Castlemaine Documentary Festival to comfort trapped nation

We peruse the lineup of Castlemaine Doc Fest, 'the Festival to go to when you're not allowed to go anywhere else!'
Girls ready for basketball

Right now, the Castlemaine Documentary Festival is a flurry of frantic changes and bitter jokes. At least, artistic director Claire Jager acknowledges, there are people much worse off than first world organisers locked down with a stash of good coffee and a veggie garden outside.

But a huge amount of planning has been wrecked. Castlemaine (known to insiders as Upper Fitzroy) is a buzzing creative town, where even the railway station coffee is sold by an excellent actor. Each year the documentary festival gets better and better, so the films are carefully curated with excellent panels. They are screened in the Theatre Royal which is late goldfields, post-hippy shabby-chic and a great nest for a festival.

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David Tiley was the Editor of Screenhub from 2005 until he became Content Lead for Film in 2021 with a special interest in policy. He is a writer in screen media with a long career in educational programs, documentary, and government funding, with a side order in script editing. He values curiosity, humour and objectivity in support of Australian visions and the art of storytelling.