Welcome to the Lonely Spirits Variety Hour. A radio show (and film) like no other.

Hot on the heels of the indie hit, SLANT at last year’s London Australian Film Festival comes THE LONELY SPIRITS VARIETY HOUR. An absurdist take on life and love through an Edward Lear / Spike Milligan / Jaques Tati lens – but with a distinctly Australian flavour.

Moving from stage to screen with dreamlike ease, this film has been a hit at Melbourne International Film Festival, won Best Film at Sydney Underground Film Festival and picked up a Best Actor gong at Festival des Antipodes in Saint Tropez.

With sumptuous cinematography and special guest appearances from some of Australia’s biggest attractions - the Big Merino, the Big Lobster, the Big Murray Cod and the Big Koala – this is a feast for the eyes as well as the mind.

Perfect for fans of the British indie hit, Brian and Charles.

It’s weird, wonderful and with bags of pathos, this gem of a film will stay with you for a long time.

The screening will be followed by an in-person Q&A with director and co-writer Platon Theodoris, hosted by Peter Salmon, author of An Event, Perhaps: A Biography of Jacques Derrida (Verso, 2020).

Australian snacks and sweets will be on sale, and a raffle will be held before the screening.

SYNOPSIS

Neville Umbrellaman (co-writer Nitin Vengurlekar) is the honey-voiced, endearingly nervy host of a late-night radio show, the Lonely Spirits Variety Hour (FFFFFM on the AM dial), where he introduces listeners to a variety of talent and gives his acutely different take on life’s absurdities, all from a tiny studio in his parent’s suburban garage.

When one of his guests professes undying love, Neville’s life is thrown into blissful chaos.

But what is really going on here?

Selected as one of Screen Hub’s top 10 films of 2022

“It’s funny, sad, and wise.” The Curb

“It’s dreamy, but brace yourself for a heart-wrenching twist.” Screen Hub

“Touched with a special kind of genius.” James King

ABOUT THE Q&A TALENT

PLATON THEODORIS is an Australian film director, producer & screenwriter. Platon's second feature film, existential comedy The Lonely Spirits Variety Hour, premiered at the 25th Perth International Film Festival - Revelation. The film then screened at the 70th Melbourne International Film Festival in August 2022 where it was nominated for the MIFF Innovation Award. It then won Best Film at the 16th Sydney Underground Film Festival.

Alvin’s Harmonious World of Opposites, Platon’s debut feature film premiered at the 2015 Perth International Film Festival - Revelation and then won Best Film at the 9th Sydney Underground Film Festival the same year. The film's North American premiere at the 2016 Slamdance Film Festival was a sellout. In 2017 this magical-realist drama won the Special Jury Prize for Best First Feature at the 50th WorldFest Houston International Film Festival.

PETER SALMON is an Australian writer living in the UK. His biography of Jacques Derrida, An Event, Perhaps was described by John Gray in the New Statesman as "Rigorous and revelatory ... indispensable to anyone who wants to understand Derrida’s key ideas ... a triumph" and by Julian Baggini in Prospect as "Brilliant ... one of the clearest introductions to 20th-century continental philosophy available ... [a] scintillating account of [Derrida's] life and thought."