Andrew Garton
@andrewgarton
Filmmaker, musician, producer and media comms educator of Ukraine/Austrian descent. Co-founder post-punk fusion trio Rat Kangaroo.
PH attracts the worst people. At least we know where they're headed. Along with their media sycophants it's a downward spiral to the bottom.
'AI is sold to us as seamless automation. But behind every “intelligent” system are workers sorting violence, moderating trauma, and absorbing the psychological cost of keeping platforms functional.' Actions against the empire of AI. airesistlist.org
A petition calling for a Royal Commission into the Killing of Australian Women & Girls was derired by a cowardly @albomp.bsky.social as a waste of money. Link to petition 👇 Two of my granddaughters died in circumstances that had been poorly, to put mildly, investigated. c.org/C8dzjcbWKs
"This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair. No place for self pity. no need for silence. No room for fear. We speak, we write, we do language. That is how civilizations heal." ~ Toni Morrison
Circa 1999/2000 I performed at Electrofringe, This is Not Arts Festival in Newcastle, Australia, under the name LOST TIME ACCIDENT. I've just released a recording of that set exclusively on @subvert.fm. Artist page🔗in profile ⬆ and live in Newcastle👇 www.subvert.fm/andrew-garto...
Saturday 11th April two of my films are being screened in Sydney. From 1-3 PM at invisible art space for their first screenings in Sydney. 141/2-18 Buchanan St, Balmain
Bidayuh elder, Padawan, Sarawak. One of few women left in the region who wear brass rings around their arms and ankles, applied to them at an early age. No one seems to know when the practice commenced or why. Ian Urquhart filmed these same women in 1962/63, 40 yrs prior to the portraits I'd taken.
Dredging in Port Phillip Bay is changing the coast line around French Island, already suffering significant erosion due to the removal of mangroves.
I would like to declare that not more than two years should pass before I return to Kuching and bask in the serenity of your presence and that of our Native Customary Rights Advisor, Mr Mihin Urip. And of course cross a few more bridges.
Hello 2026. I baked a cake, cleaned the house, admired my roses and read the latest from Chris Hedges and Francesca Albanese. Perhaps the last bastion of hope is love and resistance. Somehow this both calms and excites me.
The rhubarb, beans and dill are doing just great. The corn hasn't grown more than 40 CMS in two months and tomatoes appear to recoil from the heat despite shade cloths. King parrots frequently mock my efforts.
Screenshots from This Choirs Sings Carols produced in collab with First Impressions Youth Theatre, screening at Hildebrand Organic Vineyard, Sat 6 December, Cottles Bridge, Victoria. Details in 🔗tree!
A new recording studio has emerged from the rubble of a once derelict warehouse in Ascot Vale, Melbourne where I'll be collaborating with sound engineer and pianist, Rob Rolfe, as producer on various in-house projects. Much of the studio he built himself, his mother's drop-jaw paintings everywhere.
Join me at Hildebrand Organic Vineyard in Cottles Bridge, Victoria, for a free, dinner screening of KNOW ME and my unexpectedly controversial 2015 film, This Choir Sings Carols, on Saturday 6 December. RSVP essential. Let me know below, or visit the FB event page from the LinkTree in bio.
"Freedom is not just an absence of evil but a presence of good." @timothysnyder.bsky.social, On Freedom, 2025
I had my bag checked by security at Melbourne Airport. This came up in the scan. No one but an older security officer knew what it was.
Against all odds, my first website, coded in 1994, is still online and much of it still works. Unfortunately, the RealAudio streams do not. toysatellite.org/bh/
Never ever dreamed I'd end up in an Insta Frame, but Meera from Eltham Bookshop is marvellously persuasive. Diwali celebrations in Eltham were joyous & a welcome break from the worlds I inhabit in my work. I was hanging out with author, Neil Grant & members of the Diamond Creek Tough Guys Book Club.
KNOW ME - a semi-finalist in this years Australia Independent Film Festival. Missed out on a screening, but at the very least it was acknowledged alongside many impressive films.
"My message to the world is simple: if we are left to burn in this hell alone, then humanity itself has already died. This world is no longer human. And the silence that allowed all of this will haunt you forever." @ali.gazandoctor, 17 September 2025
The footage that inspired my film, KNOW ME, was originally shot by Ian Urquhart. This footage is now available for non-commercial and educational use. A list of the entire collection, some additional notes, an FAQ and some of Ian's amazing photos available here: www.andrewgarton.com/2025/07/30/t...
Thanks everyone who came to the premier of KNOW ME at the @mdff.bsky.social (Melbourne Documentary Film Festival) last Sunday afternoon. There were tears, heart warming embraces, reunions too and discussion that flowed from Cinema Nova's foyer onto a nearby pub and into the evening back home.
It's up to us to motivate our politicians to act and do a whole lot more than acquiesce with meaningless words and debate. Here's one way, bombard our local members with emails and letters. www.getup.org.au/campaigns/pa...