U.S. actor and director Michael Angelo Covino discusses Splitsville, a relationship comedy about divorce, friendship, and an open marriage, in which he stars opposite Dakota Johnson and Adria Arjona.

New Zealand-born Australian director Samuel van Grinsven returns with his second feature, Went Up the Hill, a ghost story led by Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread) and Dacre Montgomery (Stranger Things), following two strangers possessed by grief.

Plus, as it releases exclusively on DocPlay, an excerpt from Jason's interview with Justin Kurzel about Ellis Park, his documentary feature about musician Warren Ellis. You can hear the whole interview here.

CREDITS

• Presenter, Jason Di Rosso
• Producer, Sarah Corbett
• Sound engineer, Riley Meliss
• Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Olivia Colman, The Roses re-imagines the 1980s classic The War of the Roses. Jason speaks to director Jay Roach.

Eva Victor on her indie Sorry, Baby, which highlights Agnes' journey after a traumatic experience in her life.

Jason meets Thai director Apichatpong Weerasethakul, who is in Australia to premiere his work  A Conversation with the Sun.

• Presenter, Jason Di Rosso
• Producer, Sarah Corbett
• Sound engineer, Alysse Symons
• Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

A panel discussion of talented international directors with films in competition at the Melbourne International Film Festival discuss their journeys with Jason, including American filmmaker Andrew Patterson (The Vast of Night), whose second feature The Rivals of Amziah King, starring Matthew McConaughey, premiered at SXSW this year; Chie Hayakawa (Plan 75) from Japan, whose second feature, Renoir, premiered in Competition at Cannes; and James J. Robinson, a Filipino/Australian artist based in Los Angeles whose feature debut, First Light, had its World Premiere at MIFF.

CREDITS

• Presenter, Jason Di Rosso
• Producer, Sarah Corbett
• Sound engineer, Ross Richardson and Riley Meliss
• Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Ari Aster on  Eddington, a satirical neo-Western set during the pandemic, featuring Joaquin Phoenix and Pedro Pascal in the lead roles.

Michael Seitzman, showrunner of The Rainmaker, talks about adapting the classic John Grisham legal thriller for television.

Carey Mulligan stars in The Ballad of Wallis Island, a comedy about a lottery winner whose dream of reuniting his favourite musicians unexpectedly comes true. Director James Griffiths shares insights.

• Presenter, Jason Di Rosso
• Producer, Sarah Corbett
• Sound engineer, Matthew Sigley
• Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Legendary Australian film critic, cinephile, film scholar, programmer, and author, David Stratton, sadly passed away this week, aged 85. In 2017, he joined Jason Di Rosso in the studio to discuss David Stratton: A Cinematic Life, Sally Aitken's documentary about his lifelong love of movies.

British A-listers Tom Hiddleston and Chiwetel Ejiofor on The Life of Chuck, a fantasy drama based on the novella of the same name by Stephen King. 

Beloved Australian actor Essie Davis discusses her role in the upcoming Disney sci-fi series Alien: Earth.

Georgian director Dea Kulumbegashvili speaks about her haunting abortion drama April, which won the Special Jury Prize at Venice.

• Presenter, Jason Di Rosso
• Producer, Sarah Corbett
• Sound engineer, Ross Richardson
• Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

U.S. director Zach Cregger discusses Weapons, his excellent horror about a community left questioning who or what is behind the disappearance of a classroom of children.

The showrunners behind Apple TV+ series Platonic, in which Rose Byrne and Seth Rogen star as a charming duo of best friends in L.A.

Naomi Watts on The Friend, an adaptation of the bestselling book about a writer who finds her cosy New York life up-ended after her closest friend bequeaths her a Great Dane.

CREDITS

• Presenter, Jason Di Rosso
• Producer, Sarah Corbett
• Sound engineer, Angie Grant
• Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

British-Peruvian musician Luis Felber (Attawalpa) co-created the buzzy Netflix series Too Much with his wife Lena Dunham, a rom-com full of joy and complexity set in London. Luis gets beneath the surface of it all with Jason. 

Australian filmmaker Michael Shanks on Together, his sticky body horror that made a mark at Sundance, starring Dave Franco and Alison Brie.

French master François Ozon on his latest When Fall is Coming, an ambiguous murder-mystery set in Burgundy.

CREDITS

• Presenter, Jason Di Rosso
• Producer, Sarah Corbett
• Sound engineer, Angie Grant
• Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

Screen legend Helena Bonham Carter on Four Letters of Love, where she stars opposite Pierce Brosnan in an adaptation of Niall Williams'  1997 novel about a couple pulled together by ghosts, fate and the power of love.

Inspired by real events, acclaimed writer/director Pascal Bonitzer’s sharp dramedy The Stolen Painting follows an auctioneer whose professional and personal integrity is challenged by the discovery of a long-lost masterpiece.

French director Louise Courvoisier on her charming debut Holy Cow, in which teenager Totone's carefree life in the countryside takes a turn when he's suddenly left to provide for his young sister.

CREDITS

• Presenter, Jason Di Rosso
• Producer,  Sarah Corbett
• Sound engineer, Brendan O'Neill
• Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown

As two Oscar snubbed films with excellent female leads from earlier in the year become available to watch via streaming, a highlights program featuring Dutch writer-director Halina Reijn on Babygirl, a sexual thriller starring Nicole Kidman as a powerful CEO who embarks on an affair with her much younger intern, played by Harris Dickenson; Plus, Academy Award winning director Pablo Larrain discusses Maria, in which Angelina Jolie is stupendous as the world's greatest opera singer - Maria Callas.

• Presenter, Jason Di Rosso
• Producer, Sarah Corbett
• Sound engineer, Ross Richardson
• Executive producer, Rhiannon Brown