The Screen Show

We unpack two major dramas: the buzzy new Australian crime series Last Seen,  and the latest season of Slow Horses. In Last Seen, Patrick Brammall, Brendan Cowell and Chloe Jean Lourdes lead a high-stakes mystery of a missing child that exposes a close-knit community; while Slow Horses presents Gary Oldman's unforgettable Jackson Lamb once again, as he heads up his band of sidelined MI5 agents.

Patrick Brammall, Brendan Cowell and Chloe Jean Lourdes take us behind the scenes of Apple TV+'s new crime drama Last Seen, discussing what it took to bring the high-stakes mystery to the screen. Plus, Head of Production and Investment Attraction at VicScreen, Joe Brinkmann, discusses how Victoria secured the location rights to the production, and why it was the right fit.Bonus - capsule review of Runner, a new action comedy thriller starring Owen Wilson, set in Queensland.

A look at the latest season of Dark Matter, starring Joel Edgerton and Jennifer Connelly, alongside the Australian drama Dalliance, featuring a who's who of Australian acting talent including Heather Mitchell, Hugo Weaving, Georgie Parker and David Wenham. One imagines the lives we might have lived in a multiverse of possibilities, while the other centres around a tight knit group of friends in their sixties whose lives are suddenly up-ended. 

Emmy Rossum talks about starring in Disney's acclaimed psychological thriller Furious, playing an undercover FBI agent hunting a female serial killer.Melbourne filmmaker Vee Shi's documentary Time and Tide takes him back to the Chinese town of his childhood, where a family reunion unfolds under deeply challenging circumstances.

Before there was How to Get to Heaven from Belfast, there was Derry Girls, the sharp-eyed comedy that made Lisa McGee one of the most distinctive voices in television. In this special, we trace the arc of McGee's work from the school corridors of 1990s Derry to the tangled friendships, secrets and dark humour of contemporary Belfast, and how she captures the experience of place, memory and friendship with equal measures of wit and tenderness.

Hollywood heavyweights Ridley Scott and Josh Brolin discuss Scott's latest film, The Dog Stars, an epic post-apocalyptic thriller also starring Jacob Elordi, Margaret Qualley and Guy Pearce. Set in a world ravaged by a virus that has wiped out most of humanity, the film follows the survivors left to contend with roaming scavengers and a brutal new reality.Jason speaks with three exciting emerging directors, whose films feature in MIFF's Bright Horizons competition: Canadian-Hungarian filmmaker Sophy Romvari, whose acclaimed debut feature is Blue Heron; New Zealand director Paloma Schneideman, whose Big Girls Don't Cry premiered in competition at Sundance; and award-winning Palestinian filmmaker Rakan Mayasi, whose debut feature Yesterday the Eye Didn't Sleep premiered in the Un Certan Regard section at Cannes.Presenter, Jason Di RossoProducer, Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Ross RichardsonArts editor, Rhiannon Brown

Jason and Wenlei review new SBS drama The Airport Chaplain, and the buzzy coming-of-age series Sterling Point. The Airport Chaplain, starring Hugo Weaving and Shabana Azeez, is a warm, offbeat series set among the travellers, workers, and unexpected encounters at a busy airport; while Sterling Point follows 17-year-old high-achiever Annie Jacobson, who, along with her twin brother Connor, discovers they have inherited a private Canadian island.

Ahead of the premiere of SBS drama The Airport Chaplain, The Pitt breakout star Shabana Azeez talks about starring alongside Hugo Weaving, while filmmaker Annemarie Jacir on Palestine 36, her drama set at a pivotal historical moment.

Jason Di Rosso and Wenlei Ma are back to tell you what to watch on streaming this week...from Netflix's adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' The Shards, a glossy serial killer thriller set in the eighties in LA, to the latest (very good) offering from the DC Universe, Lanterns.

A new New York set rom-com imagines a world where sex is only legal for one night of the year, and Hlynur Pálmason's acclaimed new film The Love That Remains.

Jason Di Rosso and Wenlei Ma review two of the year's most anticipated TV releases: Netflix's adaptation of Miles Franklin's Australian classic My Brilliant Career, and the latest season of the much-loved football comedy Ted Lasso. 

From a teenage Anthony Bourdain finding his calling to Sybylla Melvyn defying expectations, we meet the stars and creators behind Tony and Netflix's My Brilliant Career.

Join Jason and Wenlei as they unpack the twists, turns and surprises in two new series, and reveal whether they're worthy additions to your watchlist.

As beloved Australian series Colin From Accounts prepares to say goodbye, we revisit a conversation with stars and creators Patrick Brammall and Harriet Dyer about the making of their hit cringe-com.With Jim Jarmusch's Father Mother Sister Brother newly available to stream, an excerpt of our conversation with Cate Blanchett about her experience of starring in it.Director Gabriel Mascaro on his acclaimed new film The Blue Trail, a striking work of speculative cinema that imagines a near-future Brazil.Presenter, Jason Di RossoProducer, Sarah CorbettSound, Brendan O'NeillArts editor, Rhianno Brown

Jason Di Rosso and Wenlei Ma review Treasure and Dirt, the ABC's new outback crime drama, adapted from Chris Hammer's bestseller, where buried secrets, quirky characters and small-town intrigue drive the mystery. They also say goodbye to one of Australia's most beloved comedies, Colin From Accounts, as the series reaches its final season. Does the farewell deliver the charm that made audiences fall in love with it?

From Putin’s rise to Swedish cinema’s great rebel: Olivier Assayas and Mattias Nohrborg on two towering figures who shaped politics and culture...Olivier Assayas, one of France’s most acclaimed filmmakers, joins us to discuss The Wizard of the Kremlin, a political thriller charting Vladimir Putin’s rise to power, with stand-out performances from Jude Law and Paul Dano. Plus, Mattias Nohrborg, co-director of Being Bo Widerberg (screening at this year's Nordic FF), reflects on the celebrated and eccentric Swedish director who emerged from Ingmar Bergman’s shadow to become one of his country’s most influential filmmakers.Presenter, Jason Di RossoProducer, Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Allyse SymonsArts editor, Rhiannon Brown

Will Ferrell in a new golf comedy, or Octavia Spencer/Hannah Waddingham as best friends on the run in Ride or Die...which of these new releases deserves your time?Netflix's golf comedy The Hawk brings together comedy heavyweights Will Ferrell and Molly Shannon, alongside rising star Jimmy Tatro, in a sports satire about a faded champion attempting an improbable comeback.New action-comedy Ride or Die pairs Oscar winner Octavia Spencer with Ted Lasso Emmy winner Hannah Waddingham as lifelong best friends whose relationship is thrown into chaos when one discovers the other is a secret international assassin.

Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey arrives amid enormous anticipation. Jason considers whether the mythic epic can live up to the hype.A tribute to Sam Neill, who died this week, as we revisit a beautiful highlight from our archives: Neill reflecting on his favourite film - a clue, it was directed by Alfred Hitchcock.We speak with filmmaker Alain Gomis ahead of the Melbourne International Film Festival about Dao, his visually striking exploration of memory, history and identity; and MIFF Senior programmer Kate Jinx is in for a preview of this year's festival.Presenter, Jason Di RossoProducer, Sarah CorbettSound, Angie GrantArts editor, Sarah L'Estrange

A beloved classic gets the makeover treatment, and a luxury getaway goes spectacularly off the rails. Jason and Wenlei review Little House on the Prairie and The Five Star Weekend.

Filipino-Australian director James J. Robinson discusses First Light, his acclaimed debut feature exploring faith, corruption and moral reckoning.Japanese-Australian filmmaker Natalie Erika James talks Saccharine, her unsettling new horror that turns diet culture into something truly nightmarish.

Nobody asked for a Legally Blonde prequel, but is Elle actually worth watching? TV critics Wenlei Ma and Jason Di Rosso weigh up Prime Video's latest reboot, then head to a cursed New England island for Apple TV+'s horror-comedy Widow's Bay. One unnecessary spin-off, one surprise hit, or something else entirely?

Jason reviews The Invite, directed by Olivia Wilde, who also stars alongside Penélope Cruz, Seth Rogen and Edward Norton. The film follows a couple whose dinner invitation to their neighbours takes a wildly unexpected and life-changing turn.Léa Seydoux and Tony Leung Chiu-wai lead Silent Friend, the latest feature from On Body and Soul director Ildikó Enyedi. Spanning three eras, the film weaves together interconnected stories linked by a single tree.Following its international premiere at the prestigious Rotterdam Film Festival, The World Came Flooding In uses virtual reality  to transform flood-damaged homes into remarkable memory spaces, connecting the stories of people whose lives have been changed forever by water.Presenter, Jason Di RossoProducer, Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Alysse SymonsArts editor, Rhiannon Brown

TV critic Wenlei Ma and Jason Di Rosso press play on what's lighting up streaming this week...the final season of The Bear and Ms X.

It's pressure-cooker television this week, from the final season of The Bear to the suburban crime chaos of Ms. X. Jason and Wenlei weigh in.

Jason reviews Supergirl, the new blockbuster directed by Sydney filmmaker Craig Gillespie and starring fellow Sydneysider Milly Alcock.What happens when one of the world's bestselling thriller writers teams up with one of Australia's biggest screen stars? Harlan Coben and Sam Worthington discuss Netflix's I Will Find You, a mystery driven by family secrets with Coben's trademark twists front and centre.Acclaimed French filmmaker Lucile Hadžihalilović discusses The Ice Tower, her dreamlike re-imagining of a Hans Christian Andersen tale, starring Marion Cotillard.Presenter, Jason Di RossoProducer, Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Riley MelissArts editor, Rhiannon Brown

TV critic Wenlei Ma and Jason Di Rosso consider whether Stan's The Killings at Parish Station is what TV needs right now, and a pretty fresh take on the sports drama with The Fall and Rise of Reggie Dinkins.

Jason takes a look at Disclosure Day, Steven Spielberg’s return to his sci-fi beginnings.Director Adrian Chiarella and actors Mia Wasikowska and Joe Bird talk about the unsettling new Australian film Leviticus.South Korean horror master Yeon Sang‑ho is back with Colony, a zombie thriller that follows a rapidly mutating virus.Presenter, Jason Di RossoProducer, Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Allyse SymonsArts editor, Rhiannon Brown

Jemaine Clement returns to television with Alice and Steve, a heartfelt comedy set in London about friendship, middle age and starting over. Our Couch critics found plenty to love in its warmth and offbeat charm. Also on the couch: Coldwater, a dark Scottish mystery that spotlights the crisis of masculinity. Did it live up to expectations? Not quite.

We head to the Sydney Film Festival for a candid discussion with filmmakers on the highs and lows of low-budget production. Featuring voices from across this year's program, including Hyun Lee (French Girls), Anthony Frith (Mockbuster) and Christian Byers (Death of an Undertaker).Presented in partnership with UTS Creative Practice Research Group.Presenter, Jason Di RossoProducer, Sarah CorbettSound, Carey Dell

TV critic Wenlei Ma and Jason Di Rosso press play on what's lighting up streaming this week...Cape Fear and Not Suitable For Work.

Leo Woodall and Havana Rose Liu talk Tuner, a slick crime thriller also starring Dustin Hoffman, which follows a gifted piano tuner pulled into something darker.Afghan filmmaker Shahrbanoo Sadat on No Good Men, Afghanistan’s (terrific) first rom-com, screening as part of Sydney Film Festival.Presenter, Jason Di RossoProducer, Sarah CorbettSound, Carey DellArts editor, Rhiannon Brown

TV critic Wenlei Ma and Jason Di Rosso press play on what's lighting up streaming this week...The Four Seasons and Spider Noir.

Twenty year old You Tube star turned A24 filmmaker Kane Parsons discusses Backrooms, his disorienting horror starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve.Georgian filmmaker Alexandre Koberidze's sublime road movie Dry Leaf is about to screen as part of this year's Sydney Film Festival. Shot on a 2010 flip phone, it follows a father searching across rural Georgia for his missing daughter. Presenter, Jason Di RossoProducer, Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Allyse SymonsArts editor, Rhiannon Brown

TV critic Wenlei Ma and Jason Di Rosso press play on what's lighting up streaming this week...Maximum Pleasure Guaranteed and The Boroughs.

Rising horror auteur Curry Barker on his impressive twisted love-story Obsession, alongside actor Inde Navarrette.Australian director Zoe Pepper on Birthright, her biting take on the housing crisis and generational resentment.Presenter, Jason Di RossoProducer, Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Allyse SymonsArts editor, Rhiannon Brown

TV critic Wenlei Ma and Jason Di Rosso press play on what's lighting up streaming this week...Off Campus (Prime Video)Leonard and Hungry Paul (ABC iview)

French screen icon Isabelle Huppert unpacks obsession, money and power in her latest film The Richest Woman in the World.Remarkably Bright Creatures makes its way to Netflix as a film starring Sally Field. Shelby Van Pelt, author of the bestselling novel behind the film, and director Olivia Newman (Where the Crawdads Sing) discuss.Presenter, Jason Di RossoProducer, Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Allyse SymonsArts editor, Rhiannon Brown

TV critic Wenlei Ma and Jason Di Rosso press play on what's lighting up streaming this week...Rivals Season 2 (Disney)Citadel Season 2 (Prime Video)Legends (Netflix)

German-Turkish director Fatih Akin, discusses  Amrum. Playing at the German Film Festival,  after first screening in Cannes’ Premiere section where it earned critical attention, the film is a quietly devastating coming-of-age drama set in the final days of WWII.We’re joined by Mortal Kombat II director Simon McQuoid and actors Karl Urban, Josh Lawson, and Jessica McNamee, to see what the martial arts fantasy sequel has in store.Presenter, Jason Di RossoProducer, Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Ross RichardsonArts editor, Rhiannon Brown

TV critic Wenlei Ma and Jason Di Rosso press play on what's lighting up streaming this week...The Other Bennet Sister (Binge)Man on Fire (Netflix)Kevin (Prime Video)

Aussie actor Patrick Brammall is in the studio reflecting on his big Hollywood role as Anne Hathaway's love interest in The Devil Wears Prada 2.Warwick Thornton joins us to talk Wolfram, his haunting new work that digs deep into country, memory and resistance.And another Aussie acting expat, Ronny Chieng, drops by to unpack his latest work in the new TV series The Miniature Wife.Presenter, Jason Di RossoProducer, Sarah CorbettSound, Alysse SymonsArts editor, Rhiannon Brown

Amy Berg, director of It’s Never Over: Jeff Buckley, on her portrait of an artist who looms large, and the challenge of telling a story shaped as much by absence as by legacy.Maryam Touzani on Calle Malaga, Morocco's official entry for the Academy Awards, an intimate exploration of place and memory set against the sun-drenched backdrop of Tangier.Director James Litchfield discusses Alphabet Lane, an atmospheric new Australian film that follows the quirky journey of a couple as they build a new life in the country.Presenter, Jason Di RossoProducer, Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Ross RichardsonArts editor, Rhiannon Brown

Kate McLennan and Kate McCartney — aka The Kates — chat about Season 2 of Deadloch, the much‑loved Australian send‑up of the murder‑mystery genre. Master French filmmaker François Ozon on his interpretation of Albert Camus’ 1942 existential classic The Stranger, and we revisit a conversation with Julia Loktev, director of the acclaimed documentary My Undesirable Friends, about chronicling dissent, friendship and resistance under Putin’s Russia (listen to the whole thing here).Presenter, Jason Di RossoProducer, Sarah CorbettSound, Ariel Gross

Cate Blanchett on the joy of working with Jim Jarmusch again in Father Mother Sister Brother.Palestinian-American director Cherien Dabis discusses cross generational trauma in her powerful new drama All That's Left Of You.Mike Figgis invites us behind the scenes of Francis Ford Coppola's 120 million dollar spectacular flop Megalopolis in his riveting documentary Megadoc.Presenter, Jason Di RossoProducer, Tony NortonSound, Tim SymondsArts editor, Sarah L'Estrange

Norwegian director Kristoffer Borgli on directing Zendaya and Robert Pattinson in his excellent new black comedy, The Drama.Hasan Hadi, writer-director of The President's Cake, discusses his acclaimed feature debut, which follows a young girl’s quest to bake a cake for Saddam Hussein’s birthday in 1990s Iraq.Baby Reindeer's Jessica Gunning is in town to discuss her latest role in the Enid Blyton blockbuster The Magic Faraway Tree.Presenter, Jason Di RossoProducer, Sarah CorbettSound, Tim SymondsArts editor, Sarah L'Estrange

On the back of the Oscars, Jason chats with two Hollywood experts about the facts, figures and studio chess game playing out in Hollywood boardrooms — from the state of Netflix and its failed bid to acquire Warner Bros, to WB’s big wins at this year’s ceremony with One Battle After Another and Sinners.As My Father’s Shadow launches at the Africa Film Festival, followed by screenings at ACMI and on streaming platform MUBI, we revisit a conversation with British‑Nigerian director Akinola Davies Jr. He reflects on the father he barely knew in this Lagos‑set family drama, unfolding during a tumultuous period in Nigeria’s political history.Presenter, Jason Di RossoProducer, Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Ross RichardsonArts editor, Sarah L'Estrange

Jason together with Radio National Arts colleague Sky Kirkham unpack the Oscars, taking a look at the night's biggest wins, snubs, and cultural moments, including the dominance of One Battle After Another, which took out Best Picture and Best Director for Paul Thomas Anderson, and acting wins for Michael B. Jordan in Sinners and Jessie Buckley for Hamnet, all while asking what this year's Oscars say about the industry right now.

Ahead of this weekend's Academy Awards, an Oscars preview on this edition of The Screen Show, as we revisit conversations with the filmmakers behind some of this year’s stand-out nominees and likely winners — including One Battle After Another, Marty Supreme, Hamnet, The Secret Agent, Sentimental Value, and If I Had Legs I’d Kick You, which features Australia's Rose Byrne in the running for Best Actress. Presenter, Jason Di RossoProducer, Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Tim SymondsArts editor, Rhiannon Brown

Homegrown star Simon Baker is in the studio to offer a behind-the-scenes glimpse into his role in Scarpetta, a new crime thriller based on Patricia Cornwell's iconic forensic-pathology novels, that brings the dark world of Dr. Kay Scarpetta to life.Plus, a chat with Sydney Cinematheque curator Ruby Arrowsmith-Todd about the upcoming retrospective dedicated to the early films of Nicole Kidman.Presenter, Jason Di RossoProducer, Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Ariel GrossArts editor, Rhiannon Brown

This week on The Screen Show, we’re joined by Óliver Laxe, director of Sirāt, the acclaimed Cannes‑lauded drama following a father’s search for his missing daughter across the Moroccan desert, and we also hear from Hollywood star Amanda Seyfried about taking on the role of Ann Lee — the visionary 18th‑century founder of the Shakers — in The Testament of Ann Lee, a performance widely praised as one of the finest of her career, along with director Mona Fastvold. And we revisit an interview with the legendary documentarian Frederick Wiseman in light of the sad news of his passing.Presenter, Jason Di RossoProducer, Sarah CorbettSound engineer, Riley MelissArts editor, Rhiannon Brown