Andy Whitfield Spartacus actor remembered in film tribute Be Here Now

CLIENT: TUGG
OUTLET: THE DAILY TELEGRAPH

If there’s one thought Vashti Whitfield wants people to take away from documentary feature Be Here Now, it is that being healthy is more than simply looking the part.

The moving tribute to Vashti’s late actor partner, Andy, famous for playing the lead in Spartacus: Blood and Sand, is released this month and documents his intensive treatment for non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma that ultimately took his life at the age of 39 in 2011.

The film shows Andy exploring alternative medicine treatments in India, as well as undergoing chemotherapy and radiation in Sydney.

It includes candid moments with Spartacus co-star Jai Courtney, who is godfather to the Whitfields’ children.

Be Here Now opens in Australia on May 23 and punters are encouraged to set up their own screenings through tugg.com.au.

You should watch this Aussie doco about Motor Neurone Disease

CLIENT: TUGG
OUTLET: THE HUFFINGTON POST

In September 2011, hematologist Ian Davis was diagnosed with Motor Neurone Disease, a progressive condition which ultimately leads to the wasting away of muscles and, eventually, death.

From diagnosis, the average lifespan is 27 months.

In 2013, at 34 years of age, Davis was facing the realisation his life-saving work at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre was coming to an end.

"It was around that time MND was starting to have a significant impact on my mobility," Davis told The Huffington Post Australia. "Though I was still working at the time, I knew I would soon either have to change duties or give up work altogether.

Dr Ian Davis is riding to cure Motor Neurone Disease

CLIENT: TUGG
OUTLET: SUNRISE - CHANNEL 7

Sunrise speaks to the Aussie dad who has devoted his life to saving others and is now battling to save his own as documented in the film 'Legacy: A Ride to Conquer Motor Neurone Disease'. To host a screening head to: tugg.com.au/legacy

The Coffee Man: film about champion barista Sasa Sestic premieres in Canberra

CLIENT: TUGG
OUTLET: GOOD FOOD

When Sasa Sestic asked two filmmakers to join him on his "bean-hunting" trips and make a bit of a film about coffee, none of them realised they would end up with a documentary about the biggest year in Canberra's coffee scene.
 

The film is being premiered in Canberra on May 18. Sestic hasn't seen it in its entirety yet but he's very keen to view it in his hometown, with his family and his team of ONA baristas and local coffee lovers.

"There's no one else I can thank more than the people of the Canberra for all these years," he says. 

The Coffee Man premieres in Canberra on May 18 at Palace Electric. It also shows in Sydney on May 19, Perth on May 26 and Melbourne on May 29. See tugg.com.au/thecoffeeman

Remembering the Man

CLIENT: TUGG
OUTLET: FILMINK

This beautifully crafted documentary is a companion piece to Neil Armfield’s Holding The Man, as it revisits the lives of Tim Conigrave and his lover, John Caleo. Where Armfield and playwright, Tommy Murphy, dramatised Conigrave’s seminal book, filmmakers, Nickolas Bird and Eleanor Sharpe, get Tim to tell his own story.

In 1993, a year before his death, Conigrave participated in a project for The National Library, which aimed to capture the thoughts and feelings of a vanishing generation – Australian gay men dying of HIV/AIDS. Utilising this recorded testimony, interviews with the couple’s friends, and astonishing archival footage, Bird and Sharpe build a vivid and compelling account of the boys’ lives. They chart a lot of what we already know from both book and film, but give a much greater depth and resonance to the events. From this perspective, Tim’s parents take on a more subtle tone than we’ve previously known, while priests at Xavier College are remembered fondly, enlightened even, in their treatment of the boys’ relationship. In all, Remembering The Man reveals a more open era.

Inspirational technology film to screen at Maroochydore

CLIENT: TUGG
OUTLET: SUNSHINE COAST DAILY

A FILM that delves into the history of computing while highlighting leading women such as Ada Lovelace will be screened in Maroochydore by female-led firm The Creative Collective.

CODE: Debugging the Gender Gap is a documentary film directed by Robin Hauser Reynolds.

It will be screened on Thursday, May 12 at Event Cinemas in Maroochydore and is open to the public, though tickets must be purchased in advance from online platform Tugg. 

Isolated at Harvard to starring at Pixar: women face tough road into tech

CLIENT: TUGG
OUTLET: AUSTRALIAN FINANCIAL REVIEW

Showing how computer code can be a paintbrush of sorts for all kinds of creative endeavours is just one way a new documentary is hoping to inspire young women to take up computer science.

"The combination of art and tech is my favourite thing in the world," says Danielle Feinberg, director of photography at Pixar and star of the new documentary CODE: Debugging the Gender Gap, a look at the lopsided nature of the tech industry and the increasing need for computer science graduates, particularly women.

CODE will be released nationally in cinemas via TUGG.com.au, from April 6.

World's top chef fights food wastage to feed the homeless

CLIENT: TUGG
OUTLET: ABC NEWS BREAKFAST

'To feed the planet, you have to find the waste' Italian Chef Massimo Bottura on gathering together the world's best chefs and using leftovers and food waste to create banquets for the homeless.  He talks to ABC NEWS BREAKFAST about his new movie to be released on TUGG later this year, Theatre of Life.

Film depicts nightmare of living with OCD

CLIENT: TUGG
OUTLET: THE BRISBANE TIMES

Getting ready for work should not be a crippling marathon of anxiety but for someone living with uncontrollable obsessive compulsive disorder (OCD), it is a daily reality.

This is the subject of Australian film Eight, from local director Peter Blackburn, which was filmed Brisbane's outer suburbs.

Charleville-born lead actor Libby Munro said taking on the role of OCD sufferer Sarah Prentice required a uniquely sensitive approach.

The 82-minute psychological thriller was shot in a single take, aimed at highlighting the overbearing anxiety people with OCD experience. For screening times go to https://tugg.com.au/eight/

Legionnaires outbreak in Sydney

CLIENT: DR ZAC TURNER
OUTLET: CHANNEL 7, THE MORNING SHOW

Dr Zac Turner joins The Morning Show to discuss the dangerous bacterial infection found in a busy Sydney area.