Tales from the Inner West Life: A Cinematic Journey Through Women’s Stories

Tales from the Inner West Life is a captivating project blending film, stills and live performance to bring to life the experiences of women in the Inner West. Featuring vignettes set across Ward boundaries in iconic locations such as the Haberfield Library, Marrickville Road, Sideways Café, the Gladstone Hotel, and a Summer Hill warehouse, the project uses movement, music, theatre, and film to explore themes of violence, trauma, beauty, and resilience.

At the heart of this initiative is The Tales Project, a series of four short films (approximately two minutes each) designed to challenge conventional ways of listening to stories of sexual assault. Presented in both landscape and portrait formats, these films will be showcased online and as part of Sitting with The Living Room Theatre, a 25th-anniversary performative retrospective.

The Roundabout serves as a visual meditation on the systemic barriers women encounter in their pursuit of justice. A man in a suit repeatedly bows as the camera circles a roundabout, his ritualistic movements underscoring the inescapable cycles of bureaucracy. In the background, a small, silent crowd sits at an outdoor café, evoking the distant yet complicit gaze of society, inspired by the haunting compositions of Bill Viola and LRT’s archetypes.

The view is a series of tight close-ups, this piece captures the intimate struggle of three women attempting to voice their experiences. Their pain and shame transcend words, conveyed instead through their bodies and expressions—an embodied testament to the weight of trauma and the difficulty of articulation.

The juxtaposition of these two formats highlights the contrast between systemic oppression and deeply personal experiences. Each film is voiced by young women reflecting on violence and trauma in their daily lives, aiming to restore dignity and foster a profound connection between audiences and the subjects’ lived realities.