Providing a glimpse into a very different side of the ‘Lucky Country’ is Best Documentary nominee The Oasis, a film that unflinchingly observes and unravels the lives of Australia’s homeless youth. The documentary’s central character, the tireless, endlessly buoyant Captain Paul Moulds, runs Oasis, a red brick youth refuge in Sydney that magnetically attracts the most dangerous, damaged and desperate young people off the streets.

These are the kids that society has written off, but Paul Moulds never gives up on them.

Inspired by Paul Moulds, producer and co-director Ian Darling made the film, which screened on the ABC earlier this year, to “help put the issue of youth homelessness on the agenda.” Describing the film’s production as “challenging” he says “even during some of the shoots in the middle of the night and the very long hours, we just reminded ourselves that whatever we were going through, it was nothing in comparison to the endurance of Paul or the pain of the kids.” Describing the AFI nomination as “humbling” Darling says “it’s nice to know that someone out there thinks it’s a good film as well.”

From heart-rending to heart pumping, Not Quite Hollywood is a fast-moving, eye-popping examination of OZploitation – Australian genre cinema of the 1970’s and 1980’s.

While the film is outrageous and irreverent, brimming with bare breasts and crazy car chases, it’s also educational, shining a spotlight on over-looked Aussie filmmakers and raising issues about cultural identity, nudity and violence on screen, and the role of commercialism in a small national film industry.

Making a documentary about politically incorrect exploitation movies proved to be a challenge for writer/director Mark Hartley, who spent years trying to secure finance for the film, even after Quentin Tarantino, who is fan of the genre, came on board. Hartley, who has a background making music videos and DVD featurettes attributes the difficulty to “the same kind of stigma about the documentary that there had been about the films.”

Fortunately, Hartley, with the help of his team, overcame these hurdles and Not Quite Hollywood is exploding onto screens, with a national cinema release on August 28 – and of course, it’s the AFI Opening Night film at this year’s Awards Screenings. 

The film delves into the workings of controversial personal development group, Kenja Communications. Producer/Co-Director Luke Walker attended the Melbourne Kenja centre for six months before Co-Director Melissa Maclean came in to commence shooting the documentary.Through candid interviews with past members, psychologists and the group’s founders, Ken Dyers and Jan Hamilton, the film creates a profile of an organisation that claims to be committed to personal empowerment but is accused of disempowering and, in some instances, contributing to the mental illness of members. A famous case in point is Cornelia Rau, who was ejected from Kenja on account of her mental illness, shortly before being wrongfully detained by Australian immigration. 

 After a long battle with depression, one time community worker, Mark Tully turned his attention to collecting rare and heritage poultry breeds. The documentary follows Tully as he sets out on an Australia-wide search to track down rare breeds and meet with others who share his passion.

Director Randall Wood first encountered Tully when he visited the Blue Hills Rare Poultry Stud in late 2006, hoping to collect fertilised eggs to satisfy a broody hen in his Brisbane backyard. Wood’s own family was touched by mental illness when his brother committed suicide in his 20s.

“In Australia, particularly among men, depression has become an issue of pressing national importance. I hope Rare Chicken Rescue will spark discussion about both the issues surrounding recovering from mental illness and the preservation of rare domestic breeds” he says.  

When asked about the highlights of creating Mutt Hunwick describes “special moments where the characters seem to develop a personality beyond the animation, which is quite magical and, strange though it may sound, I was inspired to ‘follow where this led’ rather than try to control the performance…and often [this] led to finishing way past midnight!

I believe this phenomenon is unique to traditional animation and [is] the result of manipulation by human hands – frame by frame.” Hunwick sees the AFI nomination as “a seriously flattering acknowledgement of my work” and adds “Just as importantly, the individuals who contributed to Mutt deserve the recognition this will bring for their tireless work, talent and faith they showed in the film.”