To mark its 50th birthday this year, SBS and SBS On Demand have launched a new campaign highlighting their distinctive position in Australian media. With the tagline We Go There, the campaign, says SBS, ‘recognises the broadcaster’s history of taking risks, breaking boundaries, and boldly treading where others won’t’.
Jane Palfreyman, Chief Marketing and Commercial Officer at SBS, said: ‘At SBS, we know who we are and in our 50th year this unique campaign pays tribute to that heritage. We are a national broadcaster who is prepared to truly go there. To challenge, to inform, and to provoke with purpose.
‘We also know many Australians affectionately, if not jokingly, think SBS stands for Sex Before Soccer … and we’re okay with that. This campaign acknowledges that legacy, as well as the place of trust that SBS has built in the minds of millions of Australians.
‘Amid the intense competition in the streaming sector, this campaign acknowledges there are still some TV shows that really stand out – and these can only be found on SBS On Demand.’
The campaign is being spearheaded with a 60-second film ‘so daring and so SBS, it can’t be played anywhere but SBS’. To watch that film (and viewer discretion is advised) click here.
To view all the films collected in the new SBS We Go There hub, visit SBS On Demand.
The five films below have been grouped under the title Weird And Wonderful.
SBS On Demand films: quick links
Lamb (2021)
Film (2021). If an Icelandic folk horror movie about a couple who adopt a half-sheep, half-human child wasn’t on your to-watch list before, consider it added.
Odd, unsettling, atmospheric yet also sweet, Lamb is the kind of movie you won’t be able to stop thinking about. Set on a remote farm in Iceland, the movie opens following an unhappy couple who have lost their only child.
When their ewe births an animal-human hybrid, the wife becomes passionately attached to the being, treating it as her own offspring. Toeing the line between bewilderment, revulsion and bafflement – watch Lamb if you dare.
Directed by Valdimar Jóhannsson. Starring Noomi Rapace, Hilmir Snær Guðnason, Björn Hlynur Haraldsson and Ingvar Eggert Sigurðsson. Streaming free on SBS On Demand. Watch the trailer.
Humanist Vampire Seeking Consenting Suicidal Person (2023)
Film (2023). Part horror movie, part comedy and part coming-of-age story, the film follows Sasha, a vampire with a serious problem: she’s too sensitive to kill.
When her exasperated parents cut off her blood supply, Sasha’s life is thrown in jeopardy. Luckily, she meets Paul, a lonely teenager who is willing to give his life to save hers, but their friendly agreement soon becomes a nocturnal quest to fulfil Paul’s last wishes before dawn breaks.
It’s an offbeat, charming, and strangely wonderful exploration of what it means to be human.
Directed by Ariane Louis-Seize. Starring Sara Montpetit, Félix-Antoine Bénard, Sophie Cadieux and Noémie O’Farrell. Streaming free on SBS On Demand. Watch the trailer.
Annette (2021)
Film (2021). This bizarre musical tragedy with songs composed by Leos Carax and the Sparks brothers pushes the envelope in every way.
Featuring Adam Driver as an aggressive comedian whose dwindling career is hounded by controversy, Annette focuses on his character’s great love for his polar opposite and opera singer, Ann.
As forces of jealousy, premonition and fear batter their relationship, the film sinks into a series of feverish musical sequences with a creepy, spectral-like feeling.
Directed by Leos Carax. Starring Adam Driver, Marion Cotillard, Simon Helberg and Devyn McDowell. Streaming free on SBS On Demand. Watch the trailer.
ScreenHub review: Annette’ is an exhilarating masterpiece
Home Kills (2023)
Film (2023). Chilling, cheeky and trapped between deadpan and despair, Home Kills is a New Zealand film with a dark sense of humour.
Set during a bitter winter, two brothers struggle to run their Home Kills butchery business and pay off their debts. When a job goes wrong and they accidentally kill a local farmer, the brothers scramble to cover up the crime – by turning his body into ‘dog roll’.
The chaos that follows in their small farming community hums with colourful characters and even more colourful language.
Directed by Haydn Butler. Starring Cameron Jones, Josh McKenzie, Mavournee Hazel and Dahnu Graham. Streaming free on SBS On Demand. Watch the trailer.
Nina Wu (2019)
Film (2019). A psychological thriller drawing upon the personal experiences of actress and screenwriter Wu Ke-Xi, this drama sucks you into a vivid, disorienting world.
Twisting between delusion and fantasy, its main character Nina is an actress scraping by a living as an extra, until she’s cast for a ‘breakout’ role in an explicit spy thriller.
What then unravels is a heightened, frightening indictment of the film industry that will have you questioning the nature of truth and fiction.
Directed by Midi Z. Starring Wu Ke-xi, Vivian Sung Kimi Hsia and Shih Ming-shuai. Streaming free on SBS On Demand. Watch the trailer.
Visit the SBS We Go There hub.
SBS May streaming highlights
Dark Winds Season 3 (15 May)
Series. Two Navajo police officers are forced to challenge their own spiritual beliefs when they search for clues in a double murder case in this series set in America’s southwest in the 1970s.
Starring Zahn McClarnon as Lt. Joe Leaphorn and Kiowa Gordon as Sgt. Jim Chee with Jenna Elfmann joining the cast for the third season in the role of FBI Agent Sylvia Washington.
The Man Who Died Season 2 (22 May)
Series. In this darkly comic crime thriller, Finnish mushroom entrepreneur Jaakko had been sleepwalking through life until a diagnosis, an affair and threats from the local mushroom mafia turned his world upside down.
As the second season begins, Jaakko finds himself unexpectedly still alive. But how and for how long? The clock is ticking as he tries to take back control of his business and push on in pursuit of a killer.
Starring Jussi Vatanen, Kati Outinen and Natsumi Kuroda.
Couples Therapy Season 4B
Series. The series follows world-renowned psychologist and psychoanalyst Dr. Orna Guralnik as she deftly guides couples through real-life therapy sessions.
The series brings viewers into the intimate sessions to witness the conflicts – and extraordinary breakthroughs – typically hidden behind closed doors. Couples Therapy S4b, invites viewers back to the couch, where Orna navigates a thorny brew of recriminations, conflict and painful truths with four new couples.
The Veil (27 May)
Series. This international spy thriller series explores the surprising and fraught relationship between two women who play a deadly game of truth and lies on the road from Istanbul to Paris and London.
One woman has a secret, the other a mission to reveal it before thousands of lives are lost. In the shadows, the CIA and French DGSE must work together to avert a potential disaster.
Elisabeth Moss stars as Imogen Salter and Yumna Marwain as Adilah El Idrissi. Watch the trailer.
