Author: Larry Heath

During a special Q&A at the Lionsgate Lounge at SXSW, two-time Academy Award winner Justin Hurwitz hit the stage and the piano to discuss the processes behind composing the music for La La Land. At the end of the almost hour long talk, which included a number of brief performances from Hurwitz as he detailed how…

One of the most anticipated panels at SXSW this year was one featuring the cast and showrunner of the acclaimed HBO comedy series Veep, which returns for a ten episode sixth season on April 16th. The panel, which was the show’s first at SXSW, featured writer/executive producer David Mandel, executive producer/star Julia Louis-Dreyfus and cast…

What started as an exclusive music event held at Willie Nelson‘s Texan ranch, the now popular Luck Reunion has turned into a musical pilgrimage for fans of country, rock, folk and Americana music. Celebrating the evolution of musicians and artists, the event also plays host to a number of pop up stalls and local food and beverage…

Kicking off in Austin tomorrow, this year’s SXSW has one of their most eclectic line-ups ever, full of hidden treasures through the entire line-up. Trying to cut it down to just ten picks of the event proved impossible, so here are our 11 picks of the films you can’t miss at South by Southwest 2017:…

US network AMC have revealed its biggest ever presence at SXSW in Austin, Texas, with a pop-up Los Pollos Hermanos restaurant from Better Call Saul amongst its most prominent activation at the iconic festival. The network also will have presence from their brand new series The Son and returning favourite Preacher – which originally premiered…

When Sonos announce a new speaker, the whole world takes notice. This is a company that has spent the last 15 years focused on quality over quantity, with years of R&D behind every new speaker that hits the shelves. In fact, as of today, this is their entire range of products: On the bottom left…

Today, iconic Speaker manufacturer Sonos have unveiled their latest speaker, the PLAYBASE (read more about that HERE). I had the chance to test out the system last month at Sonos HQ in Boston, and while I was there I sat down with Sono’s director of platform strategies, Michael Papish, who, in his own words, “works…

Hitting cinemas this Thursday is the sequel to the surprise Australian hit comedy A Few Best Men, A Few Less Men. Ahead of the film’s release, we caught up with star Xavier Samuel to talk about this film, its non-existent David Lynch version, filming in WA and whether or not he has any beef with…

SXSW kicks off on Friday, and among the pile of events that are set to pop-up in Austin during the festival will be a special venue set up by Amazon Prime Video, who will theme the Market & Tap (319 Colorado Street) in Downtown Austin after a number of their series – including their most…

The annual SXSW Film, Interactive and Music festival kicks off in Austin, Texas this Friday, and with it are a pile of must-attend once-in-a-lifetime events. The US film studio Lionsgate will be putting on one of these events in the form of the Lionsgate Lounge, which will be operating in Austin from the 11th to…

Russian band Tesla Boy premiered their single for “Circles” last year to much acclaim, and now its music video is being featured amongst a special selection of clips from around the world at the 2017 SXSW Film & Music Festival in Austin, Texas, for their annual Music Video Competition. In advance of the festival screenings,…

Since its first ever episode in 1975 featured a live performance from Billy Preston & Janis Ian, the iconic US sketch show Saturday Night Live has featured an established or emerging musical guest every episode. For as long as I can remember, the show has featured two performances per episode – and tonight it was…

Angourie Rice & Aaron McGrath, the stars of Jasper Jones (in cinemas now) sat down with The Iris’ Larry Heath to talk briefly about their upcoming film projects: Spider-Man Homecoming, which enters Angourie into the Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Beguilded, directed by Sofia Coppola & the new ABC series of Glitch. Jasper Jones is in…

Netflix is getting a new series based on Jay Asher’s best selling young adult novel 13 Reasons Why on Friday, March 31st. There’s a bit of an all star team behind this one – some episodes are directed by Academy Award winner Tom McCarthy (Spotlight), the film is executive produced by Selena Gomez (yes, THE…

Ahead of its premiere on Friday at SXSW in Austin, Texas, we caught up with Australian born, US based director Matthew Salleh to talk about his new documentary feature, Barbecue. The film takes us to 12 countries, from Shisanyama in South Africa, to Engangsgrill in Sweden and everywhere in between to talk about meat: how…

Though Qantas have just introduced a new Premium Economy seat and service to much excitement, Virgin Australia have been offering one of the best Premium Economy tickets in the market since last year. Taking up an intimate cabin of only 3 rows and 24 seats, the cabin heralds back to the “Business Class” of the…

Set to hit the Adelaide Fringe Festival later this week is foals [art exhibition], which features work exclusively created by kids between the ages of 3 to 16 from around the world. Ahead of the event, we caught up with the exhibition’s curator Sofie Kim to learn more about it.  Can you tell us a…

It’s hard to believe it’s already March, but as we continue to steamroll our way through the year, the arts offerings around the country are only getting better. Here’s just seven of the events we think you can’t miss – from an entire month dedicated to art in Sydney, to theatre, exhibition openings and comedy…

While it was reported this week that the election of Donald Trump has already seen the United States tourism industry lose some $185m in revenue, on the other side of the proverbial wall, things have never looked better. Yes, America’s Southern border buddy Mexico is reporting that in the calendar year of 2016, the country…

Hitting cinemas next Thursday, the anticipated Kong: Skull Island has dropped one final trailer ahead of its worldwide release, which features the iconic monster punching some helicopters. It’s no Die Hard 4, but it’s still pretty cool. You can watch it here: This return to the world of Kong is setting the character up for…

We’re a little over a month away from one of the year’s biggest music festivals and conferences, Canadian Music Week, which will be taking over the city of Toronto in Canada for six days of live music, comedy, panels and more. A slew of artists have been announced in recent weeks, and among those revealed…

The Iris’ Larry Heath sits down with Aaron McGrath & Angourie Rice to talk Jasper Jones‘ big screen adaptation. We find out if either of them have actually read the book, learn more about their roles in the film and talk about their experiences filming in Pemberton, WA. Jasper Jones hits Australian cinemas this Thursday,…

In a moment that is sure to go down as one of the more embarrassing in Oscar History, the wrong winner was announced for Best Picture at the 89th Annual Academy Awards today, as Bonnie and Clyde’s Warren Beatty and Faye Dunaway revealed the winner as La La Land, before Moonlight eventually accepted the prize. The…

Having already won himself a trophy at the Hollywood Film Awards and the Seattle Film Critics Awards for Doctor Strange‘s Visual Effects, VFX Supervisor Stef Ceretti is up for an Oscar tomorrow – the second time the French native has been up for the accolade (the first being for another Marvel film – Guardians of…

While at a special function to celebrate the Aussies nominated for Academy Awards in Los Angeles, our very own Jaime Lewis sat down with Greig Fraser, who has received an Oscar nomination as Director of Photography for Lion – one of three Australian films (alongside Tanna and Hacksaw Ridge), which is enjoying a slew of…

Today we travel from San Francisco (SFO) to Auckland (AKL), on board Air New Zealand‘s economy 777 service. Flying out on a Friday night, I was surprised to see the plane not just full, but overbooked – which seems to lend to the argument that this route is increasing in its popularity as an alternative to…

From 1st March 2017, 14 of Virgin Australia‘s regional routes currently operated sans Business Class seats on board their Embraer 190 or Fokker F100 aircraft, will be upgraded to their 737-800 aircraft, meaning that Business Class will be introduced on the routes for the first time. The routes are: Broome to Perth Brisbane to Proserpine Brisbane…

Directed by Ridley Scott, filmed in Australia and featuring a stellar international cast – including no less than five Aussies in key roles* – you can say we’re more than a little excited about the release of the latest film in the Alien saga – Alien: Covenant. To whet our appetite, 20th Century Fox have…

I can’t remember how I first came to know about Kishi Bashi. I know I fell in love with his debut record, 151a, back in 2012, and even came to interview the man himself that same year. So it must have been around then. But my adoration for the man born as Kaoru Ishibashi (get…

We caught up with T2 Trainspotting Director Danny Boyle on the red carpet of the film’s Sydney premiere to chat about how he approached making the film, (his first ever sequel), his recent TV work, filming in Edinburgh and we find out if he has any Oscar picks for next Monday! You’re a filmmaker who has famously never…