veritable classic of '90s teen cinema, Clueless follows Cher Horowitz (Alicia Silverstone), a student at Beverly Hills High who is sweet, pretty, popular, rich and...clueless. Loosely based on the Jane Austen novel Emma, this film begins as Cher and her best friend Dion (Stacey Dash) decide to mentor the new girl at school (Brittany Murphy). Complicating matters: Cher’s socially conscious stepbrother Josh (Paul Rudd) is home from college and there's a handsome new guy in town who loves Billie Holiday. Clueless does a wonderful job of skewering high school woes, life in L.A., and the fads, fashions, and cultural air of the 1990s.  

Fourteen years after she directed the iconic '80s high school comedy Fast Times at Ridgemont High, Amy Heckerling returned with this irresistible gem, featuring an era-appropriate soundtrack (with No Doubt, Supergrass, Velocity Girl and Coolio) and future stars Brittany Murphy, Paul Rudd and lady-of-that-moment Alicia Silverstone. It also spawned a TV series and a handful of enduring catch phrases. Come roll with your homies, already!  

*Circumstances beyond her control will prevent Carly from introducing the film live in Sydney, instead she has recorded a special introduction which will be played prior to the screening.

Bernard Collaery & Beau Travail

Saturday 8 June | 8pm  

With her ravishingly sensual take on Herman Melville’s Billy Budd, Sailor, Claire Denis firmly established herself as one of the great visual poets of our time. Amid the azure waters and sunbaked desert landscapes of Djibouti, a French Foreign Legion sergeant (Denis Lavant) sows the seeds of his own ruin as his obsession with a striking young recruit (Grégoire Colin) plays out to the thunderous, operatic strains of Benjamin Britten. Denis and cinematographer Agnès Godard fold military and masculine codes of honour, colonialism’s legacy, destructive jealousy and repressed desire into shimmering, hypnotic images that ultimately explode in one of the most startling and unforgettable endings in all of modern cinema.  

Kate McClymont & All the President’s Men

Thursday 13 June | 8pm  

Based on the Watergate scandal that nearly destroyed a US administration, All The President's Men is a brilliantly realised story of old-school investigative journalism and the people who drove it. In Nixon's paranoid America, 1972, five men have been arrested breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters under cover of darkness. The Washington Post gives this minor story to Bob Woodward (Robert Redford), who learns that the men have ties to both the CIA and the Presidency. As the story snowballs Carl Bernstein (Dustin Hoffman) is assigned as Woodward's partner and despite their personal differences the reporters must work together, drawn deeper into a dangerous conspiracy that goes all the way to the top.  

Craig Foster & Flee

Saturday 15 June | 2.30pm  

This acclaimed documentary uses animation interspersed with archival footage to tell an extraordinary story of perseverance and hope. In conversation with director Jonas Poher Rasmussen, Amin Nawabi recounts his harrowing journey as a child, an odyssey that took him from Afghanistan through Sweden and Russia before settling as a refugee in Denmark. Separated from all that he knew Amin grapples with a painful secret he has kept hidden for 20 years, one that threatens to derail the life he has built for himself and his soon-to-be husband.

This film will screen with the premiere of the 20-minute short film The Forgotten People, a documentary produced by Amnesty Australia in which Craig Foster travels to Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, the world’s largest refugee camp with 1 million Rohinga refugees.

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Access and Inclusion

  • Wheelchair Accessible - Access to the venue is suitable for wheelchairs (toilets, ramps/lifts etc.) and designated wheelchair spaces are available.

Sponsors

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