Behind the scenes

Fabrizio Maltese. Photo: Boyd van Hoeij Photo: Fabrizio Maltese

The Sydney Film Festival offers cinema goers an entertaining new hang-out, writes The Sydney Morning Herald's Sacha Molitorisz.

Davy Chou doesn't know whether to be more excited about his film or his music. On June 15, his documentary Golden Slumbers will screen at the Sydney Film Festival. Later that night, he will DJ at the Sydney Town Hall for a ''Cambodian Psych-Out Party''.

''I'm very proud to show my film at the Sydney Film Festival - and it will be the Australian premiere,'' Chou says. ''But I have to say that the Cambodian Psych-Out Party made me particularly excited. And anxious. This will be the first time I DJ in public.''

The Cambodian Psych-Out Party is a satellite event of the Sydney Film Festival, which has embarked on a deliberate strategy of broadening its horizons. As well as a typically eclectic line-up of films, this year's festival offers stand-up comedy, photographic exhibitions, burlesque performers, talks, DJs, parties, live music and screenings.

And the home for these events is The Hub, a new (albeit temporary) venue in the Lower Town Hall. For 11 nights, The Hub will throw open its doors for a provocative run of events, all of them free.

''We really believe that it will add positively to the atmosphere of the festival,'' the director of the Sydney Film Festival, Nashen Moodley, says.

The Hub's programmer, Mathieu Ravier, wants it to be the festival's ''beating heart''. ''It's a new way to engage with the festival,'' says Ravier, who also runs the after-hours Jurassic Lounge at the Australian Museum. ''And it's a new way for the festival to engage with new audiences.'' The Hub, for example, is the only place to get your hands on discount $10 tickets to next-day screenings.

One of the main events at The Hub will be an exhibition of portraits by Paris-based photographer Fabrizio Maltese. Called Role/Play, the expo features striking images taken at Cannes, Venice and Berlin of Woody Allen, Michael Fassbender, Jeff Bridges and more.

Maltese says film festivals and photographic exhibitions make perfect bedfellows.

''If the theme of the photo exhibition is related to cinema in some way, then yes, of course,'' Maltese says. ''This is the case with still photographs - which show the actors at work on set, either in character or behind the scenes - or more formal portrait shots that try to show the actor or director portrayed in a different light. Showing such images during a festival is a kind of perfect symbiosis.''

Awaiting his first visit to the Sydney Film Festival, Maltese thoroughly supports The Hub.

''Films and cinema come first,'' he says. ''But a festival needs an identity that is created from more than just the [film] programming. You need a place where cinema can be discussed, people can meet like-minded people and the guests can both work and relax outside of the dark cinemas. That's why The Hub concept is a great one.''

The inspiration came, in part, from overseas events. As Ravier says, ''The idea was to borrow from the best delegate lounges at international film festivals.''

But isn't there a risk that all the partying at The Hub threatens to overshadow the films? After all, the festival is still essentially about - to quote Moodley's own words in the festival program - ''a crowd sharing a story in a darkened room''.

Chou says The Hub has its place, and that place must be limited.

''A film festival has to be a celebration, and certainly not an event closed on itself,'' the filmmaker says. ''However, the limit not to exceed is when people just come for the parties, the free champagne and the red carpet, and no one shows up at the screening.''

One of the keys, he says, is to ensure a link exists between the films and the Hub events, as there is between Golden Slumbers and the Cambodian Psych-Out Party.

So, erm, what exactly is Cambodian pop?

''It's a mix of Western-influenced rock'n'roll from the '60s and '70s, psychedelic music and a very Cambodian identity, with the high voices of female singers, or the golden voice of male singer Sin Sisamouth,'' Chou says. ''I don't know any music lover who hasn't fallen in love with this music after listening to it.

''They produced thousands of songs during 15 years, which were extremely popular. But everything ended in 1975 when the Khmer Rouge took over Cambodia.

''The singers were killed, few composers survived - but hundreds of songs remain.

''When the link between the films and the events makes sense - as for the Cambodian Pop and Rock party - [The Hub] can just be a great addition.''

THE HUB: June 7-16, 5-10pm, and June 17, 2-6pm. Lower Town Hall, city, sff.org.au/hub.

CINEMA FOR THE EXTRATERRESTRIAL

In cinema's rich history, there have been countless films about aliens. What about films for aliens?

This year's festival program includes a series of expert talks. Photographer Fabrizio Maltese will discuss his work (June 7) and filmmakers including Tom Zubrycki and Oliver Hermanus will appear (June 8 and 11). Other panels will discuss nothing less than the future of cinema (June 16).

The most intriguing title for a discussion, however, belongs to Five Films for an Alien (Sunday, June 10, 6-7.30pm, free), a session featuring directors Kriv Stenders (Red Dog) and Bruce Beresford (Mao's Last Dancer), pictured, writer John Collee (Happy Feet), Giles Hardie (The Sydney Morning Herald online film critic) and the chief executive of Screen Australia, Ruth Harley. The question for this group is a beauty: if you were to select five films to show to an alien, what would they be?

Prometheus, the Alien prequel that opens on day two of the festival would probably not be among them. Nor would Plan 9 from Outer Space, War of the Worlds, Independence Day or Maid in Manhattan. (The last isn't about aliens, it's just bad.)