City Hub 3 January 2019

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Allianz Stadium demolition forges ahead

At 30 years old, Allianz Stadium is already at ‘the end of its life. Photo: WikiCommons

By Laura Neill The demolition of the Sydney Football Stadium at Moore Park will forge ahead in the first week of the new year as stage one of the $730 million knockdown/rebuild project.

Demolition of the 30-year-old stadium is scheduled to start straight after the completion of the Test Cricket at the SCG, with the roof dismantling work due to be completed before the state election in March.

The approval for the demolition was granted in early December, despite strong opposition from the Labor government and the local community.

A ReachTEL poll commissioned by the Sydney Morning Herald in March revealed that nearly 60% of voters either opposed or strongly opposed the government’s decision to demolish and rebuild both Allianz Stadium and ANZ at Homebush, and sports commentator Peter FitzSimons’ online petition to stop the $2 billion plan for spending on stadiums has secured over 200,000 signatures.

The NSW government maintains that the stadia plan will cement Sydney’s reputation as Australia’s number one sporting event destination.

According to the NSW Office for Sport, Allianz Stadium is now the oldest top-tier rectangular stadium in Australia with “significant safety, compliance and patron safety issues”. The statement also said that inadequate provisions of

female toilets and disability access were major reasons for the rebuild.

The Minister for Sport Stuart Ayres said that the Stadium, built in the 1980s, had come to the end of its life and was only “borderline safe”.

“I am not going to be a Sports Minister that locks out women and people with a disability from coming to experience the best sport and entertainment here in NSW,” Mr Ayres said.

But Waverley council member and Labor candidate for Coogee Dr Marjorie O’Neill said the changing standards for crowd safety hardly justified a full demolition and rebuild.

“If the stadium is at a point where it needs to be torn down shouldn’t the trust be held responsible for allowing the asset to get to that point? In terms of safety standards, I would hope that the measuring stick changes and that it always improves. But we shouldn’t have to be tearing down a building every single time that happens,” Dr O’Neill said. “The SCG next door is undergoing renovations but it’s been there for 100 years.”

Dr O’Neill also said that the money would be better spent on hospitals and schools. “Every single public primary school bar one in my seat is at capacity,” she said. “[The NSW Government] is supporting the infrastructure and building of this stadium but it doesn’t want to support building a new school!”

The final business case for the new stadium, released in March by Infrastructure NSW, presented a cost-benefit ratio of less than one.

Opposition leader Michael Daley has vowed that if the Labor government wins the election in March, the Sydney Cricket Ground Trust will have to pay for its own new stadium by taking out a concessional loan from the government, while the remaining $1.5 billion earmarked for the stadium will be redirected to schools and hospitals.

“I am making it crystal clear to the Premier and her mates on the SCG Trust — don’t knock down the stadium. If you do, then you are going to have to pay for a new one, not the citizens of NSW,” Mr Daley said.

Eastern suburbs action group Keep Sydney Beautiful have also claimed that a new and more highly-attended stadium will have a greater environmental impact on the parklands. In an objection to the redevelopment, KSB said that the increased traffic to the area for more intensive and frequent events, and the subsequent increase in noise, lighting, rubbish and security, will turn the parklands into an “unrecognisable precinct”.

“The Strategy does not consider the pressures that the rebuilt Allianz stadium will place on Moore Park and the surrounding suburbs, one of the city’s most densely populated areas where green space is at a greater premium than ever,”

the group stated in their objection to the proposed development.

The group also voiced concerns over environmental aspects such as the government’s failure to test contaminated land on the site.

In a media statement released this week, the Department of Planning and Environment stated that the possibility of contamination had already been considered, and the risk was “low”. The Department would impose strict guidelines and allow no excavation to take place during the demolition process.

“Local residents can be assured that their safety is of paramount concern to the NSW Government,” read the media release.

The statement comes after a fresh wave of criticism over the weekend, when Labor leader Michael Daley revealed that stadium seats previously identified as flammable had been approved to be shipped to community sports grounds across the state, including the Singleton Rugby Club.

The seats that Sydney Cricket and Sports Ground Trust chairman Toy Shepherd had told a parliamentary enquiry were “all flammable” were sent to showgrounds across the state which applied for salvage equipment from the demolition.

The new Allianz stadium, if approved, is scheduled for completion by March 2022. It is expected to have a lifespan of 50 years.

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by Andrew Woodhouse Locals in Kings Cross are surprised and shocked to learn that the City of Sydney Council is intending to demolish what appears to be a perfectly healthy tree without adequate justification.

It has stapled a Tree Removal Notice to a tree in Fitzroy Gardens, Kings Cross, about 10 metres north-east of the El-Alamein fountain.

Unusually, according to council’s phone service staff, no council reference number appears on the notice, making it difficult to trace and log progress.

Acer negundo, its botanical name, is a species of maple native to North America and is a well-known and well-loved species.

It is a type of fast-growing box tree with golden autumnal leaves reaching up to 35 metres. It is now naturalised on the Australian continent.

So why must this tree, and its resident bird’s nest, be removed?

Removal would entail expensive works, including ground excavation, trunk, limb and root removal, wood pulping and tile replacement. These combined constitute “major works”.

Council’s notice claims the tree is “overmature,” but the tree is not senescent. It has abundant new growth and is flourishing. It is not dropping bark or limbs. It is not a public safety hazard. It is sprouting new shoots, there is no evidence of fungal disease or tree rot, and it is not leaning dangerously. It provides muchneeded shade in summer.

No complaints have been lodged against this tree.

Tree on notice.

Photo: Supplied

Council’s own website notes that “a lush urban canopy is important for Sydney and provides benefits beyond visual pleasure.

Trees improve our air quality through photosynthesis [and] play a crucial role in reducing the urban heat island effect...

“Trees also filter toxins from the first flush of stormwater run-off after rainfall and keep the soil porous, allowing stormwater absorption rather than draining into the harbour.

Opinion

“In just 12 months, one mature tree can absorb 3,400 litres of stormwater, filter 27kg of pollutants from the air and provide a cooling effect equivalent to running ten airconditioners continuously.”

At Sydney City Council’s recent, wellattended community survey for its hypothetical 2050 plan, Clover Moore told us that residents said parks and gardens and trees were “musthaves” in the urban environment. So why go against the people’s wishes now?

Acer negundo is an integral component of the heritage-listed Fitzroy Gardens, Kings Cross.

The much-cherished Fitzroy Gardens Park has social, aesthetic, rarity, representative and associative heritage significance.

Council’s recommended Plan of Management states that: “A Heritage Assessment and Heritage Impact Statement, or a Conservation Management Plan, should be prepared for the park prior to any major works being undertaken. ... An Interpretation Strategy [must] be developed”.

But council has refused to provide documents justifying the pulping of this precious tree.

Locals are now rallying to save this tree and are lodging a petition. They want the tree saved and its bird’s nest retained. Before any work is one, there must be a Heritage Impact Statement, a fauna impact report, an independent arborist’s report and council’s Interpretive Strategy.

To sign the Save Our Trees petition, go to https://news.cityofsydney.nsw.gov.au/articles/ how-we-root-for-trees city hub 3 JANUARY 2019

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Lendlease overlooks community objections

by Wendy Bacon “It’s now well understood that governments grant permits, communities are the ones that grant permissions. This means if we don’t have a social licence to operate, our projects don’t progress. Given the size and scale of urban generation projects we deliver around the world, it’s imperative that we form a genuine partnership with our community and stakeholders.”

This statement was part of an interview with Lendlease CEO Steve McCann in the Australian Financial Review. Just ten days earlier, the government announced that it had awarded a $730 million contract to Lendlease to demolish and rebuild the Allianz Football stadium at Moore Park.

If this was a genuine statement by McCann of Lendlease’s corporate intent, thousands of local residents, local Councils and local MPs, community groups and others who oppose the stadium could s breathe a huge sigh of relief.

But of course, it’s just some more slick PR from Lendlease, which is known for its clever corporate communication strategies. In fact, rather than Lendlease’s $730 million contract having a social license, it was produced through what would better be described as a classic NSW political fix.

The key decision in the fix was made at a Cabinet meeting in November 2017, after which Premier Gladys Berejiklian announced that the knockdown and rebuild of Allianz stadium would begin in 2019.

Berejiklian was confident that she knew what the value of the contract would be – $700 million – although there was no business case, let alone design for the project.

Determined to get the project underway by 2019, Berejiklian then tasked Infrastructure NSW (INSW) to come up with a business case. Oddly, there was no mention of the project in the INSW 2016-2017 Annual Report or project pipeline. Nonetheless, by March 2018, INSW managed to prepare a business case in support of the proposal.

Crowd pleaser to be pulled down.

Photo: Wikipedia

The business case remained secret until the NSW Upper House unearthed it. Based on advice from major accounting firm KPMG, the cost benefit ratio was not a positive one.

The ten-person INSW Board includes senior business figures with strong connections to the construction industry, and top public servants, including the Secretary of the Department of Planning and Environment Carolyn McNally and the Secretary of NSW Treasury, former banker Michael Pratt.

The Board also includes Alise Tansey, who notes on the Board’s register of interests that she is a board member of Lendlease Investment Management, a subsidiary of Lendlease Corporation.

City Hub assumes that these conflicts of interests are managed by Board members standing aside from decisions and has submitted questions to Infrastructure NSW, to which we have not yet

received answers at the time of publication. We are not suggesting anyone has acted improperly.

While the business case was being prepared, INSW also became the project’s “proponent” or applicant. On April 4, it wrote to McNally requesting the Secretary’s Environmental Assessment Requirements (known as SEARs), which are needed before the EIS process can begin. It took less than a month for NSW Planning to publish these.

On June 12, without community consultation of any kind, Infrastructure NSW then sought expressions of interest to knock down and build the stadium. There was a ten-day deadline for the expressions of interest. Lendlease and Multiplex were shortlisted.

While the contract was for the whole project, INSW used the same approvals tactic that the Sydney

Motorway Corporation used for WestConnex by staging its application, which means that a huge number of important decisions are postponed until further investigations can be done.

NSW Planning have gone through the usual charade of sifting through hundreds of submissions that have raised objections, all of which have been batted away by Planning.

Planning Minister Anthony Roberts received the final recommendation on December 4 and approved it on December 6. The Lendlease contract was announced the following day.

So far, Lendlease has made no announcement of the contract on either its website or to their investors on the stock exchange. The INSW contract has not been published. The company did confirm before Christmas that they would be at the site to begin demolition in the New Year. Before they can do that, however, there are plans and documents that must be prepared, although Lendlease may have templates for some of these. It is also required to set up a Community Consultative Committee before serious demolition begins.

McCann’s promotion of his concern for “social licence” serves to remind us of those other projects with which his company is ploughing ahead in the face of social opposition, including the threat to koala habitat at the enormous yet-to-be-developed new neighbourhood at Gilead on the far south-western outskirts of Sydney; Packer’s massive Barangaroo towers, with the high roller casino pushing even higher; NorthConnex, a project on which Lendlease is now losing money; and WestConnex Stage 3, for which it took on a contract without a detailed design that involves building a tunnel just a few metres below people’s homes.

It might also focus the public’s mind on other questionable, although not illegal, practices such as paying little or no corporate tax in Australia.

There probably isn’t much of a “social licence” for that either.

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Labor promises to revive live music

BY Sarah McLenaghan The recommendations from the parliamentary inquiry into the music and arts economy in NSW promises a revival of the struggling sector.

Since the release of the inquiry’s final report, NSW Labor has committed to implementing a number of its key findings.

Keep Sydney Open coordinator, Tyson Koh, was among industry representatives who presented their findings to the inquiry. He said: “It was shocking to hear just how hostile the government bodies and the police are towards live music and entertainment.

“We’re talking bans on specific genres of music and dancing, to the Kafkaesque process venues must endure to deal with sound complaints.”

The Hon. Paul Green MLC, who serves as the Chair of the Committee, also emphasised the strain that Sydney’s entertainment establishments have suffered in recent years: “A lot of our old establishments are shutting down because they’ve got new built-up environments.

“You get residents that may be complaining about noise, yet those old establishments have been there forever and a day and suddenly they‘ve been forced to install noise attenuation processes which is quite expensive, to the point where they virtually have to shut down.”

However, noise complaints were not the only issue these venues face: “Local councils and permits and even development applications have gone a long way to pretty well choking a thriving night time economy because of some of the conditions on consent that they’ve put

L-R: Oxford Art Factory’s Mark Gerber, Tyson Koh from Keep Sydney Open, Isabella Manfredi of The Preatures and Dan Rosen, CEO of ARIA. Photo: Tyson Koh

on a lot of these entertainment venues.”

The committee acknowledged these issues, calculating that a total of 669 licensed venues in NSW restrict or ban live music and entertainment.

In response, the committee recommended that the NSW Government remove “outdated conditions” that “unnecessarily restrict music in venues”.

It also recommended amending liquor legislation that placed “unnecessary

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funding” to “support the export of music from New South Wales”.

Ms Glasscock said she would like to see all sides of government endorsing the recommendations and raised concerns over how they might be implemented: “My only fear is that some of those recommendations will be cherry picked and hand picked and the rest will fall by the wayside.

“We know certainly from the sector’s point of view that it’s such a delicate ecosystem and it’s a massive jigsaw puzzle where there’s issues in every area so unless we can get the recipe right and fix the entire suite of problems then its going to be less satisfactory than that report intends.”

If the government’s response to the inquiry is successful, Mr Green said the benefit to jobs in NSW would be great: “It’s a huge employment situation if we can get it thriving to what it once was.

You can see that there are a lot of jobs on offer. We know that the hospitality food industry is booming in Sydney and is continuing to grow.

“How much better if we could just marry that up with emerging artists and musicians being able to play at those venues. We could develop the two industries side by side.”

Mr Koh pointed out that the inquiry is the first time parliament has asked about the condition of live music and the arts, and he argued that politicians now have an obligation to revive the sector in NSW: “Now that these politicians are informed about how dire is the state of our creative sectors, there is no excuse to remain complacent.”

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restrictions” on venues, such as prohibiting music genres or specific musical instruments.

Newly appointed shadow minister for the arts and night-time economy, John Graham, revealed at a press conference in Marrickville that Labor will scrap these restrictions with a single piece of legislation.

Speaking to the Music Network, Mr Graham said: “We’ve lost hundreds of

venues, thousands of jobs, with musicians and hospital workers out of work.

“This is a plan to turn that around.”

According to Mr Green, the main thing that came out of the inquiry was that NSW needs a Minister for Music: “We have a minister for arts and culture but we think that there’s enough reason to put in a minister for music to be focused particularly on music and music activities and the entertainment industry.”

The inquiry also developed a “plethora” of recommendations regarding funding.

“There’s a lot of funding flicking around but we can’t be sure that it’s getting to the right programs,” Mr Green explained.

“So we basically asked in quite a lot of the recommendations that NSW, through CreateNSW, fund music in NSW to develop and implement, in conjunction with the music industry stakeholders and destination NSW, campaigns that encourage people to attend music and live gigs.”

These recommendations included a call on the NSW Government for a substantial increase to funding for arts and contemporary music of at least $35 million over the next four years.

CEO of Sydney Fringe, Kerri Glasscock said that NSW Labor have in principle endorsed all these recommendations when they made their live music policy announcement last week.

In this announcement, Labor committed $10 million in funding to Sounds Australia following the inquiry’s recommendation that the music export body receive “appropriate

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Combustible cladding costly and contentious

by Allison Hore More than 185,000 buildings in NSW have been investigated for the presence of flammable cladding which resulted in rapid spread of fire in a number of highly publicised incidents.

The multi-agency Cladding Taskforce was established mid last year to review buildings suspected of having unsafe cladding installed.

“To date, 2,388 buildings have been operationally assessed by Fire and Rescue NSW, with 438 buildings requiring further assessment because of the presence and configuration of potentially dangerous cladding,” a spokesperson for the NSW Cladding Taskforce tells City Hub. In August the NSW Fair Trading commission banned the installation of panels made from an aluminium composite with more than 30% polyethylene on any external walls of apartment buildings two storeys or taller as well as shopping centres, hospitals and schools of more than three storeys.

This comes after a number of incidents resulting from the flammable cladding, including the Grenfell Tower disaster. In June last year, the 24-storey apartment building in West London caught alight. The flammable cladding on the outside of the building was blamed for the rapid spread of the fire in which 72 residents died and a further 70 were injured.

Closer to home, loss of life was avoided in 2014 when the Lacrosse Tower in Melbourne caught alight. The building was clad with the same material as Grenfell.

In all, 228 of the buildings the department earmarked for further investigation by Fire and Rescue NSW are residential, says the taskforce spokesperson.

“FRNSW has visited every one of these buildings, and has devised specialised response plans to be used in the event of a fire.”

Minister for Innovation and Better Regulation,

Matt Kean, said in a September press release that the NSW government remained committed to keeping families safe and avoiding a tragedy like Grenfell.

“Our whole of government response to the issue of dangerous cladding has been more comprehensive than any other state in Australia,” Mr Kean said.

Despite this, the NSW government does not offer support to parties affected. In Victoria the state government offers low interest loans to affected homeowners, but in NSW no such financial aid is offered.

However the taskforce spokesperson said that homeowners can make legal claims against builders responsible for installation of the cladding.

This comes after an amendment to the Home Building Regulation to make unsafe cladding a major defect.

“This is in addition to the existing rights of owners to seek compensation through the legal system from any other person or company they believe contributed to installing unsafe cladding on their building,” said the spokesperson.

These changes only apply to buildings less than six years old when the statutory warranty period ends, the department spokesperson confirmed.

Property owners in older buildings are liable to foot the bill themselves.

This lack of support for homeowners in older buildings has left many apartment owners unhappy, with homeowners in a Pyrmont building facing uncertainty over who will be responsible for the $7 million bill to remove the cladding.

“I’d like to see the government realise they’ve buggered it up over the time, both through a very slack approval process and not a lot of control over flammability and other issues,” apartment owner Colin Knowles told Domain in August.

Residents of the Quay apartments in Haymarket have also been told they may have to pay $45,000

Part of the facade of the ABC’s Ultimo building (pictured) is clad with dangerous combustible cladding.

Photo: Allison Hore

each for the removal of the cladding on their building. They are considering legal action against the building company and developer responsible.

Private residential buildings are not the only ones impacted. An expert report following the disaster revealed that the ABC’s Ultimo studios no longer complied with current fire safety standards.

“The cladding was commonly used when the buildings were originally constructed in 1992 and 2002. However, building and material standards have now changed, and it no longer complies with the current Building Code of Australia (BCA) Fire Safety Standards,” chief financial and strategy officer Louise Higgins told ABC staff in an email.

Internal ABC documents made available by the

Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance reveal that 30-40% of the building’s facade is covered by the cladding in concern. But fire safety experts advised the ABC that the building was safe for staff and visitors as long as additional safety measures were put in place.

Earlier this month the ABC submitted plans for a $33 million renovation to the Harris Street building to council for approval. If approved, work will be carried out next year to remove the dangerous cladding from the building and to upgrade the building’s mechanical plant.

It is unknown exactly how much of the renovation budget will be spent on replacing the cladding.

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7

W

LAUNCH

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’ AT N O

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Join us for nibbles and drinks as we launch THREE art exhibitions – What a Life! Rock Photography by Tony Mott, Jumaadi and Looking Here Looking North – on one big day!

SAT 19 JAN • 2PM • FREE

SUPPRESSION DAM

A collaboration between three internationally acclaimed experimental music ensembles performed within the soaring industrial spaces of CPAC's Turbine Hall.

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Experience rock history through the eyes of one of Australia’s most celebrated photographers.

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12 JAN - 24 FEB

WELCOME CHOIR

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is for EVERYONE, regardless of gender, experience or ability.

At CPAC we love live music. In 2019 we want to share the best emerging talent that South West has to offer in a live music concert series.

SUN 3 FEB • 3 MAR 7 APR • 5 MAY • 2PM

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city hub 3 JANUARY 2019

THE SAPPHIRES Four Yorta Yorta women sing Motown soul hits against the backdrop of personal change and massive social upheaval.

SAT 23 FEB • 2PM & 8PM

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GIANT LEAP JEFF DUFF BOWIE UNZIPPED

CHRISTINE ANU In Conversation and In Song Adored entertainer Christine Anu returns to CPAC to tell her story and recount the wonderful history presented in her music.

Join us for a night of lunar wonder, as legendary icon Jeff Duff takes us to the moon and back with his rendition of David Bowie’s iconic tunes.

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10-14 JULY

MOON LANDING ANNIVERSARY

Casula Powerhouse presents a range of events that respond to the 50th anniversary of the moon landing. Exhibitions, performances and film presentations are a few of the creative responses that capture the essence of humankind’s momentous achievement of walking on the moon.

15 JUNE - 8 SEPT A one-day festival where radical performance art, large-scale light installations, one-off collaborations and experimental music intersect to create an unforgettable day of dark abstraction.

SAT 14 SEPT 12PM-11PM

CPAC 25 2019 marks the 25th anniversary of Casula Powerhouse Arts Centre.

Join us to celebrate the centre's incredibly rich and diverse history, featuring local stars, unforgettable stories and the best of Casula Powerhouse.

21 SEP – 10 NOV city hub 3 JANUARY 2019

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Powerhouse stripped bare

by Kylie Winkworth One day, economic historians will document the “vampire squid” epoch in NSW history, the colourful term coined to describe the influence of Goldman Sachs relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.

In NSW, the vampire squids have their blood funnel into public assets.

Under the O’Farrell, Baird and Berejiklian governments, close to $50b in public assets have been sold to infrastructure companies, toll road operators, developers, banks and foreign pension funds in the name of recycling the proceeds into new infrastructure.

Behind the scenes, a constellation of banks, businesses, mates and lobbyists are working their networks and levers of influence to get a slice of public property. With a quiet word to the government, they lob an unsolicited proposal, negotiate a secret deal marked “commercial in confidence”, grease the approval process for an even bigger tower, and buy a tier one income generating asset that has paid dividends to NSW governments for decades. The vampire squid‘s tentacles are even reaching for the assets of the Powerhouse Museum (PHM).

Some economists question the merits of public asset sales when there are cheaper ways to finance new infrastructure at a time of very low interest rates. The loss of revenue to fund public services is only one of the downsides. Loaded with debt and

with the collection store, library, archives and conservation labs.

All that space and museum infrastructure is just too good for the people’s museum, which lacks friends in high places, and a board willing to stand up for the museum’s interests.

If the Berejiklian government is re-elected, the former Powerhouse Museum site will be a developers’ wet dream, with the opportunity for four towers up to 68 storeys.

The developer will have to accommodate a Broadway-style lyric theatre and an exhibition space for some of the fashion and design collection, but that will no doubt be an opportunity to negotiate additional floor space. It will cost the NSW taxpayer $387.5m to let the developers loose on the PHM site, not counting hundreds of millions to replace the demolished collection facilities at Parramatta.

Plans reveal that these are too small and grossly inferior to what the PHM Wayfinding sign at Darling Harbour exemplifies the future direction of the Powerhouse. has at Ultimo. This is a snip to allow Photo: Lawrence Gibbons the site realise its “highest and best structured into off shore companies, worthy of a special case study on use”, as the spokeswoman for the Arts the new owners of our once public the modus operandi of the vampire Minister put it recently. Of course, that assets hike the prices and will never pay squid to understand how the NSW money might otherwise be used to tax. Every time we drive into Sydney, government conspired to sell off the refurbish the PHM’s exhibitions, which turn on the lights or sell a property, museum’s Ultimo land and buildings to was the first excuse for demolishing the the vampire squid enabled by Baird developers.

Powerhouse. But in the culture of NSW, and Berejiklian has its suckers on our Today, the Powerhouse is a great “highest and best use” means property wallets. public museum, based in Ultimo since development, not a public museum.

Perhaps the most egregious asset sale 1893, open every day and accessible to Then there’s the con on the is the demolition of the Powerhouse visitors from across NSW, interstate and Parramatta community, which Museum in the guise of building a overseas. It has world’s best practice thought they were getting the recycled new museum at Parramatta. This museum facilities, with monumental Powerhouse on public land strategically is class A asset stripping, and is exhibition spaces that are co-located acquired by the council. It will not be a

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replica of the Powerhouse; it’s a stalking horse for developers. Heritage buildings will be demolished and a brutal 70-storey super tower will loom over the new museum, which is half the size of the PHM. All this, at a cost of around $1.2b just to “move” the PHM 23km west to build a smaller, less accessible museum on a flood prone riverbank.

This is the only museum development project anywhere in the world where the new facilities will be smaller and inferior to those the museum already owns, and where the new museum does not enlarge the museum’s exhibition space, audiences, or collection access and facilities. It’s a great meal deal for the vampire squid, but a bad deal for NSW taxpayers and museum lovers. Cultural historians will ponder how this monstrous con was perpetrated on the public.

The government has now stacked the deck for the museum’s demolition with the recent appointment of Lisa Havilah as the museum’s fourth CEO in just six years. While lacking experience in museums or heritage collections, she is on record as a supporter of the sale of the PHM site.

Arts Minister Don Harwin has also appointed David Borger to the museum’s Trust. He is the executive director of the Western Sydney Business Chamber and led the public campaign to “move” the Powerhouse. The mission of the Sydney Business Chamber and its affiliate is urban renewal, planning reform and recycling state assets.

Enough said.

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city hub 3 JANUARY 2019

Opinion

WestCONnex: utopia or dystopia?

By Peter Hehir Are the Australian Labor Party really the saviours that some who oppose WestConnex believe them to be?

Whilst it’s true that they are the only organisation that could put a stop to the insanity, if they choose to, the obvious question is; will they?

They support WestConnex. They always have. For most of this century their position on Inner City freeways – the tolled version that is – has always been full steam ahead. Not just in Sydney but in every capital city in the country.

They were right behind the Lane Cove Tunnel; that’s the one where the block of flats almost disappeared into the excavation.

If you bury your head in the sand and ignore the common experience gathered over the past 60 years everywhere else in the world, then their advocacy for tollroads appears to make some sense.

The roads are choked. So we either need more roads or less cars. Sydney is growing so more cars are inevitable, therefore the only solution is more roads. Has a nice sort of logic to it, doesn’t it…

But is it logical? Do more roads solve traffic chaos? Have they ever? More roads mean more cars, more cars mean more traffic and more traffic always results in chaos. That’s the global reality.

Glad the Impaler’s incredibly cynical approval of the Stage 3b contract, just one day prior to the findings of the WestConnex Parliamentary Inquiry being published, means that White Bay will become the largest road traffic interchange in Sydney, if not in the entire country.

With an estimated 40 lanes of traffic from the already choked Anzac Bridge, the City West

Cartoon: Andy Singer

Link, Victoria Road, The Crescent and the three new inbound/outbound WestCONnex portals, all converging within just a few metres of each other, peak hour gridlock will be inevitable.

Even though the NSW Branch of the ALP have said that they don’t support the Western Harbour Tunnel, this chaotic intersection – coupled with the fact that about 40% of the Western Harbour Tunnel (WHT) will be built as part of Stage 3b – will undoubtedly force their hand.

Once they’re elected in March the announcement a year or so down the track will be something like; “Oh, we’re really sorry… We know that we promised that we’d oppose the WHT but we just have to do something to fix the chaos at White Bay caused by the previous Government”; coupled with “As 40% of the WHT is being built it makes fiscal sense to complete it”; and “It would cost far too much

to buy back that part of the Stage 3b contract.

Sovereign risk precludes that”…

So the Western Harbour Tunnel will undoubtedly happen. If 13,000 objections couldn’t stop Stage 3 then, even if every one of the 20,000 households on the peninsular objected, their pleas will still be ignored and the WHT will proceed.

Less cars would be desirable but how could that possibly be achieved? Well how about taking the lead from major cities elsewhere in the world and pursue the public transport option?

We could completely ignore Abbott’s credo that the car is the only way to travel if you see yourself as successful; that travelling with the great unwashed is an admission of defeat; a daily reminder of your failure as a human being.

This syncs with the Neo Con’s core philosophy of privatise and make a profit. That the concept of “the greater good” is just a utopian

fairy-tale. And with the right wing firmly in control of the ALP, they aren’t about to argue.

Clearly both parties have been bought and paid for by the fossil fuel lobby.

The WestConnex Parliamentary Inquiry also demonstrated that governance was completely lacking in relation to the awarding of the contracts for the earlier stages.

Highly critical articles by Carmen Lawrence, a previous ALP Premier of Western Australia and by Wendy Bacon, a Sydney investigative journalist – published in Bottleneck! in August of 2017 by Rozelle Against Westconnex – detail the stench of corruption hanging over both AECOM and CIMIC in their overseas dealings.

Both of these companies are heavily involved in Stage 3a – the M4 M5 Link and Stage 3b – the Rozelle Interchange and the Iron Cove Tunnel.

They also had a hand in some of the recent monumental tollroad failures in NSW and Qld. So what’s the answer?

Obviously public transport! If it was cheaper, more accessible, reliable, safe, frequent and comfortable, it would be heavily patronised and would significantly reduce vehicular traffic.

WestConnex was ostensibly designed by the dystopian Berejiklian government – with the support of the ALP – to do as the name suggests; to connect the West to the CBD. But major cities worldwide are doing their utmost to keep traffic out of the city centre by investing in public transport.

Then why not here? So is the ALP the solution or just another part of the problem?

Object to the WHT by all means, but don’t expect logic, reason and common sense to prevail.

You do have one ace though. It’s your vote.

Use it in March to protest the bipartisan insanity of tollroads.

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11

FEATURE

By Mark Morellini This annual cinematic event celebrates 28 years, having screened and promoted some of the world’s best shorts to enthusiastic audiences on the big screen, also inspiring creativity and opening influential doors to filmmakers worldwide.

“This year we’ve had 2700 entries from over 100 countries which is an increase from last year and we’re really excited about the range of films,” explained Bronwyn Kidd, the festival director. ”We’ve got 47% female directors which is also up again from last year. We don’t program according to gender, we program the best short films and it just so happens that this year we’ve seen a lot more indigenous films from indigenous filmmakers and there’s also more multicultural films coming through.”

Over 200 shorts will be screened during the festival and Bronwyn promises there’s something for all tastes.

“There’s a fantastic LGBTIQ and family program and a primary and high school program, which screens films made by young people. There’s also a program of incredible Academy qualifying short documentaries for people who love docos.

Opening and closing night parties will also be a fun way of rubbing shoulders with filmmakers.”

But what qualities gain shorts entry into Flickerfest?

“I’m looking for films which are inspiring, are really fresh and entertaining – that’s really important. I don’t like to go for style over content, story is really important to me. Films that move me or surprise me, that have got something new to say about the world, I think that’s what I’m really looking for.”

Flickerfest has been the launching pad for the career of many filmmakers over the years, including Joel Edgerton (Boy Erased), David Michod (Animal Kingdom) and Cate Shortland (Somersault). What is it about Flickerfest that makes it such an anticipated and highly respected short film festival worldwide? “I think

Vanessa Gazy.

Photo: Supplied

it’s the level of competition and the real energy and effort that we put into curating the program. Being 28 years old we have a globally respected reputation, but we are receiving the best of the best of short films. It’s a beautiful way to experience this very independent creative culture. Short film is not about commercial concern, but it allows filmmakers to tell stories which they are really passionate about.”

Vanessa Gazy is a passionate, award-winning director/writer, born in Sydney who gained a journalism degree but followed her heart and ultimately became a filmmaker. Her two earlier shorts Foal and Highway screened at previous Flickerfests. Shiloh is her latest work

screening this year, which premiered at the 2018 Melbourne International Film Festival.

“Shiloh is basically about a young girl who travels back in time to the day her parents met, in a bid to keep them apart because she’s trying to save her mother from a life of tragedy and unhappiness. It’s a sad tale, a reflection on family and the fragility of life and how much we love each other in families, but how heartbreaking families can be as well. It’s also about chance and circumstance and the miraculous nature of life itself.”

Gazy explained that it’s really important for filmmakers to have their shorts screened at Flickerfest, as it’s Australia’s largest short film festival and is also Academy accredited and BAFTA recognised. “The programming is great,

Bronwyn is very rigorous about her selection and both the International and Australian short film programs are always exciting to watch. I think to be included amongst those films is a real honour. The calibre is excellent so you always feel happy screening with those filmmakers. Flickerfest is a hugely important platform for up and coming filmmakers and it’s been very important for me personally.”

And how does it feel when a filmmaker finds out their short will screen at Flickerfest?

“It’s exciting - really wonderful to know that you can actually bring your film home and screen it to the people you love most, your peers, colleagues and people in the industry. It’s such a supportive audience at Flickerfest as well.

There’s nothing quite like screening your short at Flickerfest. It’s also a beautiful physical setting on Bondi Beach.”

Gazy is excited about the future and hopes to direct feature films and create a few television shows. She recently had the honour of writing and directing the Flickerfest Dynamic Trio And The Joker themed trailer which was filmed on iconic Bondi Beach.

“It was so much fun – I had a great day! Usually, my films are a bit heavier in subject matter, darker and more serious but it was fun doing something light-hearted and having a crack at comedy.We just spent the whole day on set laughing. I loved it!”

Finally, any tips for readers who would like a career in the film industry?

“Short films are where you can practice your craft, showcase what you can do. They’re a real stepping stone into long-form work and they have been for me, so however you can do it, put something together on an iPhone or raise some serious money on a crowd funding platform and try to get it into Flickerfest.”

Jan 11 – 20. Bondi Pavillion, Queen Elizabeth Drive, Bondi Beach.

Tickets & Info: www.flickerfest.com.au

Working for a Liveable, Sustainable, Progressive Sydney for all.

See my 2018 Report Card at www.alexgreenwich.com/2018_report_card 12

city hub 3 JANUARY 2019

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT w

Photo: Hillarie Jason

Home

In its Australian premiere season and showing as part of Sydney Festival 2019, awardwinning theatre-maker Geoff Sobelle presents Home, an interactive large-scale performance work.A piece that has been developed through workshops and improvisation, Home encompasses an array of themes and techniques, including an extensive set that is developed as the show progresses. Using a combination of illusion, choreography, audience interaction and theatre, the production takes the audience on a journey spanning time,

space and the concept of where one belongs.

Geoff Sobelle was initially inspired to create the piece when he was renovating the kitchen in his 100-year-old Philadelphia terrace house.“When I went into the kitchen to do some repair…I pulled up the old linoleum tile. I chip away…and underneath is another layer of linoleum tile.This goes on for days.There were over six layers of tile there.”

Geoff then went on to explain how this inspired Home.“I started to imagine, what if there was a house party where each of the generations who lived and walked on the original floors

were just passing one another.”

When asked how this concept is incorporated into the show, Geoff explained,“in this piece you see the life cycle of a given structure.And then you see almost in time lapse the different cultures of people that lived in it.

It’s almost a dance piece, you see the dynamics of bodies coming in and out.”

According to Geoff, Home possesses a lot of surprises and illusions, with most of the elements set to be revealed on the night.As a master of illusion and absurdism, the show is sure to bring a whirlwind of emotion, choreography and intrigue.

Regarding audience participation, Geoff assures it will be a fantastic addition to the piece, saying,“I got very insistent on working out how to include the audience.

It’s not cringe-worthy! It’s the kind of thing that hopefully makes you love your fellow neighbour and realise that you’re like them.” (MB) Jan 9-18. Roslyn Packer Theatre, 22 Hickson Road, Walsh Bay. $50-$95+b.f.

Tickets & Info: www.sydneyfestival.org.au

A Ghost In My Suitcase Photo: Daniel Grant

Barking Gecko Theatre presents Vanessa Bates’ adaptation of A Ghost In My Suitcase as part of Sydney Festival 2019. Based on the award-winning novel by Gabrielle Wang, A Ghost In My Suitcase follows 12 yearold Celeste who travels abroad to scatter her mother’s ashes in the legendary Isle of Clouds, an ancient Chinese water town.

In this unfamiliar

environment, Celeste meets her ghost-hunting grandmother and discovers her own spiritual powers.

“Not only is she trying to process her grief in losing her mother, Celeste is going to China for the first time and dealing with culture shock by way of sounds, smells and sights she has never experienced before,” says Ching Ching Ho, one of the play’s directors. “She is

a&e

guided by her grandmother – it’s about this intergenerational connection that is not commonly seen on stage with a lot of strong female energy.”

Crossing the boundaries between reality and the supernatural, the play traverses two very different landscapes and is the product of almost three years’ work from the directors and team behind-the-scenes.

“The greatest challenge for us was balancing spectacle with imagination and leaving room for the audience to fill in with their creative force,” says Matt Edgerton, the other co-director. “What people will see on stage is not a typical children’s show. It is hopefully very surprising in terms of the design and how the story has been told.”

Jan 9-19. Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point, Sydney. $56-$66+b.f.

Tickets & Info: www.sydneyfestival.org.au

13 STAGE 14 SCENE 15 Sounds 15 SCREEN

Charlie And The Chocolate Factory

Kids are at the centre of Roald Dahl’s Charlie And The Chocolate Factory which is coming to the Capitol Theatre this week.

Sharing the role of Charlie Bucket are four children aged from nine to 13 years old, and Paul Slade Smith reprising his Broadway role of Willy Wonka, the world’s greatest chocolate maker.

Australian theatrical star Tony Sheldon is 90 and a half year old Grandpa Joe and Lucy Maunder from Matilda:The Musical is Mrs Bucket.

We all love Veruca Salt and fans will be thrilled with the casting of Karina Russell and Stephen Anderson as Mr Salt.

“We have found such a gloriously talented bunch of performers to create Charlie And The Chocolate Factory for Australia,” the producers said in a joint statement.

Charlie And The Chocolate Factory is Dahl’s most enduring

Photo: Joan Marcus

story and is based on his own childhood experiences when as a schoolboy he and his friends were engaged as ‘taste testers’ for a chocolate company.

Being a musical it offers some of the best loved songs of the era including The Candy Man, I’ve Got A Golden Ticket and Pure Imagination and will feature a new score from the songwriters of Hairspray.

The production is listed among New South Wales’

major events for 2019 and it is expected that more than 76,000 visitor nights will be generated and that it will generate more than $37 million in revenue.

Get your own Golden Ticket to see this great new show.

(JMo) Jan 5-Apr 14.

Capitol Theatre, 13 Campbell St, Haymarket. $59.90$215+b.f.Tickets & Info: www.charliethemusical.com.au

The 91-Storey Treehouse When Andy Griffiths wrote the first book in the 13 Storey Treehouse series, it was a “pure experiment.”

“I asked Terry [Denton] to draw a treehouse with a bowling alley and a tank full of sharks […] and he drew a 13 storey tree house much bigger and better than anything I could have imagined,” explains Griffiths. He then wrote the story based on the treehouse Denton had drawn and from there they built a monstrously successful brand, and a treehouse that now stands at 91 storeys high.Taking it to the next level (pun intended), the books were first adapted as stage musicals by a punk rock director with unemployed students on a shoestring budget in Melbourne and Griffiths absolutely loved it.

“I’m not precious about it. I think the book is one thing, and it’s a game of make believe with that individual reader,” he says, seeing the two experiences as separate entities.

“I don’t write the scripts because I don’t understand how

Arts Editor: Jamie Apps For more A&E stories go to www.altmedia.net.au and don’t forget to join the conversation on Twitter at @AltMediaSydney

Samuel Welsh, Freya Pragt, Teale Howie. Photo: Heidrun Lohr

to make an hour of theatre work; my skill is in how to make 365 pages work.”

Griffiths and Denton modelled the main characters the young and inventive Andy and Terry - on themselves as children. Jill, the very smart, practical female friend is the avatar of Griffiths’ real wife, Jill.

That authenticity is part of what makes the books so popular.

“We’re not writing something that we think kids will find funny; we’re writing stuff that we find funny,” says Griffiths.“We’re writing to entertain ourselves.

Like when me and Terry and Jill are at the table drawing and

throwing ideas around, we’re all kind of…we feel like we’re in primary school.”

It may also explain why the books and stage shows appeal to adults as much as children.The latest production is exuberant and fun, with fabulous costumes, clever sets and the employment of some very impressive effects “I’m really happy with this production: the colours, the psychedelia of it…” says Griffiths.

That’s a pretty strong recommendation. (RB) Jan 3-20. Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point, Sydney. $39-$57+b.f.

Tickets & Info: www.sydneyoperahouse.com

Contributors: Emily Shen, Irina Dunn, Jade Morellini, Mark Morellini, Mel Somerville, Olga Azar, Rita Bratovich, Sarah Pritchard, Shon Ho, Riley Hooper, Erika Echternach & Lili Sekkai, Joseph Rana, John Moyle, Angela Stevens, Will Fournier, Gabe Merkel & Lanie Tindale, Madison Behringer, Allison Hore.

city hub 3 JANUARY 2019

13

Kitty Flanagan Smashing One of Australia’s most beloved comedians, Kitty Flanagan is bringing back her hit show, Smashing for an encore performance at the Sydney Opera House in association with A-List Entertainment.

Bouncing from algorithms to chimps to sex and love, Flanagan teaches Australian audiences why the only verb required in your vocabulary is “smashing.” With sold-out shows at

the State Theatre and rave reviews from the Melbourne International Comedy Festival, the show is not to be missed.

Flanagan regularly appears on The Project, Have You Been Paying Attention and Utopia. (ES) Jan 10. Sydney Opera House, Bennelong Point, Sydney. $59.90+b.f. Tickets & Info: www.sydneyoperahouse.com

THE NAKED CITY

2019: A GRAB BAG OF PREDICTIONS!

With Coffin Ed Appearing on the Jack Parr Tonight show in March of 1963, the flamboyant American psychic Criswell predicted “President Kennedy will not run for re-election in 1964, because of something that will happen to him in November 1963”. It was one of the few times that the ‘Amazing Criswell’ actually got anything right but throughout his incredible career he was not afraid to make the most outrageous predictions.

Like a meteor destroying London in 1988, an outburst of cannibalism in Pittsburgh in 1980 and one of his wildest claims – ‘The Aphrodisiacal Era’.

Criswell claimed that the “United States will in the future be swept by the popular clouds of an aphrodisiacal fragrance. ... This aroma will fill every man and woman who inhales it with uncontrolled passion. It will be sold at first “underground” like LSD or STP today. But it will soon become easily available. ...”

Given that a few years ago only Nostradamus himself (and maybe Criswell) would have dared predict the daily chaos and sleaze that envelops the Trump presidency, it’s a brave person who forecasts anything these days – be it political, social or cultural. But here we go with a complete grab bag of prophecies for 2019.

• The completion of the Light Rail is delayed for another two years when the prehistoric bones of a Stegosaurus are uncovered in George Street near the Sydney Town Hall and Clover Moore declares the area a protected archaeological site.

• Lord Lucan is discovered living in a boarding house in Marrickville and is immediately recruited by One Nation to stand as a candidate at the Federal Election.

• Tony Abbott finally retires from politics and joins Club Med as the brand ambassador for

a new upmarket tropical resort on Nauru.

• Gladys Berejeklian orders 500 animatronic Koalas from China to replace the multitude of real koalas displaced by the increased logging of NSW coastal forests.

• A Tasmanian man who claims to have

sighted the Tasmanian tiger on no less than three occasions in the Tarkine wilderness now reports on a mysterious yeti like creature strongly resembling an elderly Harold Holt.

• Pauline Hanson is appointed Australian ambassador to the Maldives and claims there is nothing to worry about with rising sea levels. “I will be happy to be here for the next 30 years,” she exclaims.

• A flotilla of protesters surround Cockatoo Island after it’s revealed that the State Government has sold off the site for a Trump Tower.

• The lockout laws are relaxed to allow all night trading with the proviso that only flavoured milk be served after 3am.

• The skeleton of a man is found on a bench in Hyde Park, all that is left after he is picked to death by a flock of marauding ibis.

• Rolf Harris converts to Catholicism and oversees a midnight mass at St Mary’s Cathedral complete with wobble board.

• Thieves steal Blue Poles from the National Gallery in Canberra and attempt to sell it off in one metre squares on eBay. • The Rolling Stones tour Australia for a final time but angry punters demand refunds after it’s revealed three members were actually dead on stage.

• And finally – with apologies to Criswell “President Trump will not run for re-election in 2020, because of something that will happen to him in November 2019”. We can only live in hope!

Body Worlds Vital Would you donate your body to science?

Dr. Gunther von Hagens’ Body Worlds Vital is life changing, says curator Dr Angelina Whalley.

“When you walk through the exhibit you look with your personal eyes, and you will look at it differently if you come again years later.”

The exhibition shows the effects our lifestyles have on our bodies by showcasing bodies and organs which have been preserved through a “plastination” process.

This process, developed in 1977 by German physician Dr Von Hagens, replaces fats and liquids in the body with plastics.The 14

city hub 3 JANUARY 2019

specimens do not decay or smell.

A similar exhibition in Sydney this year faced controversy as the sourcing of the exhibits was “questionable”. But Dr Whalley says it is important that all 150 specimens for Body Worlds Vital were ethically sourced through their documented donor program.

“From our viewpoint it is absolutely essential to have specimens on display that have voluntarily decided to be part of it,” explains Dr Whalley. “When we started this exhibit, we said that we wanted to democratise anatomy. You also need to have a democratic process behind that.”

Over 90% of donors are from Germany but there have even been donors from Australia. Every donor has their own reasoning for signing up for the program, Dr Whalley says.

“The vast majority really want to do something good and they understand the exhibition is important and highly educational, and that is what they want to support.”

“They want to do something good even beyond their lives.” (AH) Until Mar 31, Sydney Town Hall, 483 George Street, Sydney. $18-$32+b.f.Tickets & Info: www.bodyworldsvital.com

Soccer Mommy

By Jamie Apps Now that Christmas has passed it’s likely that many children throughout Sydney received their first musical instrument as a gift. For some of them that gift could be the start of something truely special, as it was for singersongwriter Sophie Allison (better known as Soccer Mommy).

Allison’s earliest memories revolve around the excitement of listening to music in the car with her father.

“For as long as I can remember I loved listening to music, whenever I got into the car I would want to listen to one of my Dad’s CDs of The Who or Bruce Springsteen,” Allison recalled, “I was also hearing music from

my generation such as Hilary Duff, Taylor Swift and Avril Lavigne. I’ve held onto the nostalgic love for that style of music and it definitely still influences my style.”

It wasn’t until Allison received her first guitar though that the passion and desire to pursue music came to the forefront.

“My first guitar was a toy guitar which I was given at a benefit show for my brothers preschool,” Allison explained, “I wouldn’t stop playing it though, so eventually my parents got me a real guitar and that’s when I really started playing music.”

It wasn’t long before Allison was uploading music to the internet under her Twitter handle, Soccer Mommy, and ultimately gaining notoriety within the American music scene. Since the first upload in 2015 Allison has already gone on to sign with record label, Fat Possum Records, and tour the world extensively.

Looking back on that period of rapid growth Allison said, “I don’t think I really grasped the seriousness of what was happening, and I certainly didn’t realise that a year or so later I would be dropping out of school and touring the world.”

Vice If Dick Cheney was the true brains of the operation behind the ‘war on terror’, as Vice will have you believe, then it isn’t a tough leap to make to say that director Adam McKay is the brains behind unconventional storytelling through film.

Well known for his ground breaking films The Big Short, Anchorman: The Legend Of Ron Burgundy, and

Californian Mikey Mike’s debut EP Life On Earth has a very distinctive sound to it, thanks to its blending of pop sonics, philosophical lyricism, indie guitar rock and soul melodies.

Throughout the record Mikey debates the meaning of life, friendships, and the end of the world. All through a positive, and occasionally humorous lens.

With only three tracks this is a quick easy listen, which can easily be placed into your summer party playlists.

These tracks will be big summer hits, if enough people hear them and spread the word. So definitely get out there, give this a listen and play Life On Earth for your friends! (JA) WWW1/2

Eighth Grade

Cold War

Pawel Pawlikowski is a director with an elegant touch. The award-winning film maker has once again created a world that is simultaneously naturalistic and surreal; sentimental and callous; stunningly beautiful and hideous.

Set in Poland/France/ Germany in the 1950s, Cold War uses a doomed romance as a centrepiece to make observations about a

Mikey Mike’s - Life On Earth

fraught political and social post-war climate. But it’s by no means heavy-handed. The exquisite black and white cinematography and rich soundtrack that includes traditional folk, classical, and jazz music infuses the film with nostalgia and artistic depth.

Wiktor (Tamasz Kot) and Irena (Agata Kulesza) have been employed by the government to scout young

singers and dancers for a touring troupe who will perform tradition folk music as a PR exercise. When the beautiful, confident Zula (Joanna Kulig) auditions, Wiktor is immediately smitten and so begins a tumultuous relationship that spans 15 years.

All performances are excellent, but Kulig is outstanding in an emotionally demanding role.

(RB)

Step Brothers McKay has a very specific style which injects dark, satirical humour into his stories. Vice takes this style and turns it up to an extreme.

Part biopic part comedy Vice explores the life and times of former US Vice President Dick Cheney, portrayed spectacularly by Christian Bale, as he ascended to power and ultimately become the most powerful Vice President in history.

Christian Bale’s transformation into Dick Cheney is almost worth the price of admission alone, it really is that astonishing.

Narrative wise the film tends to jump around the timeline freely, which can make it difficult to follow.

The injection of comedic elements, often at the expense of Cheney’s well documented heart condition, can occasionally be a little heavy handed and distracts

WWWW

The feature film directorial debut of Bo Burnham is a film which blurs the line between fictional drama and documentary as it chronicles the final weeks of the eighth grade for 13 year old Kayla (Elsie Fisher).

Set in a modern world, where technology and social media are the centre of the teen universe,

from the story attempting to be told.

Overall though this is a fine film, which is an unapologetically harsh critique of Cheney and the entire Bush regime. Viewers will find themselves learning and drawing connections between political players, which they otherwise may not have known, whilst simultaneously laughing out loud. (JA) WWW1/2

Eighth Grade superbly dissects the many challenges teens face today. Some of these challenges include bullying, building friendships, and rapid sexual maturation.

Kayla for example runs her own YouTube channel where she gives tips about being confident and making friends.

Sadly this is the complete

antithesis of her real life, everyday persona.

The emotions and awkwardness which each character manages to bring to life in this film are what makes it truely special, and one which will have audiences connecting and empathising with easily.

Truely a special film.

WWWW1/2

Photo: Matt Kennedy. Annapurna Pictures 2018 city hub 3 JANUARY 2019

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