Close Encounters: Intimacies and Asian Australian Cinema

Close Encounters: Intimacies and Asian Australian Cinema

  • 27 Oct 2026
  • 06:00pm - 07:30pm
  • FREE
  • Melbourne City
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The RMIT Australian Screen Research Collection Salon celebrates milestones in Asian Australian filmmaking through an exclusive in-conversation event with pioneers of the topic: Professor Olivia Khoo and director/producer Tony Ayres.

Moderated by this year’s research fellow Dr Scarlette Nhi Do, the guests will discuss stories we tell about Asian migration to Australia and the accompanying racial fissures of a multicultural society. The interview will follow Scarlette’s summary of her research findings for the project tracing depictions of relationships between Asian and Indigenous people in cinema. 

The evening will conclude with a special screening of Ayres’ 1999 documentary, Sadness: A Monologue by William Yang. This adaptation of Yang’s acclaimed stage performance intertwines the photographer’s journey to understand his Chinese heritage and his experiences during the HIV/AIDS epidemic.

Where: The Capitol Theatre, 113 Swanston St, Melbourne VIC 3000.

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RMIT University acknowledges the people of the Woi wurrung and Boon wurrung language groups of the eastern Kulin Nation on whose unceded lands we conduct the business of the University. RMIT University respectfully acknowledges their Ancestors and Elders, past and present. RMIT also acknowledges the Traditional Custodians and their Ancestors of the lands and waters across Australia where we conduct our business - Artwork 'Sentient' by Hollie Johnson, Gunaikurnai and Monero Ngarigo.

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