DOCUMENTARIES
-
500 DAYS IN THE WILD
Brunswick Picture House
In her 50s and not an extreme athlete, Dianne Whelan spent six years hiking, biking, paddling, snowshoeing and skiing across Canada’s 24,000 km trail network - from the Atlantic to the Pacific to the Arctic. What began as a solo quest became a journey of resilience, connection and transformation. Along the way, she found wisdom in Indigenous teachings, kindness from strangers, and a deeper bond with the natural world—a quiet triumph that redefines what endurance and strength can look like.
-
BEYOND THE BREAK
Palace Byron Bay + Brunswick Picture House
In 2001, Lennox Head’s Joel Taylor was a rising bodyboarding star when a wave at Pipeline left him paralysed. For 20 years, he stayed out of the water, struggling with the loss of identity and purpose. The birth of his son sparked a return to the ocean—and the beginning of a powerful comeback. Through adaptive surfing, Joel found strength, community, and a new path. In 2023, he became a World Champion. A story of resilience, reinvention, and the healing power of the sea.
-
CHAMPIONS OF THE GOLDEN VALLEY
Palace Byron Bay
In Afghanistan’s remote, snow-covered valleys, a homegrown ski culture blossomed - bringing together young athletes from rival villages to race, connect, and dream. Guided by former Olympic hopeful Alishah Farhang, and armed with handmade skis and boundless spirit, they built something rare and beautiful. But just as this joyful movement gained momentum, sweeping change halted it. This inspiring story captures the light they sparked on the slopes - and the resilience, unity, and hope that continue to endure beyond the snow.
-
COMMON WEALTH
Palace Byron Bay + Palace Ballina
Kane Guglielmi is on a journey to explore more compassionate alternatives to the systems we take for granted. What began as a personal quest - sparked by trauma and transformation - evolves into a global search for fairness, empathy, and unity. Through candid conversations and cross-cultural encounters, the film invites us to question old structures and imagine a more hopeful future where equity and care sit at the heart of how we live.
-
COMPARSA
Palace Byron Bay + Brunswick Picture House
In a Guatemalan barrio silenced by fear, two teenage sisters lead a luminous rebellion—unleashing giant puppets, fire, and artful performance to protest gender violence in a joyful fight for survival.
Sisters Lesli and Lupe use art and performance to rally local youth and heal deep wounds.
-
DEEPER
Palace Byron Bay + Palace Ballina Fair
From saving lives to risking his own, Dr Richard “Harry” Harris embarks on a perilous cave dive into one of the world’s most extreme underwater systems. Set in New Zealand’s remote Pearse Resurgence, this gripping documentary explores the limits of human endurance and the cost of chasing the unknown. Directed by Jennifer Peedom (SHERPA) and Alex Barry, with stunning visuals and Harris’s own footage, it’s a breathtaking journey into darkness, danger, and the depths of human curiosity.
-
FOOLS PARADISE (LOST?)
The Drill Hall + Palace Byron Bay
Fools’ Paradise (Lost?) is a love letter to the wild - both the wilderness that surrounds us and the untamed spirit within.
At a time when climate change and environmental degradation threaten the future of life on earth, this film asks: how do we heal ourselves through reconnection to nature, and how do we heal what remains of our planet?
-
JOHN LILLY & THE EARTH COINCIDENCE CONTROL OFFICE
Palace Byron Bay + Brunswick Picture House
Isolation tanks, dolphin communication, and LSD-fuelled experiments - neuroscientist John C. Lilly’s life was as strange as it was visionary. Blending science, mysticism and counterculture, this inventive documentary explores Lilly’s eccentric legacy through rare archival footage and surreal storytelling. A mind-bending dive into consciousness, control, and the cosmic unknown. A cinematic time capsule that asks how far we’re willing to go in the search for truth, freedom, and connection.
-
JOURNEY HOME, DAVID GULPILIL
Palace Byron Bay + Palace Ballina Fair
Before his passing in 2021, iconic Yolŋu actor David Gulpilil asked to be returned to his ancestral Homeland of Gupulul. This moving documentary follows his family’s epic journey across more than 4,000 kilometres to honour that promise. As they navigate vast landscapes and cultural obligations, the film offers a rare and respectful glimpse into Yolŋu ceremony, kinship, and connection to Country. It’s a powerful and deeply spiritual homecoming for a man who walked between two worlds with extraordinary presence.
-
MARLON WILLIAMS: TWO WORLDS - NGĀ AO E RUA
Palace Byron Bay
At the height of his global success, Marlon Williams returned home to Ōhinehou/Lyttelton to create something deeply personal - an album sung entirely in te reo Māori, the language of his ancestors. Filmed over four years, this intimate documentary follows his journey of reconnection, as he navigates identity, heritage, and the risks of creative transformation. With appearances from Lorde, Florence Welch and Aldous Harding, it’s a moving portrait of an artist finding his way home through language, music, and whakapapa.
-
MISTRESS DISPELLER
Palace Byron Bay
In China, a surprising new profession has emerged - “mistress dispellers” hired to break up affairs and preserve marriages. With extraordinary access, this compelling documentary follows one such case as professional Wang Zhenxi goes undercover to intervene in a crumbling relationship. As the story unfolds from all sides of the love triangle, Mistress Dispeller offers a rare glimpse into the emotional, cultural, and moral complexities of modern relationships, where love, loyalty, and social expectation collide behind closed doors.
-
NANSIE
Palace Byron Bay + Palace Ballina Fair
A moving reminder that love endures, even when memory does not.
Dementia affects countless families, yet Nansie offers an unusually tender window into one - the Miller family of Sydney. Sisters Adelaide and Lucinda share a deep devotion to their grandmother Ann, affectionately known as “Nansie,” who once helped raise them and remains central to their lives, even as dementia gradually reshapes hers.
-
ORWELL 2+2=5
Palace Byron Bay
Blending archival footage, past screen adaptations, and striking 21st-century imagery, this timely documentary from Oscar-nominated director Raoul Peck (I Am Not Your Negro) explores the enduring power of George Orwell’s 1984. As it revisits Orwell’s final months and the creation of his seminal novel, the film examines concepts like Doublethink, Newspeak, and Big Brother - ideas that feel increasingly urgent in today’s world. A powerful cinematic essay on surveillance, truth, and the fragility of freedom in modern society.
-
THE EXTRAORDINARY MISS FLOWER
Palace Byron Bay
From the creators of 20,000 Days on Earth comes a bold and intoxicating hybrid of cinema, theatre and memory. When a trove of handwritten letters from the 1960s is uncovered, the hidden life of Geraldine “Miss” Flower is reimagined through music, performance and dreamscape. Featuring Emilíana Torrini, Nick Cave, and Richard Ayoade, this haunting and poetic film transforms one woman’s passion and mystery into a fevered celebration of love, longing and the power of art to resurrect the forgotten.
-
THE HEART REVOLUTION
Drill Hall Theatre & Palace Byron Bay
Your heart is more than a pump - it’s a powerful, intelligent organ that shapes how we think, feel, and connect. This poetic documentary blends stunning imagery with groundbreaking science to reveal the heart’s hidden role at every stage of life, from before the first beat to beyond the last. Exploring emotion, memory, and meaning, it invites us to reimagine what it means to live with an open heart - and offers a transformative new understanding of what makes us human.
-
TURTLE WALKER
Palace Ballina Fair
In the late 1970s, Satish Bhaskar set out on a remarkable journey along India’s coastlines to protect endangered sea turtles. Decades later, after a devastating tsunami, he returns with a haunting question: what happens when their nesting beaches vanish? Visually stunning and deeply moving, this award-winning documentary blends poetic storytelling with urgent ecological insight. A tribute to one man’s unwavering dedication, it offers both wonder and warning - reminding us of the fragile balance between nature, time, and human impact.
-
WE THE SURFERS
Palace Ballina Fair
In coastal Liberia, a grassroots movement has given rise to a thriving surf culture. We the Surfers captures the journey of the Robertsport community as they build their own surf club - fueled by international support, donated boards, and unstoppable local passion. This extended cut celebrates the power of unity, resilience, and shared love for the ocean. Screening alongside a curated selection of global surf shorts, it’s a moving tribute to surfing as a force for connection and community.
-
YURLU | COUNTRY
Starcourt Theatre & Coorabell Hall
A powerful portrait of Banjima Elder Maitland Parker in his final year set against the striking yet scarred landscapes of the Pilbara. Battling mesothelioma, he fights to heal his ancestral homelands—poisoned by the deadly legacy of the Wittenoom asbestos mines. Both intimate and urgent, the film reveals one of Australia’s worst environmental disasters through the eyes of those most affected. A haunting ode to Country, cultural survival, and the enduring strength of Banjima spirit.