The Drawing Room

Julian Assange has become a symbol over the years. Just mentioning his name conjures up ideas of press freedoms and government tyranny, or of threats to national security, depending on where your own ideals lie.

But behind the symbol is a person, dealing with an extended period of detention, and surrounded by family members that are also impacted by the realities of his imprisonment.

A new documentary, Ithaka, follows Assange's partner, Stella, and his father, John, in the months leading up to the first extradition hearing in 2020.

In the Drawing Room, director Ben Lawrence and producer Gabriel Shipton, look back on the story they hoped to tell and the reality of living through those times.

"It's all well and good to sound the fire alarm, but you've also got to show people where the exits are."

That's the philosophy behind Damon Gameau's latest film, Regenerating Australia.

It's the result of months of in-depth conversations with people across Australia, and imagines what the country could look like by the end of this decade, if a few key decisions were made.

As he tours the film, Gameau's hoping to provide communities with the tools that they need to get involved in creating that future.

From floods to fires to pandemics, Australia has seen its share of disaster over the last few years.

But when something goes wrong and the worst happens, how do we respond? How do we cope? And how do we plan to prevent it happening again?

Lucy Easthope has been an advisor in the U.K. on everything from September 11 to the Grenfell fires to Covid-19.

In the Drawing Room, she looks back on the lessons she's learnt along the way and shares stories from her new memoir, When The Dust Settles.

When it's time to take down a major score, you need a plan, you need a team, and—whether it's The Italian Job, Heat or Ocean's Eleven—you need to have an impeccable sense of style.

The heist genre has produced some classic films, and in a new program, The Art of the Heist, the Cinémathèque at QAGOMA is inviting audiences along for the crime.

Curator Rosie Hays explores what makes the genre tick and how it's changed throughout the decades.

Indigenous children are around six percent of the child population in Australia, but they are over-represented in a number of troubling areas, like out-of-home care, incarceration, and youth suicide.

The statistics point to a problem, but they don't get to the why.

What's gone wrong with the systems that were meant to help? And how can government departments begin to address the problems without introducing a new round of trauma?

Dr Tracy Westerman is the founder of Indigenous Psychological Services and The Jilya Institute. She's been named Western Australia's Australian of the Year and is celebrated for her pioneering work in developing mental health programs for First Nations peoples.

The Nobel Prize–winning writer Svetlana Alexievich wrote that when women speak of war, ‘they say nothing or almost nothing of what we are used to reading and hearing about’.

So what are those stories that have gone unread? What would we hear if we chose to listen?

Maria Tumarkin and Lior Albeck-Ripka are the curators of When Women Speak of War and in the Drawing Room they speak about how Alexievich has inspired their work and the current invasion of Ukraine.

There aren't too many photographers who can say that Andy Warhol gave them a lift home from a party.

Or that Nina Simone burned the polaroids they took, until eventually there was one she was happy with.

But Robert Rosen is no ordinary photographer.

Rosen spent decades in exclusive clubs, bars and parties, as much at home there as the celebrities he was capturing.

T20 has changed the face of cricket, drawing new fans and big money to the sport.

But what has it been like to be a part of that change? To grow up loving test matches and shift to the shorter form?

Dan Christian is one of the sport’s top players. He’s been part of championship teams across several different countries, and he’s represented Australia in the T20 and One Day games.

In the Drawing Room, he looks back over that history and the challenges and successes he's faced along the way.

The last two years have been a difficult time for a lot of musicians, but L.A.B could be forgiven for looking back with a massive grin.

In 2020, they became the name in music in New Zealand. Their single, In The Air, went number 1 and spent the whole year in the Top 40.

From there it's been platinum albums, sold out shows and now, finally, international tours.

In the Drawing Room, Joel Shadbolt and Miharo Gregory talk about the journey.

In 1961, a painting by Francisco Goya was stolen from the National Gallery of London.

It was assumed that a skilled gang of art thieves had broken in to sell it to a private collector.

The truth was much stranger: the thief was a retired bus driver who wanted charity payments to cover TV licences in Britain for the old and the vulnerable.

That story is the inspiration for a new film, The Duke, produced by Nicky Bentham