In 1973, 10,000 ‘dreamers, tree-huggers and radical ratbags’ landed like a spaceship on Nimbin (population 300) for an anti-establishment political and cultural celebration. The Aquarius Festival was the event that transformed Northern NSW into Australia’s heartland of hippie culture.

Wendy Champagne’s documentary curates the archival material gathered from news reports, footage shot by participants, and interviews with organisers and attendees, now mostly in their seventies, bringing both a celebratory and critical eye to this historic moment.

”More than 50 years later, the largely peaceful and stunningly well-organised event remains an important example of what’s possible when creative people get together and try to make a new world.” – ScreenHub

Join us for a post-screening Q&A with director Wendy Champagne, in conversation with NFSA senior curator Thorsten Kaeding.