In the Company of Actors

Sane Inside Insanity

October 2025 •English

What is the secret behind the success of "Rocky Horror"? Is it the music? The actors? The comedy? It's certainly not the Special Effects. "Rocky Horror" has been around for more than 40 years, and still continues to be successful in the movie theaters as well as on stage. This documentary is highlighting the history of "Rocky Horror", which started off as a two-page script written in crayons, and ended up with two movies, tons of merchandise, millions of fans and world touring shows, grossing more than $500 million in revenue.

The Talent Show

April 2023 •Korean

Middle-aged women start acting and launch a drama club. However, nothing big or small goes right. But they never give up the play.

Whiteley

May 2017 •English

A visual journey into the life and legacy of one of Australia's most celebrated artists, Brett Whiteley.

Jane

January 1962 •English

Documentary focusing on 25 year-old actress Jane Fonda as she and her director Andreas Voutsinas prepare a stage play called The Fun Couple for Broadway.

The Legacy of Othello

June 2022 •German

A fascinating exploration of the literary — The Tragedy of Othello, the Moor of Venice, by English playwright William Shakespeare (1604) — and lyrical — Othello, by Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi (1887) — myth of Othello, the desperately tragic story of a Moorish general in the army of the Venetian Republic whose absurd jealousy poisons his love for his wife Desdemona.

Patrice Chéreau, Pascal Greggory, une autre solitude

January 1996 •French

A look at the entire process of creating and developing Patrice Chéreau’s third staging of "In the Solitude of Cotton Fields" by Bernard Marie Koltès with Pascal Greggory and Chéreau himself. From the first reading around the table through the first contact with the performance space, rehearsals and lighting to opening night, the entire creative process unfurls in front of our eyes. The film shows us the evolving and ongoing dialogue between Greggory and Chéreau, a dialogue full of crises and magical moments of harmony and insight via which the truth, intensity, complexity, mystery and depth of Koltès’ text gradually emerge to form an implicit bond between these two men. The film also shows Chéreau directing rehearsals for Mozart’s "Don Giovanni" in Salzburg, revealing both the unity of and profound differences between his opera and theater work.

Bra Boys

March 2007 •English

A film about the cultural evolution of the Sydney beach side suburb of Maroubra and the social struggle faced by it's youth - the notorious surf gang known as the Bra Boys.

The Occupation of Cockatoo Island 1989

Invalid date •English

Documents the Cockatoo Island Dockyard occupation and industrial actions of 1989.

And the Dogs Were Silent

April 1976 •French

For 'Et les chiens se taisaient' Maldoror adapted a piece of theatre by the poet and politician Aimé Césaire (1913–2008), about a rebel who becomes profoundly aware of his otherness when condemned to death. His existential dialogue with his mother reverberates around the African sculptures on display at the Musée de l'Homme, a Parisian museum full of colonial plunder whose director was the Surrealist anthropologist Michel Leiris.

The Original Mermaid

February 2002 •English

Story of Annette Kellerman, the international swimming vaudeville and silent screen star whose life story inspired the MGM classic Million Dollar Mermaid starring Esther Williams, which featured lavish Busby Berkeley scenes.

Sakura-tai Chiru

April 1988 •Japanese

A documentary about the lives of actors in the Sakura-tai theatrical troupe, which had arrived in the island of Hiroshima to begin preparations for the staging of a play just before the atomic bombing.

Pistolteatern

February 2004 •Swedish

Pistolteatern in Stockholm, Sweden, was a leading experimental scene in the mid 1960s, comparable to the Living Theater in New York. In the years 1964-67. Pistolteatern produced theatre plays, exhibitions and happenings at a very high pace. The name, Pistolteatern, comes from two of creators, PI Lind and STaffan OLzon.

The Fibros and The Silvertails

January 2007 •English

The teams are Wests and Manly. The year is 1978. Manly are the new face of rugby league and have won the premiership three times in the last decade. Wests have to look back to 1952. Then a new coach takes over at Wests. Roy Masters coins the phrase — the fibros and the silvertails — to describe the struggle of the western suburbs against the elite of the city’s north and east. The season will become a war of words off the field and a battle on the field. The game will be overshadowed by violence and refereeing controversy. At the start, Wests and Manly are just two teams among many. By the end, they will be bitter rivals. Fibro and silvertail will be part of our language. And everyone will have two teams — their own team and the team playing Manly. This is the story of one of sport’s classic feuds.

Ghosthunter

June 2018 •English

In Sydney, Australia, Jason King, a security guard and a part-time ghost hunter, has spent decades searching for his absent father. When this personal endeavor crosses paths with a police investigation, an unspeakable family secret comes to light.

Divadlo československé armády

January 1953 •Czech

Disappear Here

April 2025 •English

The vexed question of how to live an artistic life is illustrated in DISAPPEAR HERE, the story of Australian 90's alternative group Glide and founding songwriter William Arthur - in an atmospheric, texturally rich exploration of thwarted ambition in the independent music scene of 1990's Sydney. This extraordinary artist and the shifting sands of the music industry are revisited by band members as well as Aussie music industry luminaries including Tim Rogers (You Am I), Jamie Hutchings (Bluebottle Kiss), Peter Fenton (Crow) and Jane Gazzo (ABC's Recovery and Triple J). DISAPPEAR HERE is a completely independent production which was directed, shot, edited and written by Ben deHoedt.

My Voice, My Life

October 2014 •

A Hong Kong documentary directed by Oscar winner Ruby Yang, chronicles the trials and tribulations of a group of under-privileged middle school students as they undergo six months of vigorous training to produce a musical on stage.

Sydney 2000: Stories of Olympic Glory

August 2001 •English

A documentary covering the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney.

Island Shunters

January 1977 •English

Short documentary on the shunters in the Darling Island, Sydney, Australia railyard. Filmed in 1977.

Firestarter: The Story of Bangarra

February 2021 •English

Taking us through Bangarra Dance Theatre’s spectacular growth, we follow the story of how three young Aboriginal brothers — Stephen, David and Russell Page — turned the newly born dance group into a First Nations cultural powerhouse.