Documentary filmmaker Kaye Harrison (pictured, left) speaks to Larry Heath about her new film, The Sunnyboy. Premiering at the Sydney Film Festival on the day of The Sunnyboys Opera House concert for VIVID, the documentary follows frontman Jeremy Oxley’s life, music and thirty-year battle with schizophrenia.

On the eve of their historic Opera House gig for VIVID and Sydney Film Festival documentary premiere, Larry Heath talks to Richard Burgman, guitarist of legendary Australian band, The Sunnyboys. The original line-up of Jeremy Oxley (guitar, vocals), Peter Oxley (bass), Richard Burgman (guitar), and Bill Bilson (drums) reunited in 2012. Calling from Ontario, Canada, he discusses their path to reunion and what lies ahead.

Larry sat down with Sydney Film Festival Director, Nashen Moodley, to talk about his second year at the helm, booking the festival's first North Korean film and his personal favourites from this year's program.

While the full program announcement for the 60th Sydney Film Festival is set to be released come May 8, the festival recently released a selection of the films set to be featured as a bit of a preview. Returning to the hub venue at the Lower Town Hall this June, the Sydney Film Festival will this year be including sessions at the much adored Hayden Cremorne Orpheum.

The best documentaries are the ones that resonate and prove to be the most thought-provoking. Lee Hirsch’s film, Bully manages to tick both of these boxes. It is ultimately a fly-on-the-wall account filled with the testimonies of victims of bullying, something that is proving to be an insidious problem.

Beauty (Skoonheid) is the uncompromising sophomore film by director, Oliver Hermanus. The winner of the Queer Palm award at Cannes, it is a dark and conflicted drama set in Bloemfontein, in present-day South Africa. It’s less of a narrative film and more of an intense and intimate portrait of a wildly conflicted character.

While in town for the Sydney Film Festival, I caught up with Oscar winning cinematographer Dion Beebe and his wife and director Unjoo Moon to talk about their work on the new documentary The Zen of Bennett.

Controversial performance artist, Marina Abramović has had as many devotees as detractors over the years. Earning titles like the “Grandmother of Performance Artists” and “Diva” has not come cheap. Nor has being asked the question, “But why is this art?” In Marina Abramović: The Artist Is Present filmmaker, Matthew Akers helps shed some light on this enigmatic individual.

This Thursday a new Aussie comedy will be unleashed onto the silver screen. Starring True Blood's Ryan Kwanten, Not Suitable for Children is a refreshing move away from the more serious, though highlight celebrated Australian films of late. After seeing the film at the Australian Premiere during the Sydney Fringe Festival, Larry Heath caught up with Ryan's co-star Sarah Snook to talk about the film, parties in Sydney and the sex scenes she had to show to her parents...

A film about a hot, young player who has to impregnate a woman fast could be a breeding ground (pun intended) for pure absurdity. Or softcore porn. Thankfully, this feature debut by Peter Templeman rises to the occasion by being more than simple slapstick or an excuse for some gratuitous sex. Instead, screenwriter, Michael Lucas is responsible for a story that brims with heart, soul and sentimentality.

Producing an exposé on the National Breast Cancer Foundation’s pink ribbon sounds like an attack on a sacred cow. Yet documentary filmmaker, Léa Pool’s Pink Ribbons, Inc. is not about stigmatising the raising of money for a worthy cause. Instead, it uses frank discussion to encourage debate about a grass-roots initiative that has grown into an industry that is not as rosy as it initially seems.

The annual Sydney Film Festival is an artistic necessity in the New South Wales cultural calendar. Celebration was eminent when the SFF, now in it's 59th year, declared the 2012 winners at the Closing Night Gala on the 17 June. Accompanying the announcement of the Official SFF winner, Greek drama Alps, directed by Yorgos Lanthimos and starring Aggeliki Papoulia, other categories bestowed with prizes, included the 2012 FOXTEL Australian Documentary Prize, the 2012 Dendy Awards for Australian Short Films and the 2012 Yoram Gross Animation Award.

Over the weekend, the 59th annual Sydney Film Festival wrapped things up with an excellent closing night film and party at the beautiful State Theatre. One of my favourite things about the festival is its inclusion of the classic venue - it's a joy to see a film as they were watched many decades ago: in massive rooms like this with thousands of seats. And given the context, much like back in those days, every screening was an event in itself.

While in town for the Sydney Film Festival, Larry Heath caught up with director Lian Lunson to chat about her latest film Sing Me The Songs That Say I Love You: A Concert For Kate McGarrigle. She talks about the making of the film, and hints towards her next project with Leonard Cohen, while praising his son Adam Cohen.