Arthouse classics, flamboyant fascists and Elon Musk screen at Antenna Documentary Film Festival.
It’s been a huge year for documentary festivals across the Globe, and now the best of the wacky and wonderful have washed up on our Aussie shores.
Antenna’s programme might seem overwhelming, but we’re here to help, pointing out the must watches for 2026!
Documentary filmmaker Kirsten Johnson (Cameraperson, Dick Johnson is Dead) has teamed up with Antenna to share a hand-picked selection of iconic and hugely influential documentaries.
Dziga Vertov’s defining collage film and essential meta-viewing Man With A Movie Camera (1929) is first up in the programme, which you can catch on either the 10th or 14th.
Agnes Varda’s (Cleo From 5 to 7, Vagabond) fly-on-the-wall observations of two young women in 1960’s Paris titled One Sings, The Other Doesn’t (1977) is a must for any francophile and/or feminist. It screens the 12th and 14th.
Johnson closes out her collection with Sambizanga (1972) directed by Sarah Maldoror and Close Up (1990) directed by Abbas Kiarostami, two incredible artefacts of political disruption and examinations of truth.
Johnson will be personally introducing each screening*.
Moving onto new releases, Elon Musk Unveiled – The Tesla Experiment promises to pull back the curtain on everyone’s favourite manchild.
Utilising thousands of leaked documents, rigorous interviews and dash-cam footage, the documentary reveals Tesla’s incomprehensible safety issues.
Continuing in the theme of egomaniacs, Fiume O Morte! theatrically tells the story of Gabriele D’Annunzio, Croatia’s campest fascist.
In 1919, D’Annunzio occupied the small Croatian city Fiume. Director Igor Bezinović picks the story up more than 100 years later, injecting plenty of humour, extravagance, and poetry into the story of your new favourite fascist.
The Clown of Gaza paints a tender portrait of Alaa Meqdad, also known as Aloosh the Clown, who perseveres through unending bombings with incredible optimism.
Determined to make the children of hospitals and camps laugh, Meqdad shows us humanity truly does find a way; an unexpected nugget of optimism.
Meanwhile, 12-year-old Mikal lives in a motel with his chaotic parents. Flophouse America seeks to document the forgotten and underprivileged in the “land of the free”, revealing the poverty, addiction and, striking hope bubbling under the surface of America’s lower classes.
Trains is a documentary about trains. But you might’ve guessed that already. With no commentary or dialogue, Trains takes you on a journey from locomotive revolution, to war, love and emancipation. For fans of slow cinema, you’ll be more than satisfied.
Closing out the festival is Werner Herzog’s latest obsession, Ghost Elephants. Dr Steve Boyes insists these mythic beasts exist after vanishing into Angola’s highlands.
Herzog takes up the cause and joins Boyes to track the forgotten herd down.
You can check out the full Antenna schedule here. Happy viewing!
*Only the first screening of Close Up on the 13th will be introduced by Johnson.
