City Hub 19 January 2017

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city hub 19 JANUARY 2017

Baird’s new protest laws used against WestCONnex protesters

BY WENDY BACON As the hot sun rose after a sweltering night in inner Sydney on Wednesday morning, three protests against Westconnex toll roads were already underway.

Despite 7 arrests last week in Sydney Park and scores of police pushing and even occasionally attacking residents, protesters are not fading away.

In response, the NSW Baird government has chosen to deploy squads of inner Sydney police on a daily basis to back up Westconnex’s own private security guards protecting operations. City Hub’s own reporter was arrested for the second time on a Westconnex protest last Friday.

In St Peters, a long line of protesters joined by Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon walked silently along the perimeter fences behind which Westconnex ‘Get Lopped’ contractors were hacking with chain saws at a few of Sydney Park’s 500 doomed trees. The march briefly blocked two construction entrances but as a bevy of police descended, the protesters moved on. As the temperature reached 40, they held a short meeting next to the protest camp that has been maintained on a 24/7 basis since September last year. They resolved to plan further protests in coming days, but given the heat, called it a day. Hundreds of Westconnex workers who are forced to work in extreme heat were not so lucky.

Meanwhile in Arncliffe, a group gathered not far from an exit where 1000 trucks a day will carry spoil down already choked major roads from the mid point tunnelling site for the New M5. A giant frog stood with the protesters highlighting the dire threat to the endangered Green and Golden Bell Frog colony nearby.

In Leichhardt a group picketed a drilling site for Stage 3 of Westconnex, a planned tunnel under the Inner West. The route of construction sites for the tunnel will soon be revealed. Even the Baird government’s appointed Inner West Council is arguing that no site in Leichhardt or Lilyfied could safely be used for a major tunnelling site.

The seven residents arrested last week join 16 arrested last year during anti WestConnex demonstrations. Three of those arrested last week have been charged under the new protest laws with the offence ‘aggravated trespass’ which carries a maximum fine of $5000. Others who were not arrested were injured by police.

“It was distressing to see our police used yet again by the private corporations building Mike Baird’s deeply unpopular WestCONnex tollway,” said WestCONnex Action Group spokesperson Sharon Laura.

WestConnex arrives with full force to stop protesters.

Photo: Jack Carnegie

Ms Laura said it was not the first time police had used heavy-handed tactics at WestCONnex protests.

“This week has seen police officers use pain compliance techniques and violence against residents at WestCONnex protests, some of whom were elderly,” said Ms Laura.

“These WestCONnex protests also appear to be the first time NSW police have used Mike Baird’s draconian anti-protest laws which allow officers to treat peaceful protesters like criminals. But residents will keep taking non-violent direct action against the WestCONnex tollway as long as Premier Baird keeps pushing this sham project through,” said Ms Laura.

The heavy policing contrasts with a lack of public resources available for pursuing complaints that Westconnex is breaching approval conditions and other environmental and health and safety regulations.

For example, complaints to the NSW EPA about a lack of water to control dust in windy conditions before the end of 2016 are not yet finalised. Investigations have taken weeks while residents are left to collect even more evidence of a failure to use hoses which can result in dust billowing near residents. It appears that due to lack of staff, the best that can be achieved is sporadic visits from an EPA investigator who is currently on holidays.

While Sydney Motorway Corporation executives earn very high salaries, workers’ conditions are often unsafe. They are expected to operate machines in extreme heat or work in pouring rain while workers on other major construction sites are ordered to cease work.

Committee member of NoW PT Paul Jeffery, has collected photographic evidence of a large number of serious health and safety failures both at drilling sites and during tree chopping. As a result, he has been told by WorkSafe NSW that a letter of warning will be sent to Westconnex and there will be more visits to sites. However without the efforts of residents, even this small win would not have happened, nor is it clear if anything will change to enforce safe practices.

Jeffery’s dossier of failures includes, “assistant in bucket holding the limb/branch while the chainsaw operator was cutting through the limb; there was no safety rope attached to the limb even though the tree was very close to the road and passing traffic.

“The limb, even though there was high wind gusts was dropped manually from the bucket by the assistant. The assistant was not wearing gloves.”

Some police, including some who use tollways each day, tell demonstrators that they too are opposed to Westconnex or unsure that it will solve traffic congestion. Meanwhile senior police continue to use bail conditions to blatantly limit non-violent direct action and the right to peaceful protest.

Note: Police arrested me for failing to respond to a reasonable direction. I remained in a cell for 8 hours on Friday because I refused to sign a bail condition that I would not go within 10 metres of a Westconnex site anywhere. This would have meant that I could not even travel along sections of Parramatta Rd or Princes Highway, let alone exercise my free speech in continuing to report on WestConnex protests. I finally signed a less restrictive condition but still one which prevents me being on streets where I regularly report and join with others taking peaceful action. I return to court tomorrow.

Wendy Bacon is a past Professor of Journalism at UTS and supporter of the Westconnex Action Group.

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BY BENEDICT BRUNKER A review investigating cases of Aboriginal children taken into Out Of Home Care in 2016 has been announced by the NSW Government’s Department of Family and Community Services (DFCS).

A committee of Aboriginal leaders, led

by Professor Megan Davis from UNSW, will look into 1,200 cases of Aboriginal children given removal orders.

Professor Davis, who is also the Chair and UN expert member of the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples, welcomed the opportunity to chair the review.

“The rate of removal is alarming and this is an important opportunity to examine the implementation of the Aboriginal Child Placement Principle,” Professor Davis said.

The principle places preference on restoring children to their immediate or extended families, or to care within their tribes and nations, with placement into non-Aboriginal families being a last resort.

The department has faced criticism from Indigenous activist groups The Aboriginal Legal Service and Grandmothers Against Removals for systematically failing to uphold this principle.

Family and Community Services Minister Brad Hazzard said the creation of the committee will allow a look into the overrepresentation of Aboriginal children in care.

The old Children’s Court in Surry Hills, where aboriginal child removal cases were decided.

Photo: Wikipedia

“There was a 15 per cent increase in the number of Aboriginal children entering care from 2011 to 2016 compared to a 3 per cent increase of non-Aboriginal children. We need to understand why this is occurring to address this alarming trend,” he said.

Aboriginal children are currently being removed from their families at a faster rate than at any time during the period of the stolen generations.

The review’s announcement follows the Our Kids Our Way: Hearing the Voices of Aboriginal People ministerial forum

held earlier this year, which strongly highlighted this over-representation of aboriginal children in out-of-home care.

The committee is part of a wider NSW Government reform designed to address the needs of vulnerable children, young people and families, with $90 million committed to new family preservation and restoration services, over the next four years.

Under the reform, 50 per cent of these new intensive family preservation places will be dedicated to Aboriginal children and families. city hub 19 JANUARY 2017

3

Peter Rabbit hops too far

BY LANI OATAWAY Filming for the cult classic children’s book Peter Rabbit in Eastern Sydney’s Centennial Parklands has swallowed over half of one of the city’s largest dog parks.

The authority in charge of the Parklands, The Centennial Park and Moore Park Trust, leased a large section of the Park to the private film company PR Productions at $170,000. The company has held the land since August last year, and will continue to use it until filming wraps up in March.

Local dog owners are frustrated at the approval of the film’s location. Just under half of Centennial Park’s total area is designated as an off-leash zone, yet the Trust gave the company the green light to film within this precinct.

A spokesperson for the film company in charge of the shoot, Animal Logic, told City Hub, “Centennial Park was the perfect place to set the scene for our film and in particular the idyllic valley in which Peter Rabbit and friends reside.

“The film site occupies less than 4% of the overall off-leash zones within Centennial Parklands,” the spokesperson said.

The dog park is an important area for owners to socialise and let their dogs play, but this is being stamped out by the film crew’s presence.

To build the set for Peter Rabbit, staff have driven forklifts and cars through the dog park, putting the safety of dogs at risk.

As the construction for the set neared completion, signs were staked into the ground alerting dog owners of a major production shoot, and gave directions to alternate off-leash areas.

Cartoonist: Peter Berner @peter_berner

Peter Rabbit trumps dogs in Centennial Parklands. Photo: Lawrence Gibbons

Now that the crew is filming, the set’s gates are oftentimes left open, with one section sporting a gaping hole for dogs to enter.

But Animal Logic insists it is taking adequate precautions to co-exist with the dogs using the park.

“The set in Federation Valley is surrounded with all of the necessary safety requirements to the area, including, but not limited to perimeter fencing, security supervision, and formal traffic management,” the spokesperson told City Hub. The Peter Rabbit staff are instructing dog owners where they are permitted to walk, and telling owners with loud dogs to leave the area whilst filming. The company has also introduced clearways and blocked road access, stopping owners from parking and using the area.

While speaking to City Hub, dog

owners who regularly use the off-leash zone raised concerns about the growing amount of litter left by the film crew.

Polystyrene peppers the lawns, a toxic material for dogs and other native wildlife which inhabit the park.

The set itself has caused great damage to the grass and trees in the area.

Although some trees have been protected by the crew, many stand bare and are suffering the consequences. And to aid set construction, large concrete blocks have been built into the bushland.

Despite this visible change in the Park, the film company said it will dismantle every piece of the Peter Rabbit set, and the area currently being leased will re-open as normal.

But for now, dogs and their owners will have to continue living alongside the growing presence of Beatrix Potter’s Peter Rabbit.

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5

Why Sydney needs diver-city

BY EVA COX Good cities are growing settlements which mix and match different population groups, who share places comfortably and diversely. Inner city spaces, at least in Australia, have often been areas where new arrivals mix with existing groups, some of whom stay or move over time. Those of us who stay as inner city dwellers like being in the centre, part of the core of action, close to the hubs of governments and centralised activities.

I am a city dweller, deeply committed to the density and diversity that I have experienced in my long life as a Sydneysider.

I arrived in 1948 when I was ten to find a white Australia, very different to Rome or rural England where I’d been before. I grew up near Bondi Beach, with a scatter of ex-WW2 refugees who had been able to move there during the war, when locals moved further inland in fear of an invasion.

Diversities increased over the next decades, and with that came much greater acceptance of the non Anglos, better food choices more creativity and innovation.

There was the then Bohemian Cross and inner suburbs like Paddington that offered cheap flatettes and terraces, housing many Italian and Greek immigrants and underpaid workers.

However, things were changing as the East became gentrified. So in 1979 I moved to Glebe, guiltily buying an ex-boarding house and so becoming part of the further gentrification of the inner west.

But at the time, there was still much more public housing being built and the remains of the Whitlam/Uren push for social housing in Glebe.

I’d been part of the Green Ban’s movement and believed strongly in the need for city centres to continue to house widely diverse people.

That was before the market model took over,

Eva Cox standing in solidarity with the Millers Point Community. Photo: Millers Point Community

so now the mix of rising real estate prices and privatised housing policies, at both Federal and state levels, are fuelling high prices and the exclusion of lower income residents. The supply of substantial social and public housing depends on government policies ensuring that funding is available, and public land retained.

This spending was replaced by rent subsidies for some low income renters and much less provision of housing. The signs are not good as the government sells off what they own, and no new serious public money is on offer. All I can see is rhetoric and a few projects that don’t replace what is being sold or demolished.

Where once there were clearly mixes of low and high cost areas, we are now moving to uniformly high cost housing with waning

government efforts to ensure the retention of both affordable and social housing. Together with rising rents and prices on inner city properties, there will continue to be smaller possibilities for the less affluent to live in inner city suburbs.

The destruction of the Millers Point Community, including the planned demolition of the Sirius Building are a clear statement that the poor have no place in desirable suburbs. Similar plans to rework the public housing in Waterloo again fail to recognise the rights of those who are part of local communities. History has no place in arguments about entitlements - only the dollar value of the real estate appears to matter.

The SMH Jan 14/15 published the Valuer General’s increases in land values. The article said, “ The Greater Sydney Commission, charged

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with drawing up plans to shape the nature of development through the city, has proposed that 5 per cent to 10 per cent of the increase in value on new development projects should be used for dedicated affordable housing. Professor Phibbs said the latest land value figures showed a need to implement that policy, or something more forceful. Otherwise Sydney’s just losing opportunities to provide more affordable housing and lining the pockets of a small number of landowners.”

The government response in the above article is smug, “pressure on Sydney’s already-stretched housing and transport needs are a ‘symptom of Sydney’s success,’ said NSW Planning Minister Rob Stokes.”

There are no signs that the state government is taking the issue seriously, particularly in inner Sydney. It has no funding plan and puts the portfolio in FACS, one of its lower priority portfolios, so housing competes with welfare needs.

There are no signs that the government understands that big cities need diversity at its core. Pushing out public housing tenants, museums, and filling public spaces with monstrous developments - via the Urban Taskforce - to meet financial returns will suffocate the diversity big cities need to flourish.

Despite its good intentions, the City of Sydney will have serious difficulties applying its Sustainable Sydney 2030 plan of ‘establishing an ambitious target that by 2030, 7.5% of all housing in the local area will be social housing provided by government and community providers and 7.5% will be affordable housing delivered by notfor-profit or other providers.’

They, have limited power to affect state developments. So it’s up to us, the voters!

Telstra intends making a final decision on this proposal by: 7th

March 2017

To assist us in making a final decision, we invite your comments on this proposal.

Please send us your comments in writing to: Telstra Payphone Siting Manager Locked Bag 4850 Melbourne Vic 3001 or by calling us on 1800 011 433 selection Option 2 or by email to Payphone.Solutions@team.telstra.com For more information on payphone services (including, any applicable payphone consultation document) see: www.telstra.com.au/payphoneservices/index.htm

City deserves better than Packer’s pissing contest

BY KIERAN ADAIR If you’ve ever wondered how much sway gambling carries in the state of New South Wales, just take a stroll down to Pyrmont on a Saturday night.

As the rest of Sydney turns into a ghost town, the Star Casino, nestled on the edges of Darling Harbour, parties through the night. It’s excluded from lockouts, dodges police reporting, and now it seems it’s even exempt from planning regulations.

Last year the Star Casino announced plans to build a new hotel complex on the corner of Pirrama and Jones Bay roads. The tower, designed by architectural firm FJMT, will add another 370 new rooms to the Star, allowing them to cash in on new waves of tourism expected from Darling Harbour’s redevelopment.

There’s just one problem: while the tower might be good for the Star, it’ll most likely be terrible for Sydney.

Standing at 215 metres, the new building will dwarf its surrounds: blocking neighbours views, overshadowing parks, and creating wind tunnels along its corridor. Under the current Local Environment Plan, buildings in that area are permitted to stand no higher than 28 metres, almost a tenth the size of the proposed development. Even the current exemptions, which allow the Star to have three points standing at 65 metres, are laughable compared to the new plans.

“When the casino was first approved the community was promised that it would never exceed the height of the stacks of the Pyrmont Power Station, which was demolished to make way for

Packer’s new tower of terror to reign in Sydney. Photo: Pexels

the facility; building a tower on the site would be a betrayal of the community’s trust.” Alex Greenwich, the State Member for Sydney, recently wrote this to Rob Stokes, the State’s Minister for Planning.

“Towers of such great height are not appropriate adjacent to the harbour where they privatise and minimise the public harbour experience, and this location is in conflict with Darling Harbour precinct’s planning objectives.”

According to Mr Greenwich, the tower is “ad hoc planning at its worst”, citing objections from the City of Sydney Council related to infrastructure capacity and strategic planning

guidelines. He’s requested that the Government hold back on allowing the project to proceed to the next stage of planning.

But in New South Wales, money talks. Between 1998 and 2011 The Star made over $847,950 worth of political donations in NSW alone. Since 1998, the gambling industry has made $5,136,292 in political donations across the country.

So far, this seems to have bought them exemptions from all manners of things: from mandatory limits on pokie machine gambling, to lockouts, and the reporting of violent crime.

The good news is that at least the Star’s new

tower won’t get lonely. Across the harbour in Barangaroo, James Packer’s new Crown Casino appears to be a fait accompli. When finished it will stand at 271 metres, dominating the skyline of new Barangaroo public park.

But again, money talks. In 2012, James’ mother Ros Packer made a donation of $570,000 to the Liberal party, just weeks after her son was given the right to develop a new casino in the Barangaroo public precinct.

The Sydney Crown began construction last October, managing to secure planning approval despite vigorous public and expert objection to its development.

“It was an ugly exercise in the realpolitik of NSW.” David Shoebridge, the NSW Greens planning spokesperson said. “Both major parties had been duchessed by Crown so there was no real discussion about whether Sydney needed another casino.”

It’s no coincidence that it was around this time that the Star started promoting its new tower.

According to Mr Greenwich, “the proposal is not part of any long term strategic plan for the area and appears to be about matching plans and proposals at Darling Harbour and Barangaroo.”

In the coming years these two new developments will come to define the city’s skyline and public spaces, but it’s hard to see how the public will gain any benefit from them.

Instead it seems like the future of our city rests on big money, and a pissing contest between Packer and Star over who gets the biggest tower. Public be damned.

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7

Opinion

Housing affordability, everybody’s right

By Andrew Woodhouse I’ve gone radical. Perhaps it’s age-related but I’m joining the choir of singing angels: “What do we want? Affordable housing. When do we want it? Now!” I’m not facing off bulldozers, disrupting the stock market or chaining myself to trees and ruining my new jacket but I am frustrated with the people in power who should and can fix the so-called “affordable housing crisis” but don’t.

Ever since cave man embraced the idea of using protected cave spaces as shelter, we’ve always believed a place to live isn’t just a cosy delight and necessity: it’s a right. And these rights are enshrined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

I can see what to expect but can’t see how such rights can be realised if our elected governments at all levels with their abacus mentality and money-grabbing tax regimes continually frustrate them.

Yes, “affordable housing” is a neologism: it’s been newly minted to describe the yawning gap between the cost of housing and the amount of money in our wallets available to pay for it.

But affordable for whom? The average male adult full-time worker who earns $1,600 per week before tax? The third-year arts student struggling to find cash to pay rent and working a part-time job?

Income levels in City of Sydney, compared to Greater Sydney, show there is a larger proportion of high income households (those earning $2,500 per week or more) and a lower proportion of low income households (those earning less than $600 per week) within Sydney Council’s boundaries.

Politicians created this problem: it’s up to them to fix it.

Let’s wean them off these massive, moneydripping, mammary glands and increase my income for starters. Show me the money.

Affordable houses in Sydney are quickly disappearing. Image: unsplash

However, the average Sydney house price is $750,000 and rising.

The cost of the average rental is $590 per week.

A $750,000 home loan including $29,000stamp duty costs $795 per week paid off over 30 years with a $70,000 deposit. Add in legal and real estate costs, $5,000. After purchase, add in council rates, energy costs, rising strata levies (if applicable), GST on household items, annual Land Tax of $1,400 (if a second property) or Capital Gains Tax of another 30% when you sell.

And it’s these insidious hidden costs which really push up both initial and ongoing affordability, a two-pronged menace, exacerbating the crisis.

This is the nub of the problem: the NSW State government now derives 30% of its total income from rising house prices: it has a vested interest in seeing prices rise, not fall.

It has to pay for rising public service salaries, schools, public transport, hospitals, police, gaols, billion dollar new inter-city trains, and even for a new logo.

Consider my easy-to-use formula.

1. To increase my income, reduce income tax to 25% and reduce GST to 8%; 2. To reduce initial housing costs, slash deposit requirements and loan rates, stamp out stamp duty and cut legal costs; 3. Reduce government costs ruthlessly; cut waste and freeze public service salaries but slightly increase Newstart and provide cash incentives to get people into work and off the public purse; 4. Slash on-going housing costs, eliminate Land Tax and Capital Gains Tax, reduce energy bills and council rates by 15%, and cap strata fees by law.

Let’s put this to trial.

Obviously, claims by big developer lobbyists that building more houses uber-quickly and by-passing council quality control and heritage planning laws will wondrously produce a public panacea is tendentious twaddle and selfservicing bull#*≠!

Building more houses just increases developer profits, leaving communities with sub-standard homes. This decreases their livability and longterm value. We need quality, not just quantity, because more houses alone can never reduce their costs, and directly-linked rentals, for our third-year students.

Andrew Woodhouse is President, Potts Point & Kings Cross Heritage & Residents’ Society

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TUE 21 FEB 8:30PM A moving trilogy of films from queer director Leesong Hee-il exploring sexuality, relationships, and Korean society through some very different gay male characters. Screening together for the first time in Australia, the films are lyrical, beautiful, and still so relevant.

Opinion

Local representation across Sydney falls to lowest ever levels under mergers

BY JOHN STAMOLIS In a recent article in this paper, I discussed how the forced amalgamation of Councils has resulted in much worse levels of representation across Sydney.

Dr Bligh Grant (UTS) and the Department of Local Government took issue with this and felt that my analysis was full of caveats.

The first of my points is that forced amalgamations have slashed the number of Councillors in Sydney, reducing local community representation to the lowest level ever.

Average representation for the Inner-West community will plummet from 1 Councillor for every 5,100 people to 1 Councillor per 12,300 people.

This comes at a time when Councillor workloads are very high, as the responsibilities of local government have increased and as Sydney’s population is set to grow by around 1.5 million over the next 15 years - increasing the average size of a Council by a further 60,000 people.

In recent Councils’ surveys, results have shown that our community expects more engagement from the new Council. I question whether it is sensible to slash the number of Councillors given these factors.

Second, the number of Councils proposed for Sydney (25) is less than Melbourne (31) and Perth (29), while Adelaide, with a quarter of the population of Sydney, has 20 Councils. This not only raises questions about Sydney’s focus on local representation when compared with other capital cities; it also opens up questions about whether State Government has correctly identified regions which are vital to the city’s growth and economy; or if it has just lumped Councils together with little thought.

Third, across London, 1 Councillor represents

Baird’s council mergers are set to malfunction. Photo: Pittwater Alliance

on average 4,500 people. It will be more than three times this in Sydney (16,500).

The number of Councillors on a London Council varies from 46 to 70. While this is high, in Sydney, the Baird Government has arbitrarily capped the number of Councillors at a very low 15. In London, our Inner West Council would have about 60 Councillors - not 15.

The Department of Local Government points out that the UK doesn’t have State Governments, and therefore the number of Councillors needs to be higher in London. Let’s look at that more closely. This says that because Councils in London have broader responsibilities they need 40 to 50 extra Councillors for every Council.

What nonsense! Direct representation for the Inner-West will be 15 Councillors and only 3 State MPs, while the equivalent Council in London will have 60 representatives.

I am not suggesting that the Inner-West should have 60 elected representatives. I am simply comparing the representation levels for two global cities with similar democratic fundamentals.

Interestingly, it shows that London manages quite well to remain one of the top two global cities while having more local government areas and much higher representation than Sydney (even when you combine both State and Local Government).

My fourth consideration is this: Why did State Government cap the number of Councillors at 15?

If you live in the Inner-West Council, which has 185,000 people, you will have 15 Councillors. If you live in Canterbury-Bankstown or Blacktown, each with around 340,000 people, it is still 15.

What is the reason for this huge disparity?

Anyone would expect that reform of local government should have broadly attempted to make representation of communities fairer across Councils. Now, it’s worse!

The inflexibility of State Government and the Department of Local Government to consider adjusting the cap seems to be because they think there is some correlation between this number and the quality of decision-making in Councils. It would be good to see factual evidence to support such claims.

It would also be good to know why they think this size of 15 should apply to Councils’ with populations of 180,000, 250,000, 350,000 or even higher. So, for most Councils it will be one size fits all as Council regions’ populations grow over time.

The State Government should give serious consideration to lifting their cap on the number of Councillors - by a sensible amount. This is because levels of representation in NSW now are far too low.

We already have two levels of government – Federal and State – which have minimal interaction with the average person. In fact, most people feel increasingly irrelevant when it comes to our ability to influence or interact with Federal and State government.

Is it too much to ask that communities have meaningful access to our Councils and our local representatives? After all, we fork out enough money for three levels of government in Australia.

John Stamolis is Ex-Leichhardt Councillor

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9

FEATURE

Achieving your Health & Fitness goals

BY RITA BRATOVICH As well as de-cluttering, watching less TV and being nicer to certain relatives, many New Year’s resolution lists include goals around fitness and health – lofty or insincere goals that are often abandoned after the second week of futile effort.

Yet, health goals are utterly achievable, as long as you take a considered, planned approach.

More than anything else, mindset will influence the success or failure of your goal setting. Focusing on “denial” and “resistance” creates a negative frame of reference. Instead, allow yourself to appreciate that you are finally treating your body with care and respect.

A significant factor of mindset is knowledge. Educate yourself about health and fitness and it will lead to increased interest, confidence in your choices and a more positive attitude. But be discerning – there is no such thing as a “one size fits all” solution.

“Each person has a different metabolism and [it] is important to understand what suits your body better,” advises Caique Ponzoni, CEO and founder of Naked Foods, an organic and natural health foods store with six Sydney locations including Bondi and Newtown.

Their diligence in ensuring products are ethically sourced and delivered translates into goods of high quality and integrity.

“We believe that anything at Naked Foods can be incorporated as part of your diet,” assures Ponzoni.

And what exactly should you incorporate into your diet?

“Lots of greens, healthy fats (nuts, coconut oil, butter) and organic or grass fed protein.”

If you’ve got a collection of mouldy gym memberships in the drawer where you keep best intentions, then chances are you just don’t like going to the gym. But there are options that don’t involve watching people in a g-string leotard do squats.

Movement Republic is a boutique gym with a difference.

“It’s designed for how you move through life,”

Naked Foods.

Photo: Caique Ponzoni

My Massage Works.

Photo: My Massage Works via iStock

explains Ann Charleston, who runs the gym and also designed the custom equipment. Instead of traditional exercises, workouts involve obstacle courses and unique activities that imitate or facilitate everyday movements. They offer individual assessments including 3D body scans and personalised programs.

With both trainers and clients ranging in age from 20 to 60 yrs, the focus is on community and interactivity. ‘No isolated people and no isolated movements’ is their creed.

Research supports the general importance of social engagement for mental and emotional health. Some fitness environments can be intimidating, insular and unsupportive, but many businesses are becoming aware of the inherent human need to belong to a tribe.

SheCamp is a women only boot camp that runs outdoor sessions at Maroubra Beach and St Peters.

Susie, chief trainer, explains why it is gender specific: “There are many mixed groups available so I thought it would be beneficial to provide a female only program, for women of all ages, sizes and

fitness levels to come together in a safe and supportive environment to work on their health and fitness goals.”

There is a great selection of activities and they all take place outdoors. According to Susie, “exercising in natural environments has been associated with greater feelings of revitalisation, increased energy and positive engagement.” It can provide “structure and camaraderie that can often be difficult to find in indoor settings…”

If you’d like to find a “male-only” equivalent or other specific needs group, try the Fitness Australia website (www.fitness.org.au).

There are many more activities that are much more fun to do with other people – cycling being one.

And if riding on a highway at 6am in a moving swarm of fluorescent lycra isn’t your thing, no fear, there are plenty of bespoke BUGs (Bicycle User Groups) that you can join.

Sydney Spokes, for instance, is a gay and lesbian cycling group (but welcome to all who are welcome to all).The group conducts social rides on most Sundays, exploring different areas of Sydney and focusing on fun,

scenery and coffee.Any fitness level, any bike type and any attire is acceptable (providing it complies with NSW cycling laws).There is a strong sense of community and friendship and some members have even found a partner. Cycling is the perfect entry-level fitness activity.

All this unexpected movement may awaken muscles that thought they had been made redundant, and you may get complaints in the way of pain and stiffness. Of course a trip to the massage salon is an optimum solution, but you should really consider massage therapy even before you start exercising.As Bess De Brenni from My Massage Works points out: “We spend more time sitting or standing on hard surfaces than we ever have. We spend hours craning our necks to view computers, iPads and phones.

This is having a huge effect on our bodies.”

If you’ve been inactive for a while, a massage will help free up joints, release tension, and stimulate circulation. A good masseur will teach you about correct posture and the best way to ease into your new activity regime.

“Remedial massage treatments help your body recover, align and flourish. If your body is not performing at its best your mind and spirit [are] also being constricted,” adds De Brenni.

Meanwhile, if you’ve gone for a run after months of sedentary Netflix binging, what’s the best way to apologise to your body?

“Stretching!” says De Brenni. “We all need to do it.”

Being fit and healthy should not be about reluctance, sacrifice, or solitary struggle. In fact, the exact opposite is true. It’s been proven that enjoying and sharing things that are good for you, will make them even better for you. www.nakedfoods.com.au www.mymovementrepublic.com www.shecamp.com.au www.sydneyspokes.com www.mymassageworks.com.au

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Movement Republic is a boutique, independent studio with capped membership.

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city hub 19 JANUARY 2017

city hub 19 JANUARY 2017

11

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT The Testament of Mary

Renowned Irish novelist, Booker Prize nominee and Tony Award-winner Colm Tóibín must have given expression to a feminist impulse when he wrote The Testament of Mary; a play which gives the mother Mary’s version of the life, teachings and passion of her son Jesus.

The American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property claimed the

Sydney Festival is presenting audiences with an unusual production this month with The Encounter, in which audience members experience the Amazon through the aural sense.

Using binaural technology, which mimics human hearing, the sound effects of the rainforest are conveyed to individual audience members wearing earphones.

Director Simon McBurney was inspired to create the work by Petru Popescu’s book Amazon Beaming, an account of the story of National Geographic photographer Loren McIntyre, who was lost in the Amazon in 1969 and stumbled across the Mayoruna tribe. Unable to speak any common language, McIntyre claimed he could communicate telepathically with tribe members.

McBurney was keen to replicate McIntyre’s sense of isolation and came up with the idea of locking each individual audience member into a private world of sounds.

Taking McBurney’s place in the Sydney production is Richard Katz, who says: “Our audience wears headphones throughout the show and this means I can whisper and still be heard. This gives a very different dynamic for the performer (and hopefully the audience too).

Reducing the volume deepens the intensity of the various moments and I am delivering an experience that gets to the emotional centre of the story without being eclipsed by the bombast

Koala Joe – The Musical

Martin Charles, Sasha Cole & Cameron Woodhouse.

Photo: John Kennan

During the Sydney Festival our city has an abundance of shows and entertainment options to choose from, but if you have children Emu Productions and King Street Theatre are the ones hitting it out of the park.

Opening earlier this week is the new production Koala Joe – The Musical, which has been written by the producers who brought us the incredibly successful Jungle Book – The

Musical. Koala Joe is making its Australian premiere during this season run and is not only entertaining but also educational as it takes the kids on an mystical journey driven by the spirit of Dreamtime culture.

The production is centred around Joe, a boy from Australia who lives far from home in an Austrian boarding school. Joe loves where he is living, as he trains to be a downhill skier, but he is desperately homesick. It is this homesickness that sees Yalunda, the daughter of the Great Mother Eingana who once created everything, taking Joe on his journey as they meet various Australian animals all just as homesick.

Written, directed and performed by Markus Weber, this show is guaranteed to captivate children during the summer heat – with the added benefit of teaching them a few heartfelt lessons, unbeknownst to them. (JA) Until Jan 28, 10:30am + 1pm Mon-Fri, 1pm only Sat. King Street Theatre, 644 King St & Cnr Bray St, Newtown. $17-$25 ($70 family of four).

Tickets & info: www.kingstreettheatre.com.au or 0423 082 015

a&e

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city hub 19 JANUARY 2017

12 STAGE 13 SCENE 14 Sounds 15 SCREEN

Photo: Chloe Courtney

of having to belt it out to be heard.”

This is a wonderful way to explore the Amazon without encountering its insect life.The effect is so realistic that members of overseas audiences have been seen to swat imaginary mosquitoes from their necks during the show. (ID) Until Jan 28, 7.30pm (+ 2pm, Jan 21). Drama Theatre, Sydney Opera House. $77-$110.

Tickets & info: www.sydneyfestival.org.au/2017/ the-encounter

Slide Lounge Presents: A Night At The Musicals Oliver award-winner Le Gateau Chocolat and fabulous drag queen extraordinaire Jonny Woo are bringing their highly acclaimed cabaret to the everprogressive Sydney drag scene. For two nights only, these talented queens will share an eclectic mix of musical favourites, laughter and glamorous mayhem.

Woo talked to City Hub about the upcoming show at the Slide Lounge.

Of his drag career,Woo told us it began at school: “I dressed as The Queen in a ‘balloon debate’…and used to dress up in my sister’s clothes as a kid.”

However, it wasn’t until he stumbled upon “downtown characters” Lavinia Co-Op and Brandon Olson in New York, age 26, that the love affair with drag truly began.“They took me out to Jackie 60 [a famous weekly party held in New York’s Meatpacking district], and from then on I was often out in heels, jock strap, glitter beard of whatever I found from a thrift store.”

Woo’s partnership with Le Gateau Chocolat (and the catalyst for the show) was born at show in Brighton, UK over 10 years ago, where the pair bonded over their love of musicals. Of their creation,Woo tells us we should expect “fabulous singing, all your fave musicals and tons of sequins!”

In terms of songs on the repertoire, they will grace “Phantom, Les Mis, Cabaret, plus loads more” with their glamour.

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

Photo: Lee Faircloth

Alison Whyte. Photo: James Green

The Encounter

depiction of Mary in the play was blasphemous, but Tóibín says:“The text…is very serious. It’s not as though we’re attempting to get involved with the mockery of icons… we’re recreating or exploring an icon, rather than reducing the iconic.”

Sydney Theatre Company’s Resident Director Imara Savage says: “It was immediately striking how human this portrayal of Mary was. This is a Mary who’s raw, unfiltered and able to speak her mind and articulate her emotions with life experience, wisdom and hindsight.”

I asked her how she wanted to portray Tóibín’s Mary on the stage. She responded: “This production aims to take Mary off the pedestal to de-mythologize her, only to re-mythologize her in a new, accessible, mother, wife and woman with her own voice.”

Oddly enough, the play closed on Broadway in 2013 after only two weeks of a scheduled 12week run, but it was nominated for three Tony Awards, including Best Play.

Do we learn something new about Christ from Tóibín’s play? “We learn to think about him more clearly as the son of a mother,” Imara says, “rather than as the son of the divine father”.

Imara encourages people to engage with the piece generously rather than dogmatically, and, God bless us all, we shall. (ID) Until Feb 25, evenings & matinees.Wharf 1 Theatre, Pier 4, Hickson Road,Walsh Bay. $55$75.Tickets & info: www.sydneytheatre.com.au

“We thought about what our audiences would like too, so it’s full of crowd pleasers,” Woo added.

Ultimately,A Night At The Musicals is about providing an uplifting experience “and stupid banter between two good mates”. (NBee) Jan 23 + 24; doors 7pm, show 8.30pm. Slide Lounge, 41 Oxford St, Darlinghurst. $44 (show only), $79 (includes 2 course dinner).Tickets & info: www.slide.com.au

Contributors: Carmen Cita, Craig Coventry, Greg Webster, Alicia Sim, Peter Urquhart, James Harkness, Leann Richards, Lisa Seltzer, Mark Morellini, Mel Somerville, Rocio Belinda Mendez, Sarah Pritchard, Athina Mallis, Leigh Livingstone, Joseph Rana, Shon Ho, Jacqui Rothwell, Emily Shen, Andrew Hodgson, Irina Dunn, Caitlin Burns, Zeiya Speede, Rita Bratovich, Chantal Walsh, Raffaele Piccolo, Barbara Karpinski, Taylah Felice, Georgia Fullerton, Bobby Stephenson, Olga Azar, Kaiti Haviland, Daniel Jaramillo, Nina Beeston.

REVIEW: Briefs: The Second Coming The Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent is the perfect venue for this allmale cabaret, with its great variety of acts from striptease to dance to acrobatics to magic.

Ipswich boy Fez Fa’anana no doubt has his Samoan origins to thank for the physicality and musicality of the show he has created with his five fellow performers.

Fez is hostess for the evening, providing a running commentary on the origins of the show, on politics, on life and love, and everything in between.

Apart from the fabulous costumes, what distinguishes this show is its strong dose of comedy that undercuts the titillation and explodes the pornographic element in a volley of laughter.

Drag queen Dallas Dellaforce is gorgeously arresting in her lipsynching routine, while schoolboy Louis Biggs plays around with a yoyo and a Rubik’s cube and shows he is both extremely dexterous and very smart.

Mark Winmill (aka ‘Captain Kidd’) splashes around and in a large

Photo: Chantel Concei

elegant birdbath in a flashy routine that requires giving the front rows plastic sheets to shelter behind.

And in the straightest of the acts, Thomas Worrell’s performances on aerial hoop and silks are breathtakingly beautiful and, surprisingly, not at all naughty.

My only quibble with the show is that Fez needs to sharpen up his patter in a case of “less is more”.

It’s a gorgeous show and will have you amused, engaged and titillated from beginning to end.

A word of warning: watch out lest you win the highly unusual raffle prize and are selected to go up on stage to collect it. (ID) Until Jan 22, varied performance times.

The Magic Mirrors Spiegeltent at the Meriton Festival Village, Hyde Park. $63-$80.

Tickets & info: www.sydneyfestival.org.au/2017/briefs

THE NAKED CITY

FAKE NEWS VERSUS THE UGLY TRUTH

With Coffin Ed ‘Fake News’ – it’s a phrase that has become firmly entrenched in the modern lexicon, but one that evokes different strokes for different folks. For Donald Trump it’s a convenient way of dismissing anything negative that is reported about him – witness his angry branding of CNN as “fake news” at a recent media scrum. For others it’s a devious way of spreading rumour and innuendo, of creating political advantage and disseminating a thinly veiled agenda.

The phenomenon of course is nothing new except for today’s technology that enables the fakers to spread their message almost instantaneously. For hundreds of years less than ethical newspapers have printed dubious stories, dubbed ‘yellow journalism’, simply designed to increase circulation. In the late 1800’s media moguls Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst went to head to head in a circulation battle fuelled by numerous slabs of mischievous misinformation.

More recently the US based Weekly World News, which once sold on newsstands in Sydney, took the concept of fake news to an extreme with a newspaper almost entirely full of absurd made-up news. Headlines such as HILLARY CLINTON ADOPTS ALIEN BABY, ANCIENT PHOTO OF JESUS FOUND and ADOLF HITLER WAS A WOMAN were commonplace and it’s clear the journalists involved were having a laugh – no doubt racking their brains to come up with even more ridiculous stories.

The Weekly World News was a big seller at supermarket checkouts in the US, prior to the cessation of its print version in 2007. A university based study of its readers in the early 2000’s found that whilst the majority bought the newspaper for its entertainment value (i.e. a good chuckle), around one in 10 gave some credence to the authenticity of stories such as RUSSIANS

SHOOT DOWN UFO, I WAS CHUCK NORRIS’S CHINESE TWIN and NORTH KOREA PLAN TO INVADE AMERICA. The WWN lives on today in a limp online version, but (sadly) seems totally lost in a cyber world riddled with tabloid style trash.

Whilst more and more people rely entirely on the internet to get

Invasia

The Inaugural Election for Ruler concerning the United Royal Republic Country Homeland of Invasia is approaching. Five candidates from the planet are in the running and it is up to you, the citizens, to vote in the leader who earns your trust.

But how do you choose a leader when their policies aren’t even delivered in your language?...

Prepare to be tested for ‘aural racism’ as a host of bizarre characters converge for Invasia. This participatory performance piece from The Leftovers Collective is taking over Redfern’s Hustle & Flow bar this Australia Day/Invasion Day. Performer and Artistic Director, Curly Fries (yes, you read that correctly), describes Invasia as involving “a bit of sound, a bit of dance, a bit of traditional acting, and then there’s also movement and performance”.

There will be no organic English used, as each performer utilizes a unique dialect made up of up to several different languages. Curly’s character will be speaking in a mixture of Hindi, Mandarin, Polish and Gamilaraay, which is a traditional Aboriginal language.

their daily news feed, traditional print newspapers, in particular the so called ‘quality press’ are seen as the last bastion of truth in journalism. Even then there are cases where so called ‘fake news’ has escaped the scrutiny of editors and tainted the reputation of some of the most respected members of the Fifth Estate.

Paul Sheehan’s story, “The horrifying untold story of Louise”, about a woman brutally raped and beaten by a Middle Eastern gang, and published in the Sydney Morning Herald in early 2016, was quickly exposed as a total fabrication. Whilst it led to his suspension from the newspaper and the end of his career with the SMH, it also revealed a failure on the part of his editors to question the reliability of his source and his basic fact checking.

There’s little doubt that once Trump and his extended family are firmly planted in the White House, that the degree of media inspection will increase to a level not witnessed since the scandalridden days of the Clinton and Nixon administrations. Trump’s previous indiscretions, such as his alleged “pee-party” at the Moscow Ritz Carlton, are bound to rear their ugly heads. He’s likely to be the most scrutinised President in American history, not to mention the collection of cronies and family members he’s assembled as part of his team.

Whether the ‘fake news’ dismissal will work for him in the future remains to be seen. One can only hope that a World Weekly News story that appeared some time ago turns out to be validated: “Donald Trump’s birth certificate is a fake. He was actually born in Kenya!”

“It’s amazing, but after researching his birth, we learned he was born in Nairobi, Kenya,” said New York’s famous detective, Bo Dietl.

“Donald’s father, Donald John Trump, was in Nairobi making real estate deals, when his wife, Mary Anne, gave birth to Donald, Jr. on June 14, 1946.”

“We’re looking at how rulers get in…how they engage an audience, what manipulative sound tricks they can use, what is it to aurally envelope someone, what it is to bring someone close to you just through your voice…” explained Curly.

“The audience will have to totally work out through sound who they ‘like’ and vote for that person through a visual card, there will be no instruction in English,” he elaborated.

“Whoever has the most votes, that person will come forward and that is your ruler for Invaisa.

Their laws will be translated into English…”

All the candidates’ speeches are taken from Shakespeare’s great texts. So you could be swayed by the voice and tone of one candidate, only to discover their speech is taken from Macbeth, and killing for promotion is ok’d under his leadership.

“It’s a really fun night where you can step into some of the deep concepts if you want to or you

can just enjoy the fun of hearing these weird candidates speak in languages that are familiar and yet not familiar and vote on one…”

Invasia is the fourth performance by The Leftovers Collective to be welcomed into Hustle & Flow since the group’s inception in May last year. Their first performance came as a reaction to “a bunch of artists not getting general auditions for a large theatre company in Sydney”. Not ones to waste good work, they performed these “leftover monologues” and, in a parody of the casting process, invited the audience to critique them.

The Collective’s free public performances are an excellent opportunity to see working artists exploring taboo themes in an unbridled, independent environment which genuinely celebrates diversity. (AM) Jan 26, 6.30pm. Hustle & Flow Bar, 3/105 Regent St, Redfern. FREE. Info: www.theleftoverscollective.com city hub 19 JANUARY 2017

13

LIVE WIRE

Sydney Live Music Guide

London Klezmer Quartet

By Jamie Apps

London Klezmer Quartet: After a phenomenal performance last week at the Illawarra Folk festival, this four-piece group bring their classical artistry to Sydney. The group was first formed in London in 2009 by Llana Cravitz (violin), Susie Evans (clarinet), Carol Isaacs (accordion) and Indra Buraczewska (double bass & vocals) because of their shared passion for the traditional style.

Thu, Jan 19, Camelot Lounge Greg Poppleton: Nearing one million YouTube views, Australia’s only authentic 1920s jazz singer is bringing his upbeat 1920s, Charleston and New Orleans Jazz Age show to Ultimo jazz club at Foundry616. Do not miss this unique and extraordinary show.

Thu, Jan 19, Foundry616

across the country have converged on Sydney this month for the 20th annual Gondwana National Choral School.

NCS 2017 brings together 329 talented young people aged 10 to 26 years for an intensive two-week training and performance season, guided by leading national and international conductors at UNSW. As part of this experience, the event culminates with the inaugural Festival of Summer Voices, which exhibits the extraordinary talents of the participants.

Fri-Sat, Jan 20-21, Multiple Venues

Great Scott – The Music Of Raymond Scott: Raymond Scott (born Harry Warnow) was an American composer, band leader, pianist, engineer, recording studio maverick and electronic instrument Lazertits: This Melbourne band made inventor. ‘Great Scott!’ will explore of five best friends is making their way Raymond Scott’s early quintette to Sydney for the very first time miniature masterpieces and his tomorrow for a very special free ground-breaking electronica as well as show, which will see them playing his eerie and often unnerving their unique brand of garage punk advertisement jingles. infused with feminist theory and social Sat, Jan 21, The Sound Lounge commentary.

Fri, Jan 20, Vic On The Park We The Lost Sea: This show will be an incredibly emotional one for We Gondwana Choral School: The Lost Sea, as they mark the end of Hundreds of talented young singers, an era performing their third album composers and conductors from Departure Songs for the final time in

Australia. This record was their first following the loss of their lead singer and best friend Chris Torpy, so these grief-laden songs are by far their most emotional and experimental.

Sat, Jan 21, Newtown Social Club Stick To Your Guns: Southern Californian hardcore legends Stick To Your Guns are bringing some

serious heat to Sydney early next week. Not only that, they are bringing their friends Knocked Loose with them to make this show one which is sure to be a highlight on any hardcore music fans year.

Tue, Jan 24, Bald Faced Stag Glass Animals: Having just completed a US tour, which included

Photo: Vanessa Heins

Alexisonfire

two sold out nights at NYC’s infamous Terminal 5 (3000 capacity), and a UK tour including a sold out show at London’s Roundhouse, the band will making their way back to Sydney mid-week for a special Laneway Festival Sideshow just for Sydney fans.

Wed, Jan 25, Enmore Theatre

Mosquito Coast – Television Love EP In the midst of Sydney’s heatwave we’re all compelled to either head down to the beach or have a late evening barbecue, and what single thing can make both of those things better? The answer is a selection of relaxed, beguiling music – and thankfully if you’re looking for the perfect example of this Perth duo Mosquito Coast have you covered.

The debut album from the pair of teenagers, whilst simplistic, is captivating as it whisks you away with their dreamy coastal indie pop. The six-track offering could be more diverse in regards to its melodies, but somehow it manages to keep your attention throughout it’s entirety.

Of the six tracks, two stand out as must listens: ‘Let’s Be Friends’ and ‘Television Love’. When paired together these two tracks show the potential still laying dormant within Mosquito Coast. (JA) WWW

AFI – AFI (The Blood Album)

By Jamie Apps In 2012 Australian fans of Alexisonfire thought they were bidding farewell to their favourite band forever, even the band themselves thought that tour was the end. In the following years however band members were slowly pulled back together for sporadic special shows around the world, but never returned to Australia. That changes tonight!

City Hub recently spoke with Alexisonfire’s drummer Jordan Hastings to hear the full story behind the breakup and subsequent reunion.

“As you get older, not just as a band but as a human, certain other things apply to your lifestyle and certain changes need to happen.

Unfortunately at that point in time there was too much going on in everybody’s lives and none of our hearts were 100% in it, so when that happened it made the music suffer, and not only that, it made our relationships suffer,” Hastings reflected.

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During the height of their powers Alexisonfire were an incredibly hardworking band, often spending “a couple of months touring without going home”. This lifestyle contributed to the stress and strain on the relationships between the band mates and their families and friends. Thankfully though, after some time away the band is rejuvenated and ready to return with even more energy.

With Alexisonfire shows being a rarity, Hastings feels they “enjoy it immensely now” because they have a “special occasion” feel to them. “[Not only that but] we’re really grateful to be able to do it this way without having to burn ourselves or the bands morality out, which was a big issue for us when we did actually break up,” he added.

Over the years Alexisonfire has become known for championing the Canadian hardcore scene by showcasing rising talents, which they once again plan to do during this Australian tour by having The Dirty Nil make

the trip as a support act. “People gave us a leg up when we were younger. So we’re just returning the favour, why not bring out some amazing musicians and close pals to Australia for their first time. It’s special that we would even be in that position, so to be able to do it just seems like a no brainer for us,” explained Hastings.

Obviously, with a tour of this kind taking place, fans have one major burning question to ask – will there be a new record?

Hasting somewhat teasingly responded to with: “At this point in time we’re all so busy doing other things…so it’s one of those things were obviously we’d love to be able to write a new record, but I don’t know if that’ll ever happen. Ideally I would really hope so, but only time will tell and we’ll have to wait and see.”

Jan 19, 6.15pm. Hordern Pavilion, 1 Driver Avenue, Moore Park. $77.40.

Tickets & info: www.ticketek.com.au

As a longtime AFI fan, the announcement of their tenth album piqued my interest and had me hoping they would return to what made me fall in love with them in the first place.

Whilst I haven’t been let down by AFI (The Blood Album), I am also not fully satiated.

Over the course of their almost three decade career AFI have drifted further and further away from their punk roots, however with this record they have recaptured the aggressive essence of some of those early records.

Along with this newly rediscovered boldness, which is conveyed through faster tempos and more impactful emotional vocals from Davey Havok, this record captures the spirit of the Sing The Sorrow and Decemberunderground era.

Throughout these 14 tracks it appears AFI have found a middle ground which should appeal to fans from all generations of their career, although in an ideal world I would have liked to see them let the aggression run free a touch more. (JA) WWW1/2

Moonlight

This enthralling and inspiring cinematic experience details the true story of just one of the 80,000 children who go missing in India each year.

Saroo (Sunny Pawar) is an energetic five-yearold boy who vanishes from Khandwa whilst on an outing with his brother. He embarks on a decommissioned train which takes him to Calcutta and is eventually adopted by an Australian couple (Nicole Kidman and David Wenham) in Tasmania. He prospers, until his memories return of his former life.

Newcomer Pawar, who won the coveted role from 2000 other hopefuls, is a gifted young actor who manages to successfully carry the first half of the film. Audiences will be affected by his portrayal of a happy child who

This unique drama tells the story of a young man coming of age in Miami whilst struggling with a dysfunctional home life, his mother’s addiction issues, acute bullying, and revelations about his sexual identity.

Chiron’s journey unfolds over three chapters, providing vignettes of his life as a painfully shy child (played by Alex Hibbert), a withdrawn teenager (Ashton Sanders) and a hardened adult (Trevante Rhodes).

Moonlight exposes a world many of us don’t often have the chance explore, or at least never so tenderly or earnestly. Following this gentle spirited character, we see how his path is shaped by inescapable circumstances and ingrained societal oppression. Even the most seemingly pedestrian of instances are portrayed with weight and value, and yet we never communicated more than ‘just enough’ information.

The heavy themes and stigmatised social issues evoked in this film are given buoyancy by the beauty of the way handles its characters and its all around masterful filmmaking. It is laced together with beautiful cinematography and an elusive soundtrack,

Photo: David Bornfriend

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quickly transforms into a frightened lost soul, desperate to reconnect with his family.

Dev Patel (Slumdog Millionaire), who plays the adult Saroo, and Nicole Kidman both deliver career-defining performances, which have justifiably earned them Golden Globe Award nominations in the supporting actor and actress category.

This unforgettable film contains heartbreaking footage of the real homecoming and delivers a shock announcement in the final moments that should ensure there isn’t a dry eye in the house. The resonating theme is that self-identity and grass roots are of paramount importance and overshadow materialism.

(MMo)

which intuitively contrasts classical music with modern hip-hop.

The earnestness of this film is indebted to the validity of its sources.Writer/Director Barry Jenkins based the film on the play In Moonlight Black Boys Look Blue by Tarell Alvin McCraney. Both Jenkins and McCraney grew up in the same Miami housing project, both of their mothers struggled with crackcocaine addiction, and both of them discovered early on that they weren’t straight. Before this collaboration, they’d never met. Furthermore, Moonlight was filmed in the very same housing project it is based in, and its leading actors were all previously undiscovered.

It isn’t hard to see why Moonlight mesmerised its way into winning the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Drama and is stirring up Oscar buzz. But it is revolutionary that a drama like this, that digs far beyond tokenistic character representations, which doesn’t require any white characters to hang its African-American experience against, can win widespread acclaim.This is unmissable cinema. (AM)

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