moviejuice and The Mercury are pleased to present two films by Sydney-based filmmaker James Vaughan: his acclaimed debut feature Friends and Strangers, and the short film You Like It, I love It starring Kirin J Callinan.

Through barbed satire of middle-class ennui and Australian cultural rot, Vaughan has carved out a name as one of contemporary Australian cinema’s most vital voices. With deadpan humour and striking visual stylings, his work studies the spectres of colonial violence that persist beneath the vapid surface of urbane settler existence.

James Vaughan’s films have received international recognition, with You Like It, I love It premiering at the 2013 Berlinale, and Friends and Strangers premiering in competition at the International Film Festival Rotterdam in 2021 and receiving the Special Jury Prize at Jeonju Film Festival.

Join this special event screening, followed by an  in-person Q&A with James Vaughan and Friends & Strangers cinematographer Dimitri Zaunders (The Golden Spurtle).