Monster Children Presents Subculture
What would we be without films?
Personally – bored, insane and uninspired. As a magazine, equally so. What we couldn’t say in words, we have said in pictures and motion and what better way to kick off 2024 than a new film series dedicated to the very films we love. Come the third weekend of January (19th – 21st to be exact) at Lorne Theatre, we present Subculture - Made easy by Up. A celebration of the films that have both shaped and inspired us. What films might they be? A collection steadfast in our pillars of skate, surf, art and music, and a few made by our friends, of course. What’s the point of doing anything if you aren’t championing your mates? Here’s our handpicked list for the weekend:
Dogtown and Z-Boys
What can be said about Dogtown and Z-Boys that hasn’t been said already? Probably not much. As iconic to skating as it is to California, the documentary explores youth, rebellion, and friendship all tied together through our favourite silly little sport of skateboarding. It doesn’t matter how many times you watched this film, each fresh view brings you a bout of nostalgia even if you’ve never been to Cali, or were even alive during that era. It’s just one of those kinda movies.
The documentary’s director Stacy Peralta, is an equally talented film-maker, as he is a skater and was one of the original Z-Boys himself. So even if skating is the most foreign thing on the planet for you this documentary, if anything, is an ode to someone doing something they love in the purest form. That kind of passion is nothing less than inspiring which is why we got him to host our film workshop back in 2022. If this is the first, or the 10th time you’re watching this movie, make sure you check it out at Lorne Theatre on Jan 20th
Facing Monsters
There is something in the water in Western Australia and Facing Monsters proves that tenfold. This documentary follows Kerby Brown, a he pushes himself in one of the scariest slabs in the ocean while battling his on ground anxieties. What follows is compelling ode to the place that offers both peace and fear, something that we can all relate to whether that place is the ocean or not. While this film might not have you running out to a dry reef, it certainly reminds you what is important in life and we all need a bit of that sometimes right?
Moments Like This Never Last
Moments Like This Never Last follows the life of Dash Snow, a charismatic artist from New York who embodied the spirit of here for a good time, not a long time. The film is a celebration of those who dedicate their life to leaving the world with something a little interesting – a cause we sure can get behind at Monster Children.
As directed by Cheryl Dunn, who by the way features in our latest 20 Year Issue and Analog to Digital Podcast because well we are lucky enough to call her a pal and someone deeply woven into the fabric of Monster Children. Known well by others for her documentary style in bringing out the vulnerability from beneath both in film and photography, she is also well known to us as a kind, generous woman. She looks at the world around her, drawing the goodness from it while having the foresight to know those moments don’t always last forever, so best to make something beautiful from it.