You emphatically told us that you missed sharing – great films, discussion and argument with friends – so in May 2021 we were delighted to bring BOFA back at Village Cinemas in Launceston and Hobart with 20 films from 12 countries from as far away as Bhutan and as close to home as New Zealand.

BOFA 2021 showcased  inspiring films curated around themes of Stories of Us, Chasing Wonder, The Choices We Make, World Stories, We Are Who We Are, Eat & Drink, By Design, and Climate Action. THE IN-CINEMA FESTIVALS ARE NOW OVER BUT OUR STORIES OF TASMANIA SHORT FILMS ARE STILL LIVE! NO ACCESS CODE NEEDED. JUST CLICK AND PLAY

VITA AND VIRGINIA

Billed as a “…fascinating true story about the love affair between socialite and author Vita Sackville-West and literary icon Virginia Woolf,” this film is highly relevant to the changing role of today’s women.

SPREAD YOUR WINGS

This film follows a disconnected and disenchanted son of divorced parents as his  eccentric dad flies with him – and a flock of geese – to the the Arctic Circle in a powered hang glider.

HILLARY: OCEAN TO SKY

In 1953, Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay became the first people to climb Mount Everest. But Hillary never considered it his finest achievement – this film follows the expedition he thought was his ultimate conquest.

ROSEMARY’S WAY

“I am a big believer in different cultures coming together,” says Rosemary Kariuki, an award-winning refugee from African tribal wars and domestic violence who has forged a new life in Australia.

THE HUNTER

If you love and care for the wilderness that makes Tassie what it is, go and see this film. The empathy and depth of cameraman Robert Humphreys’ scenes of wild and remote Tassie are as outstanding as the plot.

MEET THE WALLERS

This film will make you realise how trite, trivial and contrived Reality TV is. Meet the Wallers is the result of 17 years occasional filming of an ordinary, optimistic, realistic, changing and often struggling family.

THE PERFECT CANDIDATE

Many Arab states are loosening restrictions on women – but translating that into actual societal change can be difficult. One woman doctor decides to take on the men – in the local election.

THE REASON I JUMP

Many films get critical raves for being lyrical, beautiful, insightful, one of a kind. This film really is like that. Using a caressing filmic style with a liquid and luscious score, it looks inside the world of autism. Stunning.

TWO OF US

This delightfully intimate portrait of two lovers is a standout for its tender respect, objectivity and high degree of realism. Like any couple, they have family issues – made worse when their love has been kept secret for decades.

SUN CHILDREN

Ali is a street-smart 12-year-old both in this film – and in real life. Ali’s father is dead, so he and his friends in Iran spend most of their time stealing car tyres and hustling shop owners. Until they hear about the buried treasure.

AND THEN WE DANCED

Merab is a dancer who wants, more than anything, to be part of the National Ensemble of Georgia. But his ambitions are confused when he meets another dancer who exposes his sexual ambiguities.

LUNANA: A YAK IN THE CLASSROOM

Ugyen has been given a teaching job in one of the most remote schools on earth, in Bhutan. Just getting there is a week’s hike into the high Himalayas. Things are very different there …

THE MOLE AGENT

What do you do if you fear your mother is being mistreated in a nursing home? Why, you send for The Mole Agent, of course – a charming octogenarian who uses What’s App and secret cameras to uncover the truth.

STRAY

Istanbul, as the result of an official no-capture policy for stray animals, has more than 100,000 dogs living wild on its streets. This is a film about the lives of a few of them.

THE BIRTH OF SAKE

The Yoshida Brewery has been producing rice wine (sake) for six generations. In this absorbing film, director Erik Shirai spends months cataloguing the processes and skills needed to turn rice into Japan’s most famous drink.

THREE DAYS OF GLORY

The three days in this film  are not about a white-knuckle whodunnit or a dangerous battle. They are when the little man thumbs his nose at the establishment, behaves carelessly, drinks loads of booze and sings bawdy songs.

A MOMENT IN THE SUN

A team of Australians on a home-made bicycle, fond recollections from early alternative technology geeks, a visionary Turkish scientist and a determination to prove that oil, gas and coal are not essential make A Moment in the Sun a delight to watch.

JANE GOODALL – THE HOPE

This is not primarily a film about Jane Goodall. It is a film about how to convince people – and in particular, young people – they need to make their voices heard as citizens of tomorrow’s planet.

AALTO

You may think you don’t know of Hugo Alvar Henrik Aalto – but you do. His Stool 60, designed in 1933 is still a ubiquitous fixture in stylish rooms worldwide. Aalto and his wife Aino worked as building and interior designers in Finland through the 1900s

AT ETERNITY’S GATE

This biography features a craggily hypnotic Willem Defoe as van Gogh as he refuses to bow down before convention and a lack of  sympathy for his art. “I was born a painter,” he confides, as if admitting a dark secret.