Five Essential Aussie Movies, According to a Rising-Star Writer and Director

Up-and-coming writer-director James Robert Woods knows the terrain firsthand. His debut feature, The Birthday Trip, hits screens nationally on Thursday July 30, and making it convinced him there's real potential for the next wave of Aussie cinema – if directors are given the freedom to explore their creativity.

“In the last few decades, we’ve lost a bit of focus on the concept of the auteur. Often our films [in Australia] are sanded off around the edges so that they’re perfectly spherical,” he says. “We do need stronger, authorial voices in order to get boundary-pushing cinema.”

In Woods’s own upcoming satire, which takes cues from Succession and The White Lotus, he’s chasing a sharper, more authentic register to grapple with the modern anxieties of contemporary couples. “I really wanted the dialogue to feel real and snappy – like there are actual people speaking. That’s something I love when Australian films get it right. 

Woods is among a clutch of rising stars ready to take Australian cinema in a new direction. “There’s a lot of incredible Australian auteurs with unique voices. I think of Reese Cleveland, Alena Lodkina and Adam Briggs, for example,” he says. 

Ahead of The Birthday Trip hitting our screens, Woods shares his top Aussie movies to get you into the exciting world of local cinema.

Strange Colours (2017)

“My first pick is Alena Lodkina’s Strange Colours,” says Woods. “It offers a meditative people-watching experience that’s really quite unique.” This arthouse drama is set in the opal-mining town of Lightning Ridge, where a young woman returns to visit her estranged, dying father. A study in gender, community and familial ties, Woods says Strange Colours is an “inquisitive slow-burn” brought to life by its characters, many of whom are played by actors who are “very different to the usual crop you see cast on our screens”.

Holding the Man (2015)

Based on Australian actor Timothy Conigrave’s bestselling memoir, Holding the Man has fast become a modern classic for its raw account of navigating love and tragedy during the developing AIDS epidemic in 1980s Melbourne. “The thing that really strikes me about this film is how intelligently meted out the story is,” says Woods. He calls out the “complex and sophisticated” storytelling – elevated by a star cast including Ryan Corr, Guy Pearce and Succession’s Sarah Snook – as an example of the type of Australian filmmaking that has inspired his own directing style.

Wake in Fright (1971)

Wake in Fright is a must-watch for any cinephile, according to Woods. Canadian director Ted Kotcheff’s psychological thriller finds a schoolteacher stranded in the brutal outback mining town of Bundanyabba. Woods loves this cult classic for its striking visuals and subversive take on the mystery of the Australian outback. “Often foreign directors are more capable of decoding Australia than we are when looking at ourselves,” he says of Kotcheff’s directorial approach. “There’s not any sort of pride attached.”

Friends and Strangers (2021)

This indie comedy-drama struck a chord with Woods for the “incredible honesty about the ever-present spectre of Australia’s colonial foundations”. “It’s an Australian film [that] authentically represents the Sydney millennial set,” he says. A debut feature from Sydney-based writer-director James Vaughan, this flick follows two upper-middle-class millennials who grapple with privilege, displacement and disconnection in contemporary Australia. “There’s a singularity to its voice, it’s so well observed and relatable in a way that feels incredibly tactile.”

Sword of Silence (2025)

Looking for something more niche from an up-and-coming auteur? Check out Brisbane director Reese Cleveland’s mesmerising surrealist fantasy Sword of Silence. Sword of Silence was shot only using the light of the full moon over many months, and the practical effects are all handmade. “It’s a slow, meditative and visually stunning experience that’s all shot on film in black and white,” says Woods of the film, which follows the journey of a mysterious traveller who wields an object of ancient power. “It’s best watched with a glass of merlot in your hand,” he adds.

The Birthday Trip is out in cinemas nationally from Thursday July 30.

This article is produced by Broadsheet in partnership with Badlands.