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VOL. 07·ISSUE 77·MAY 2026THURSDAY, 14 MAY 2026
SCREENTIMES.
Independent Australian film, television, and culture. Criticism with its eyes open. Reporting with its receipts shown. Six years of it, and counting.
FILED MONTHLY
01 / 04NOW SHOWING
MUSICISSUE 77
Every Australian film has a sound and most of them go unheard
This column has spent six years listening to what Australian cinema sounds like, and the answer keeps changing.
KIERAN BOUSTANY01.05.2026 · 07:00
THE MASTHEAD
Five writers. One desk.
02 / 04FEATURED
TV№ 01
Australian television in 2026 has more shows and fewer places to put them
The shows are good, the platforms are crowded, and the audience is splitting into fragments too small for any one show to own.
RHYS TAVITA16.04.2026
MUSIC№ 02
The newest Australian score worth hearing is the one nobody is talking about
The film opened in twelve cinemas, the score opened in none of the conversations about it, and both deserve better.
KIERAN BOUSTANY08.04.2026
ESSAYS№ 03
Leah Purcell rewrote the bush myth and then set fire to it
Purcell took a Henry Lawson story, stripped it to the frame, and rebuilt it as a story about the women Lawson's Australia was built to forget.
MARA DENG02.04.2026
03 / 04READING LIST
№ 01
FILM28.03.2026
Sydney Film Festival 2026 opens with a question the programme cannot answer alone
The programme is strong, the Australian titles are stronger, and the question of who will be in the audience remains.
BRONTE HAUGHEY
№ 02
INDUSTRY24.03.2026
Screen Australia funded 112 development projects in 2025 and most will never be made
The development fund is the widest part of the funnel and the least visible, and the conversion rate tells the real story.
ODETTE MALOUF
№ 03
ESSAYS18.03.2026
Cate Blanchett keeps one foot in Australia and Australian cinema keeps asking her to put it down
Blanchett produces Australian work, funds Australian stories, and has not starred in an Australian film in over a decade, and nobody quite knows how to talk about that.
MARA DENG
№ 04
MUSIC10.03.2026
Streaming killed the film score budget and Australian composers adapted first
When the scoring budget dropped, Australian composers did what they have always done: made do, made less, and made it work.
KIERAN BOUSTANY
№ 05
MUSIC18.02.2026
Australian film music in 2026 sounds closer to the ground than it used to
The orchestras are smaller, the budgets are tighter, and the music is better for both.
KIERAN BOUSTANY
№ 06
ESSAYS16.02.2026
What is Australian film criticism for if the audience is not reading it
The masthead runs on conviction, the readership is small, and the question of who we are writing for has not gone away.
MARA DENG
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04 / 04THE INDEX
08.05.2026Furiosa and the country George Miller will not leaveBRONTE HAUGHEY07.05.2026Boy Swallows Universe and what Netflix actually paid forRHYS TAVITA06.05.2026Six years of writing about Australian film taught me what I was looking forMARA DENG06.05.2026Of an Age and the country a 24 hour love can holdMARA DENG04.05.2026Australian cinema does not know what it wants to be next and that might be the whole pointMARA DENG02.05.2026Six years of Australian cinema and the argument is still openBRONTE HAUGHEY28.04.2026Australian production spending fell 18 per cent in Q1 2026 and the floor is still not visibleODETTE MALOUF24.02.2026The SVOD local content quota is one year old and the numbers are inODETTE MALOUF10.02.2026The score for The Surfer never lets the tide go outKIERAN BOUSTANY28.01.2026George Miller made a film about storytelling and the audience wanted another car chaseBRONTE HAUGHEY22.01.2026Australian films earned $340 million internationally in 2025 and most of it was one filmODETTE MALOUF20.01.2026The sound of the Wasteland from Brian May to Junkie XLKIERAN BOUSTANY