Next month the inaugural Girls On Film Festival takes place at Northcote Town Hall. It's a three-day event focusing on films from past and present, showcased in an event that the organisers describe as "your chance to watch movies chosen by feminists, made by feminists, with a bunch of other feminists". These include the animation Ponyo, the rock biopic The Runaways, the teen noir Heathers, the music doco The Punk Singer, the documentary T Is For Teacher and the indigenous feature Radiance. Screenings will be introduced, and many will be followed by a panel discussion.

On Saturday September 13, there is also a session called Girl Germs, aimed at young feminists, which will include zine-making, girl bands, DJs, nail art and activism, as well as the screening of The Punk Singer.

The festival runs from September 12 to 14. girlsonfilmfestival.com 

THANK GOD IT'S FRIDAY

On August 29, the regular Friday On My Mind session at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image will focus on up-and-coming filmmaker Garth Davis.

After making shorts and commercials and directing episodes of the TV series Love My Way, Davis went on to co-direct episodes of Jane Campion's mini-series Top Of The Lake, which won a Golden Globe.

He is about to make his first feature, Lion, which is based on the autobiography of Saroo Brierley. The Indian-born Brierley was brought up in Australia; after 25 years of separation, he was reunited with his birth mother in India. He managed to find her using a combination of childhood memories and Google Earth.

Davis will be in conversation with James Hewison.

GARNER'S CONSOLATION

Australian filmmaker Sotiris Dounoukos, who has been selected to take part in a new international shorts showcase at the Toronto International Film Festival, plans to make his feature debut with an adaptation of Helen Garner's book Joe Cinque's Consolation.

The short screening at TIFF is Un Seul Corps (A Single Body). A 19-minute drama developed in Australia but shot in France with a mostly non-professional cast. It the story of  two abattoir workers, played by Mexianu Medenou and Doudou Masta, best friends who plan to set up their own butcher's business in Burgundy; their project is tested by the arrival of a third party.

MONSIEUR BABADOOK

The Babadook, Jennifer Kent's clever, chilling and distinctive tale of maternal horror, was a big hit at Sundance earlier this year, and sparked a good deal of interest and attention. But its performance at the local box office was a disappointment.

In France, however – where it was known as Mister Babadook – it did much better, taking more in its first five days than it did for its entire Australian release. The critics – notably at Le Monde, Liberation and Les Inrockuptibles – were overwhelmingly positive. It opens in the UK on October 24 and will release in the US on November 28

WAY OUT WEST

Western Australia's film festival CinefestOZ, which concluded on Sunday, is an event with ambition. The festival, which began in Busselton seven years ago and now has events throughout the South-west, focuses on Australian and French cinema, and co-productions, and would like to play its part in developing the industry. For the past three years, CinefestOZ has screened Australian-Chinese co-productions, such as Pauline Chan's 33 Postcards and Mario Andreacchio's The Dragon Pearl. Two years ago, they organised an Australia-China discussion forum to help raise awareness of the possibilities. And this year they had a panel on the state of the Chinese film industry, with some leading authorities. WA is currently home of two Australia-Chinese co-productions, both animation projects. The next plan for the festival is a networking event, provisionally called the Australia-China Film Hub – the idea is that it will bring Chinese producers to CinefestOZ to talk to and meet Australian producers and filmmakers.

AFTR SCHOOL

Australian Film, Television and Radio School has its open day on September 6, and it has a number of short courses coming up in Sydney over the next few months. They include an introduction to composing music for the screen, in which participants will produce a two-minute piece of music, making use of the AFTRS facilities; an introductory course for emerging producers with producer Martin Brown (Moulin Rouge!); a two-day course on modern cinematography by AFI Award-winner Ellery Ryan (Van Diemen's Land; The Rage in Placid Lake); a two-day narrative comedy masterclass with Tim Ferguson (The Doug Anthony Allstars, Good News Week);  and a four-day masterclass by Peter Andrikidis on how to direct actors. Full details on these and other courses at aftrs.edu.au