Recent ABR Arts reviews

• Zoltán Szabó reviews David Robertson and Emanuel Ax’s Mozart concert series (Sydney Symphony Orchestra) ★★★★
• Gabriel García Ochoa reviews Found in Translation: Design in California and Mexico, 1915–1985 (Los Angeles County Museum of Art)
• Anwen Crawford reviews Lady Bird (Universal Pictures) ★★★★1/2
• Barney Zwartz reviews Tristan and Isolde (Melbourne Opera) ★★★★1/2
• Dion Kagan reviews Happy End (Transmission Films) ★★★★
• Tali Lavi reviews Hir (Red Stitch Actors' Theatre) ★★★★

Stella Prize shortlist

The longlist for the 2018 Stella Prize was announced last week. The twelve longlisted authors are: Shokoofeh Azar (The Enlightenment of the Greengage Tree, NewSouth); Bernadette Brennan (A Writing Life: Helen Garner and her work, Text); Kate Cole-Adams (Anaesthesia: The gift of oblivion and the mystery of consciousness, Text); Claire G. Coleman (Terra Nullius, Hachette); Michelle de Kretser (The Life to Come, Allen and Unwin); Beverley Farmer (This Water: Five tales, Giramondo); Paula Keogh (The Green Bell: A memoir of love, madness and poetry, Affirm Press); Krissy Kneen (An Uncertain Grace, Text); Sofie Laguna (The Choke, Allen and Unwin); Joyce Morgan (Martin Sharp: His life and times, Allen and Unwin); Mirandi Riwoe (The Fish Girl, NewSouth); and Alexis Wright (Tracker, Giramondo).

The Stella Prize judges’ report noted the diversity of the longlist, which encompassed ‘contemporary Aboriginal storytelling’ and international perspectives from ‘Indonesia, Iran and Sri Lanka’, as well as the ‘calibre of books from small publishers’. The judges this year were Julie Koh, James Ley, Fiona Stager (Chair), Louise Swinn, and Ellen van Neerven.

The Stella Prize, established in 2013, celebrates Australian women writers’ contribution to literature.

SSO Fellowships

Thirteen young classical musicians from Australia and New Zealand will join the Sydney Symphony Orchestra as part of its Fellowship program in 2018. The Fellows, who range from nineteen to twenty-eight years of age, are Tobias Aan, violin (ACT); Sami Butler, percussion (SA); Aidan Gabriels, horn (WA); Rachel Howie, flute (TAS); Alanna Jones, double bass (NZ); Justin Julian, viola (NSW); Magdalenna Krstevska, clarinet (VIC); Eve Osborn, oboe (NSW); Jenna Smith, trumpet (NSW); Amanda Tillett, trombone (SA); Alison Wormell, bassoon (NSW); Daniel Pini, cello (NSW); and Rollin Zhao, violin (ACT).

(photograph by Keith Saunders)

‘Participating in the program ensures that these musicians will emerge job-ready, be equipped with everything they need to secure positions with orchestras worldwide,’ said Fellowship Artistic Director Roger Benedict.

The 2018 Fellows were chosen from a field of more than 200 applicants from Australia and New Zealand. Applications for the 2019 Fellowships open in early March.

2018 French Film Festival

The annual Alliance Française French Film Festival returns to Palace Cinemas nationwide this year, with a selection of forty-seven features, two documentaries, and a television series. Artistic Director Philippe Platel, in his second year at the helm, has programmed a festival around the themes of ‘courage, friendship, and egalitarianism’, It includes an ‘LGBT strand’ in light on Australia’s recent ‘Yes’ vote for same-sex marriage.

The Festival will open with C’est la vie! (courtesy of Madman Entertainment), starring Jean-Pierre Bacri. C’est la vie! was the Closing Night Film at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival. Other highlights include Robin Campillo’s film about AIDS activism in early 1990s Paris, BPM (Beats Per Minute), which has won multiple international festival awards, including Venice; François Ozon’s Double Lover (L’amant double) featuring Jacqueline Bisset; and Édouard Deluc’s biopic Gaugin, starring Vincent Cassel in the titular role, set during the French post-impressionist’s imposed exile in Polynesia in 1891.

Thanks to Alliance Française, ten new and renewing ABR subscribers will receive two complimentary tickets to one festival session of their choice in Sydney, Melbourne, Canberra, Brisbane, Perth, and Adelaide for the duration of the festival. For more information, see the giveaways section below.

Vincent Cassell in Gaugin

The Sound of Falling Stars

In his July 2017 ABR Arts review of The Sound of Falling Stars, Ben Brooker wished the production a ‘long and illustrious life’. His wish may be fulfilled, as Cameron Goodall takes his one-man show to the Arts Centre, Melbourne on 28 February this year. The Sound of Falling Stars, written and directed by ABR Laureate Robyn Archer as a ‘male companion piece’ to her 1979 one-woman cabaret A Star is Torn, features songs from iconic male artists who died young, including Nick Drake, Jeff Buckley, and Bobby Darin. Goodall will be accompanied by George Butrumulis (accordion) and Enio Pozzebon (keyboard).

Thanks to the Arts Centre Melbourne in association with Smartartists Productions, two new or renewing subscribers to ABR will receive double passes to The Sound of Falling Stars on Wednesday 28 February 2018 in Melbourne. For details on how to enter, see the giveaways section below.

Southlands Emerging Artist Breakthrough Award

Penrith Performing and Visual Arts will provide $15,000 for the development of new projects by early career artists as part of the Southlands Emerging Artists Breakthrough Award. Three artists working in the areas of music, visual arts, theatre, or a combination of these will receive $5,000 each.

‘I was able to do what I needed to do with the Breakthrough program, with no judgement or heavy expectation of an outcome. This is an important thing for me as an artists, especially when I was experimenting with certain provocations in my work,’ said Aanisa Vylet, one of three recipients of the 2017 Awards.

Submissions for the Southlands Emerging Artist Breakthrough Award close on Thursday, 1 March 2018. For more information, visit www.thejoan.com.au/.

Giveaways

Alliance Française 2018 French Film Festival
Thanks to Alliance Française, ten new and renewing subscribers to ABR will receive two complimentary tickets to one festival session of their choice. Tickets are valid nationally and apply to the following venues only:

Sydney (27 February – 27 March): Palace Norton Street, Palace Verona, Chauvel Cinema, Palace Central, and Hayden Orpheum Cremorne.
Melbourne (28 February – 27 March): Palace Balwyn, Palace Brighton Bay, Palace Cinema Como, Palace Westgarth, Kino Cinemas, and The Astor Theatre.
Canberra (1 – 28 March): Palace Electric Cinema.
Brisbane (8 March – 4 April): Palace Barracks and Palace Centre.
Perth (14 March – 4 April): Cinema Paradiso, Luna on SX, and Windsor Cinema.
Adelaide (22 March – 15 April): Palace Nova Eastend Cinemas, Palace Nova Prospect Cinemas.

Tickets exclude opening/closing nights, special events, public holidays, and Saturdays after 5 pm.

To be eligible for this giveaway, you must be a current or new paid subscriber to the print edition of ABR or to ABR Online. To be in the running please email Grace Chang at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with your full name and contact details. Preference is given to subscribers who have not received a giveaway in recent months.

The Sound of Falling Stars
Thanks to the Arts Centre Melbourne in association with Smartartists Productions, two new or renewing subscribers to ABR will receive double passes to The Sound of Falling Stars on Wednesday at 8pm, 28 February 2018 at the Arts Centre, Playhouse Theatre, Melbourne.

To be eligible for this giveaways, you must be a current or new paid subscriber to the print edition of ABR or to ABR Online. To be in the running please email Grace Chang at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with your full name and contact details. Preference is given to subscribers who have not received a giveaway in recent months.