Electronic Celebration!
Lightbody 5 is a community dance celebration bringing together the best electronic music from top DJs around Australia. With fire dancing, live art, geometric lighting and installations this will be a fabulous evening of musical and visual inspiration. Featuring Nick Taylor, Pob, Ozzy from Melbourne and Jahzen Lewis from the Sunshine Coast. Friday 27 November at Durrumbul Hall. 6pm–12am. $25 contribution.
Stories of freedom
Freedom Stories provides a welcome respite from the hysteria surrounding asylum seekers, taking a considered and poignant approach to the lives and achievements of former ‘boat people’ who now call Australia home. Award-winning documentary maker Steve Thomas (Hope) explores the stories of people who arrived from the Middle East around 2001, some just children at the time. Thrust into the contentious political climate surrounding refugees at the time, they found themselves languishing in indefinite mandatory detention in remote places such as Woomera and Nauru, and then on temporary protection visas that extended their limbo. Freedom Stories is screening at Lennox Head Community Centre on Friday at 6pm. Followed by a Skype Q&A with director Steve Thomas.
Steve Philp at the Big Gig
Steve Philp may have started out in children’s theatre – starring in shows such as Barney the Dinosaur, Blinky Bill, The Wiggles and The Dorothy the Dinosaur Show, but eventually it was the twisted minds of adult audiences where he found his true calling. Moving into standup just less than a decade ago, Steve made the finals of competitions such as Triple J Raw and Green Faces and then quickly moved on the road touring the country for the last eight years with comedians such as Carl Barron, The Umbilical Brothers, Adam Hills and a number of international acts such as Arj Barker and Tom Green. More recently Steve has been revving up and humouring TV studio audiences as the warm-up guy for TV shows such as Channel 10’s Ready Steady Cook, Channel 7’s Battle of the Choirs, Channel 10’s hit So you think you can Dance and Channel 9’s NRL Footy Show. But Steve’s big break came in 2008 when he was selected as one of 14 Australian comedians to travel to Miami and compete in NBC’s top-rating show Last comic Standing, in which he made the quarter-finals and got to perform to a sold-out Miami improv and an American TV audience of well over two million.
He is the feature act at the Ballina RSL’s Big Gig comedy night Thursday 26 November, at 8pm. MC is Mandy Nolan and support is Paul McMahon!
Tanna
Based on a true story and performed by the people of Yakel, Tanna is a feature film set on a remote south Pacific island of Vanuatu that tells the true forbidden love story of young girl Wawa, who falls in love with her chief’s grandson, Dain. When an intertribal war escalates, Wawa is unknowingly betrothed as part of a peace deal and the young lovers flee pursued by enemy warriors intent on killing them.
Tanna recently won best feature film of International Film Critics’ Week – an independent section of Venice Film Festival and Bentley Dean Best DOP (director of photography). Tanna was the first film to be shot completely in the stunning green landscapes of Vanuatu and had its Australian premiere at the Adelaide Film Festival in October.
Screening with codirector Martin Butler in conversation and audience Q&A. 7pm Wednesday 25 November, 2015 at Byron Theatre, Byron Community Centre – 6685 6807. Tickets: $18 member/concession $25 general.
https://www.facebook.com/TannaMovie
Telling stories to kids
Local storyteller Annie Bryant will invite children and parents into her magical Storytent this Sunday at Mullum Music Festival as part of the free family entertainment in the Festival Marketplace. Join Annie for seasonal stories and songs at 10.30am and 12 noon at the festival or on Saturday 28 November at Periwinkle Preschool Christmas Market 10.30am and 1.30pm. More info www.talesandsongs.com.
Portals To Encounters
Experience Portals to Encounters, a multi-faceted exhibition of film footages and photographs with an interactive website that has been created by SPRUNG!! Integrated Dance Theatre. On show at the Lone Goat Gallery in Byron, opening Friday night at 6pm with a live performance and running until 2 December.
Stan’s Art of Glass
Acclaimed artist Stan Michaels will present his work to the public this weekend for the first time in a decade. A third-generation glass artist and a winner of the Northern Rivers Art Prize, Stan invites art-lovers to his stunning studio in Broken Head to view creations in fused and blown glass, sculpture and various paint media. Stan is inspired by nature, the human form, and the light that surrounds him as he works with meticulous care and dedication. Balance and beauty are features of his work. The in-house exhibition provides a rare insight into the life and methods of this highly skilled artist, and an opportunity to meet with the artist face to face in his creative setting.
10am–6pm until Sunday. Please contact [email protected] for an invitation.
Conversation about community
Some time ago I was approached to raise funds for the Mullumbimby Neighbourhood Centre. At the same time author, activist and spoken-word artist Alan Clements let me know he was available for a ‘conversation’. In an interview late last year I was so impressed with his refreshing take on spirituality and activism that I said, ‘Hey, next time you are around I’d love to do an in-conversation-style chat.’ With the two events coinciding, it seemed appropriate to bring together a bit of a call to arms and invite two other passionate community-minded people to the stage. The important work of Helena Norberg-Hodge almost makes up for the slackness of the rest of us – instrumental in the creation of the localisation movement that has seen local growers bring fresh produce to their communities through farmers markets, an expert on ancient wisdoms and the negative impacts of globalisation, Helena has much of her own wisdom to share, along with some challenging ideas meant to shift us from our comfort zones. Then I started talking with Mark Swivel – a new arrival to Mullumbimby, a lawyer and a writer and a keen advocate of micro-finance as an agent of change in economically challenged communities. It just started to take shape and seemed the right thing for a fundraiser for a Neighbourhood Centre that is instrumental in providing support to so many ever-diminishing resources. Then I went to see Russel Brand and left feeling really pissed off that some bloke who banged on about capitalism charged $140 a ticket – then talked about the death of self, the death of the individual, and then showed videos of himself and sold t-shirts with his face on them! Is talking about change actually enough? Do you actually need to embody it? Find out in Courage to Care – Putting Hope Into Action, Saturday at Club Mullum (Mullumbimby Ex-Services) at 8pm. Entry is $10 (further donations also welcome) and ALL proceeds go to the Mullumbimby Neighbourhood Centre’s More than a Meal program. Tickets at the club or at the door on the night.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
