Kelvin Confidential
Season 1
by James Hewison
Christos is an award-winning novelist, screenwriter, essayist, playwright and film critic for The Saturday Paper. His novels include Loaded, which was made into the feature film Head-On, The Jesus Man and Dead Europe - also adapted to film - which won the 2006 Age Fiction Prize and the 2006 Melbourne Best Writing Award. He won Overall Best Book in the Commonwealth Writers' Prize 2009, was shortlisted for the 2009 Miles Franklin Literary Award, longlisted for the 2010 Man Booker Prize and won the Australian Literary Society Gold Medal for his novel, The Slap, which was also announced as the 2009 Australian Booksellers Association and Australian Book Industry Awards Books of the Year and of course was adapted to TV to great - and deserved - success.
Mick Harvey, renowned Australian musician and record producer, discusses his musical journey, including his early influences, the formation of the Birthday Party, and his transition to the Bad Seeds. He highlights his work on 10 solo albums and numerous soundtracks. Harvey reflects on the challenges of composing for film, the impact of technology, and his recent honour as a Chevalier in France. He also touches on his current projects, including collaborations with Amanda Acevedo and the Melbourne-based band Bleak Squad.
In this episode of Kelvin Confidential, host James Hewison sits down with acclaimed writer, director, producer, and showrunner Tony Ayres for a wide-ranging conversation about identity, storytelling, creative ambition, and the changing shape of the Australian screen industry. Episode Highlights Tony traces the origins of his creative life back to a childhood marked by migration, instability, and poverty. Arriving in Australia at the age of three with his mother and sister, he reflects on how storytelling became both refuge and survival mechanism, an imaginative response to uncertainty that would eventually become the foundation of his career. From philosophy and literature to art school, the path was anything but straightforward. Tony speaks candidly about his early studies, his mixed experience at the Victorian College of the Arts, and the pivotal affirmation he received at AFTRS that helped crystallise his belief that he could, in fact, be a writer. It was a small moment with life-changing consequences. Identity and authorship form a powerful thread throughout the conversation. Tony reflects on how being both a gay man and a person of Chinese heritage shaped his early work, while also discussing the tensions of being categorised within the industry. His insights are thoughtful, nuanced, and deeply personal revealing the complexities of writing from lived experience without being confined by it. The conversation also turns to the business of storytelling. Tony revisits the founding of Matchbox Pictures, the collaborative vision behind it, and its extraordinary rise to become one of Australia’s most significant production companies. He then explains why, after a decade and the company’s acquisition by NBCUniversal, he chose to step away and return to a more personal, writer-led creative life through Tony Ayres Productions. Looking outward, Tony offers a sharp and generous perspective on the Australian film and television sector: the pressures on local production, the role of international investment, and the need to build a sustainable screen culture that supports both established voices and emerging talent. He also reflects on the inseparability of art and politics, and, in a lighter turn, shares his long-held dream of creating a comic-book television series. A thoughtful, generous, and deeply engaging conversation about how stories are made and how they, in turn, make us.
In this opening episode, host James Hewison sits down with composer and guzheng virtuoso Mindy Meng Wang for an intimate conversation about bridging cultures, genres, and personal experiences through music. Episode Highlights Mindy traces her artistic roots to childhood in Lanzhou, where the guzheng became both structured discipline and creative doorway. She discusses the early pressure to conform to classical expectations, and how relocating to the UK and Australia allowed her to reimagine the instrument as a platform for experimentation and cross-cultural storytelling. Tradition meets innovation: Mindy reveals how she unlearned rigidities to rediscover emotional truth in her playing. Collaborations with electronic musicians, jazz ensembles, and experimental producers became catalysts for reinvention—expressing Chinese musical heritage without being confined by it. The personal journey: From creative burnout and touring demands to motherhood, grief, and isolation, Mindy shares how life's transitions have shaped her sound. She explores the vulnerability required to blend cultures authentically and the guzheng's power to hold complex emotions that words cannot capture. Cultural responsibility: Mindy reflects on representing tradition while pushing boundaries, her hope to broaden audiences' understanding of contemporary Asian art, and the evolving landscape for migrant artists in Australia. A rich, lyrical conversation—part biography, part cultural meditation, part creative diary—offering insight into Mindy Meng Wang's artistic journey and the emotional terrain behind her unique sound.
Fiona Patten is a pioneering activist and former politian who made history as the first former sex worker elected to public office, anywhere in the world. As co-founder of the Australian Sex Party, she served nearly a decade in the Victorian Parliament, driving dozens of progressive reforms across equality, health and civil liberties portfolios. Broadcaster John Faine called her the most influential independent MP ever in the Victorian Parliament. Robbie Swan is a former national magazine editor, including Matilda, Simply Living, the Canberra Raiders magazine and Ecstasy. He has been a political strategist and long-time advocate for free speech and civil liberties. He is the co-founder of the Australian Sex Party, with Fiona and he lead many national campaigns for Australia's adult industry. He has spent more than 25 years navigating the complex intersection of sex, politics and censorship. Robbie brings decades of frontline experience lobbying governments, shaping policy and challenging moral and political hypocrisy. Fiona & Robbie will discuss their new book, A FUNNY THING HAPPENED ON THE WAY TO THE SEX PARTY, a sharp, darkly funny insider account of the sex industry's collision with politics, censorship and everyday Australian life by Robbie Swan and his partner - trailblazing Victorian MP Fiona Patten.
New Zealand filmmaker and artist Vincent Ward’s work has spanned four decades across cinema, storytelling and contemporary visual art. Ward's breakthrough feature Vigil became the first New Zealand film selected In Competition at the Cannes Film Festival. He followed it with The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey, winner of multiple Australian Film Institute Awards, and the internationally celebrated Map of the Human Heart. His work has since taken him from Cannes to Hollywood, contributing to films including Alien 3, The Last Samurai and the Academy Award-winning What Dreams May Come starring Robin Williams. Alongside his film career, Ward has built a significant international visual arts practice, exhibiting painting, photography and immersive installations around the world. This is a rare opportunity to hear one of the Southern Hemisphere's most original creative voices reflect on a lifetime of making, imagining and pushing boundaries.
Justin Kurzel is one of Australia’s finest contemporary filmmakers. His VCA graduate short film was selected for Cannes as was his debut feature, Snowtown where it won a “Special Mention”. His subsequent film, Macbeth screened in Competition at Cannes and was the Closing Night Film. Subsequent features include Assassin’s Creed and his adaptation of Peter Carey’s True History Of The Kelly. In 2021, Nitram his psychological study of mass murderer Martin Bryant screened in Cannes Competition and won Best Actor, and won all 8 AACTA Awards later that year. His most recent feature, The Order starring Jude Law and Nicholas Hoult debuted at the Venice Film Festival in 2024. Last year saw his direct the adaptation of Richard Flanagan’s The Narrow Road To The Deep North for TV starring Jacob Alordi and Ciaran Hinds was Emmy-nominated.