Castlemaine Documentary Festival

27/05/2026

What does love mean to you?

That’s the question at the heart of one of this year’s most powerful new works. Inspired by Wendy Clarke’s landmark Love Tapes project, CDoc invited members of the Castlemaine community into a simple recording booth to share their own three-minute reflection - unscripted, unedited, entirely their own.

Speaking directly to themselves, contributors respond in their own way: through story, confession, humour, music or silence. Each recording is shown in full and unedited. Together they form a collective video artwork capturing a wide spectrum of voices and emotional truths - an evolving portrait of our community, and the beginning of an ongoing body of work.

In a significant milestone, the CDoc Love Compilations will be archived alongside the original collection at the University of Wisconsin - making this the first Australian contribution to a global project now comprising over 2,500 recordings.

The individual records will be screened throughout this year’s festival, from June 26-28, while the full Love Compilations will move beyond the cinema and can be seen in their entirety on continuous loop at three separate locations during the festival:

Sat & Sun 12:30-2pm
Sat & Sun 12:30-2pm
(Wimble Wall drive-in projection wall

Thank you to our sponsors and who have helped make it possible for us to share this with you

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26/05/2026

Out of the underground clubs on the South Side of Chicago, a group of friends turned a new sound into a global movement.

Move Ya Body: The Birth of House traces the emergence of house music in late ‘70s Chicago, born in the aftermath of disco’s violent backlash, and rooted in Black and q***r communities who needed somewhere to belong.

Blending archival footage with first-hand accounts, the documentary tells the story of basement parties and DIY visionaries who transformed dance floors into spaces of resistance, joy, and radical togetherness.

Consider the film an excellent warm-up that will move you off your seat and onto the dancefloor, where Castlemaine’s favourite DJ, Jen Moore, will take us where we need to go. We promise, you won’t be standing still.

This event is brought to you by our friends at @94.9mainfm and .records; word is they will also have a CDoc special cocktail on offer all weekend.

Saturday 27, June
8 pm - late

25/05/2026

We are very excited to introduce you to The Love Complilations. A local collective video artwork, inspired by Wendy Clarke’s Love Tapes, marking the start of something new at CDoc. Each record shares three minutes of unedited reflections expressing a wide spectrum of voices and emotional truths from across Castlemaine and its surrounds.

The individual records will be screened throughout this year’s festival, from June 26-28, while the full Love Compilations can be seen in their entirety on continuous loop at three separate locations:

Pull up to the Wimble Wadio Wall carpark at Northern Arts Hotel and tune your dial, The Love Compilations will loop from dusk till dawn and play through your speaker.
Free

Drop into Castlemaine Art Museum on Saturday and Sunday to catch the Love Compilations on loop in their Sinclair Gallery.
Free

The Castlemaine Market Building will also be hosting the Love Compilations on Loop in their main gallery - we encourage you to see the Boorp Boorp Boondyil exhibition while your there. Free

The Love Compilations wouldn’t be possible without the financial support of and - we thank them for their support and encouragement in helping us bring this to you.

25/05/2026

June 26-28 Castlemaine Documentary Festival looks for the light.
Program out now, tickets on sale
Www.coff.com.au

22/05/2026

June 26-28, The Castlmeaine Documentary Festival returns and looks for the light. The 2026 program is built around a simple theme: Love – The Antidote. In a time that feels fractured, it's an invitation to hold onto what connects us.

Have you had a look at the program yet? https://cdocff.com.au/

20/05/2026

Elephants, underpants. 8mm film, a legendary community lunch, the art of deathwork. stand-up comedy, the Harcourt fires, lost trades rediscovered, and more.

LOCALS is our short-form documentary competition celebrating the grassroots filmmakers and stories of Central Victoria, and this year it returns for its fifth year with another extraordinary lineup.

This year’s jury, Katie Mitchel, Keiran Watson-Bonnice and Noora Niasari, some of the most thoughtful and experienced filmmakers around. We’re so grateful to have them.

All selected films are in the running for the Audience Choice Award, Judges’ Choice Award and Encouragement Award. Winners take home a Blackmagic Design DaVinci Resolve Studio worth $500.

LOCALS is made possible with the generous support of , a creative hub of over 40 makers full of creativity, culture and taste - much-loved by locals and visitors alike.

We thank them for their continued support of what has become our regular festival highlight.

🎟️ Tickets sell out every year.

https://cdocff.com.au/program/locals-after-party-at-theatre-royal/
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18/05/2026

We have one more important event coming up before the festival, presented in collaboration with the Theatre Royal.

On May 28, join us for a special Central Victorian Indigenous Film Festival (CVIFF) screening of My Survival As An Aboriginal (1978), 50 min, directed by advocate and activist Essie Coffey OAM, the first Australian documentary made by an Aboriginal woman. A landmark work that turned the camera on life in Brewarrina and bore witness to the injustices faced by her community. (recently restored by )

This screens alongside the short film, Moort Calling Dingo Back to Country (2026), 10 min, exploring the deep kinship between Cultural Custodians and the Dingo, and the united effort to protect them from widespread killing programs.


🎫 Tickets available through the Theatre Royal Website.

This screening is a powerful way to land in Reconciliation Week on Dja Dja Wurrung Country and reflect on what it means to be 'All In' for Reconciliation.

15/05/2026

PROGRAM DROP!
This winter, the Castlemaine Documentary Festival looks for the light. The 2026 program is built around a simple theme: Love – The Antidote. In a time that feels fractured, it’s an invitation to hold onto what connects us.

Across the weekend of June 26-28, you’ll find documentaries that stay with you, conversations and curiosities sparked, a porridge breakfast with Duang, a film that turns into a party with DJ Jen Moore, hot soup cooking throughout the weekend by Castlemaine Community Lunch, CDoc special cocktails from Table Records and more!

You’ll watch films from across the globe, sitting alongside our Local stories made by local filmmakers from right here in Central Victoria. (stay tuned our full LOCALS program announced soon!)

Eleven sessions. Three days. One very cosy winter weekend in Castlemaine.

A Full Weekend Pass gets you access to all of it. Or choose a day - Friday, Saturday or Sunday passes are available, as well as single session tickets if there’s one thing you know you can’t miss.

The program is waiting for you to explore on our website now.

27/04/2026

Listen back to our interview with ZÖJ on PBS 106.7FM Melbourne We hope to see you all this Friday Night! https://www.pbsfm.org.au/program/the-sound-barrier?page=1

Tune in. Tonight at 10PM on PBS 106.7FM Melbourne at the wonderful Ian Parsons’s show: The Sound Barrier - we will talk about Grass and Zöj as well as our new album ‘May The Devil’s Ear Be Deaf’.