Adam Farrington-Williams

When director Sue Thomson’s 89-year-old mum, Margaret, begins to need additional help with day-to-day life, they face a decision that most families will encounter: whether to consider a residential aged-care facility; and, if so, how to find a suitable one amid a sector with a reputation for neglect and mistreatment. Margaret’s story becomes a springboard for an investigation of the political history of aged care in Australia, marred by a 40-year bipartisan privatisation agenda. As we hear from advocates, journalists and senior citizens who have experienced the system, a group of schoolkids discuss the situation we’ve reached with aged care and where we need to go from here – and of what they, and we, can expect in the future.

In the middle of Australia’s divisive marriage equality vote, Melbourne hosted a gala event to honour and celebrate its LGBTIQ elders. These are their stories.

Kathryn Joy was three months old when their father killed their mother. He served just 22 months and by age four, Kathryn was back living with him in the house he killed their mother in with little knowledge of what happened to her. Spanning over forty years, Revealed: KillJoy follows Kathryn from a child into adulthood as they embark on a journey to uncover their mother's buried story.

Some 240,000 women over 55 are at risk of homelessness In Australia – a figure both surprising (owing to this demographic being less likely to speak up about their difficulties) and shocking, given this country’s wealth. Under Cover introduces us to 10 of these people, including a survivor of domestic violence, a former advertising executive, a self-confessed loner and a displaced immigrant, for whom security and shelter are constant unknowns and who, until now, have suffered in silence.

Filmed across one extraordinary year in New York City’s Westbeth Artists Housing, video artist Edith Stephen (95) hopes to complete an experimental film for her birthday; revered contemporary dancer Dudley Williams (75) rehearses for an electrifying return to the stage; and published poet Ilsa Gilbert (82) faces her impending mortality with revealingly candind poetry. An inspirational story about community, ageing and the need to keep creating.