It was filmed several years ago and I had forgotten a lot of what happened. It's publican Jack McGregor made the hotel rather popular as it was a welcoming place for the early goldrush miners with a relaxed dresscode and free meals for those down on their luck. It was filmed a few years ago and I had already forgotten some of the things that happened. It becomes clear very quickly that their job is more than just pulling beers and managing a few loose units. Subscribe for free to get the latest breaking news and analysis sent to your inbox. In fact, working holiday programs have been sending barmaids into remote pubs for decades. But after they were robbed in Bali, they needed the work to replenish their travel fund and return home. Some leave a family behind, many find the work roster prohibits developing meaningful . The man behind a new documentary claiming to expose the dark side of life at a Goldfields hotel has defend his film from local criticism. If men are suffering from a gender imbalance in remote mining towns, there has to be a better solution than carting in vulnerable young women under the pretense of a bar job to act as their entertainment. The name Coolgardie is said to be derived from the aboriginal word "Coolcaby", and is said to be a reference to the area's mulga vegetation and gnamma waterholes. David Stratton, JAW-DROPPING one of the most CONFRONTING and COMPELLING When two Finnish girls take jobs in the. (129) 6.8 1 h 23 min 2017 R. In remotest red-dust Australia is the sleepy mining town of Coolgardie. Except those quarters are not your own home they're upstairs at the very same pub, where over the next few weeks you'll have to fend off drunk and often menacing strangers who are hell bent on following you into your bed, and can't be made to leave. Repeats of the Foxtel series Kalgoorlie Cops, filmed two years before Hotel Coolgardie, have also drawn criticism from Goldfields leaders and tourism officials. "They don't get off on the right foot, they don't adapt well," Gleeson said. The subtext of their employment is that their presence will soothe bored, lonely and frustrated men. Fresh off the plane and lured by the promise of an authentic outback experience, Finnish travellers Lina and Steph find themselves en r See production, box office & company info, Fly on the wall documentary shows real life in Australia's outback and how it exploits backpacking labour, Denver City Hotel, Coolgardie, Western Australia, Australia. Auctioneers bawled from their rostrums set up in the open. Or maybe they are scared of being hurt? Menu. I was also laughing a lot., Shire President Malcolm Cullen claims the area (including the hotel, which is under new management) has moved on. It's a mining town just west of Kalgoorlie, WA and the middle of nowhere. Its a troubling portrait of small-town Australia and one thats sure to stir up controversy on theinternational film festival circuit. Find helpful customer reviews and review ratings for Hotel Coolgardie at Amazon.com. Gleeson said he had told the story of "outsiders" trapped in a difficult situation. Guests will appreciate free perks like free self parking and WiFi in public areas. Top hotels in Kambalda West. Hoping to recoup travel funds and have an authentic Aussie experience, thewomen landed a gig working as bartenders at the Hotel Coolgardie, which, admittedly, theyd never heard of. Greeted by a chalkboard sign outside the pub that excitedly declares New Girls tonight!, Lina and Steph are flung into a world of dominant masculinity. Lina, who has diabetes and becomes gravely ill, ends up in hospital; and after all of this, the pub manager decides the girls haven't lived up to his expectations. I hope that people will understand they affect other people," she said. If we had been in a better economic situation, we would have left the same day we arrived in Coolgardie, says Lina simply. Tick to subscribe, untick to unsubscribe from any newsletters below: Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture. "It's quite an impressive piece of work, but also not a very flattering picture of the Australian outback," said renowned critic David Stratton, who gave the film four stars. Jetstar ranks as the third most unpopular airline in the world, Why taking cough medicines with pholcodine can be deadly, even months beforesurgery, Devastated Kidman awarded special Cannes prize, misses ceremony. There were clearly choices made along the way not just by the men at the pub, but by the girls' employer to disregard their health, safety and dignity at work, and undermine their humanity for the sake of providing a group of bored, frustrated, angry men with a couple of harmless objects to project their feelings onto. With a downturn in the mining industry, coupled with improved mining techniques and a rise in people working fly-in-fly-out rosters, the social fabric of small communities has suffered. Laureen Hemming on Google (April 14, 2019, 7:48 am) . But a year later, in the front rows of an unusually full Kalgoorlie cinema, Coolgardie residents were keen to see the final cut. (855) 516-1090. Improve this listing Property amenities Bar / lounge Coffee shop Restaurant Many of the guys in the film have a few conflicts or elements of their past that theyre still trying to come to terms with and that comes out in how they relate to other people. Life at Coolgardie's Denver City Hotel is not for the faint-hearted or easily-offended. Upon their arrival the Finns are described as out of the packet by the hotel manager, who declares his customers grow a new leg when fresh meat comes to town. I was crying, and I was angry: Hotel Coolgardie's shocking portrait of sexism in the outback | Film | The Guardian. Hotel Coolgardie and the problem with sending barmaids to remote mining towns, Lina and Stephie, the two Finnish backpackers followed in. Where the subtle power dynamics and latent expectations of the place were for these new comers. Mar 18 - Mar 19. Every day we got to hear that we were stupid. surprisingly moving portrait of small town insularity, fragile masculinity and 'Dark' outback documentary, Hotel Coolgardie, holds mirror to remote Australia's culture, There is an emergency bushfire warning in place for Maintongoonin Victoria. Mum wouldnt want to see this.. their boss asks one night. Yes I do. This service may include material from Agence France-Presse (AFP), APTN, Reuters, AAP, CNN and the BBC World Service which is copyright and cannot be reproduced. When two Finnish girls take jobs in the town's pub, they find themselves in a trial of endurance, and soon realise that pouring pints is the least of their work. I was 18 when I was there and it wasn't that bad," one woman who grew up in Coolgardie said. He said he understood the apprehension that some people who lived in Coolgardie may feel without having seen the film. "But as a film, we were going to choose moments that most impacted the women, and those moments were not always positive.". In keeping with the show of wealth in boomtime Coolgardie, the building was demolished and rebuilt as a two-storied hotel in 1898. Sure Coolgardie's Denver City Hotel might look like a typical two-storey Aussie country pub, but the publican is more EastEnders' Dirty Den than The Flying Doctors' Vic Buckley. "There were some bits of it that were really good and showed the true people. Gleeson and his team aimed for an observational style,keeping his subjects at arms-length and never intervening in the sometimes-concerningaction. A restaurant and a bar/lounge are featured at this motel. The film took a whole different turn after that.. achieves WHAT ALL FILMMAKERS SHOULD REALLY ASPIRE to capturing the TRUTH "I think very few people are that perturbed about it at all.". 22.09 mi from city center. 'So we had to bite out tongues and be nice and polite, then cry behind closed doors. Coolgardie GoldRush Motels. You're told you've signed up to work a stint at a pub in a mining town, a minimum of three months. their working holiday rapidly deteriorates into a bizarre test of endurance, as they discover We lived under the same roof and they were filming us around the clock. Heritage listed in 2003, the . This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost Australia, which closed in 2021. "I thought it was going to be worse than what it was," one Goldfields woman said. $101. In remotest red-dust Australia is the sleepy mining town of Coolgardie. Years on, Lina says watching the film was emotional and left her feeling angry. 4/5 Very Good! Steph and Linareplace two British womenwho have taken to the job with ease, welcoming slaps on the bum and language that would make Ozzy Osbourne blush. Fresh off the plane and lured by the promise of an . Australia was always on the top list of places to visit, Lina explains. "Because if you look at the trailer, it depicts a fairly sleazy sort of atmosphere at some of the hotels of that era.". You also find yourself wondering why the Finns endured such a demeaning and potentially dangerous workplace. The Scottish director and screenwriter, Charlotte Wells, describes her feature film debut, Aftersun, as "emotionally autobiographical", as it delves into the reflections and emotions of an adult woman looking back at digital footage shot on a MiniDV camera while on holiday in . POV Magazine, a JAW-DROPPING documentary that lingered for many days after seeing it Like, were not faking it. The Denver City Hotel, located in the historic town of Coolgardie, Western Australia, a little over. They endure some truly impressive (if occasionally amusing) sexism with just a sprinkle of casual racism. "What do you eat in Finland? The film is set in Coolgardie's Denver City Hotel where every three or so months new barmaids (yep, always women) are sent to the seriously isolated town for a stint behind the bar. The sometimes amusing, sometimes appalling documentary follows two young Finnish backpackers, Lina and Steph, as they weather a barrage of sexist and racist slurs while working for scraps in the eponymous Western Australian pub, colliding head on with the full force of Strayan philistinism in the process. "It's an interpretation, and it's the vision as seen through the eyes of two people who come and work at a particular time, in this particular place under particular circumstances," he said. TV Shows. a BRILLIANT film The Curb: The Best Australian Films of the Decade, a sly and lighthearted HUMOUR throughout an otherwise ASTONISHING narrative Mr Gleeson said the unique, no-nonsense character of the people in the region, which attracted him in the first place, was what made the film what it was. I thought that might speak to something about Australian culture, or culture in general, he tells Guardian Australia. But director Pete Gleeson said there was more to the film that the portrayal of drunken locals. But despite such horrors, the pairs time in Coolgardie wasnt a total nightmare, and the documentary shines through with some genuinely tender, human moments, most of which are provided by a slightly odorous local legend who goes by the name of Canman. Released January 7th, 2018, 'Hotel Coolgardie' stars The movie has a runtime of about 1 hr 24 min, and received a user score of 75 (out of 100) on TMDb, which collated reviews from 11 experienced . Well, Canman and the documentarys crew, a tight-knit group led by director Pete Gleeson. It was supposed to be a subtle observation as to how that worked and where the line was in that transaction. 3.24. Hotel Coolgardie is an ugly film, but a revealing one After being robbed in Bali, Finnish backpackers Stephie and Lina find themselves desperate for cash in Perth (never a good position to be in). AEST = Australian Eastern Standard Time which is 10 hours ahead of GMT (Greenwich Mean Time), abc.net.au/news/outback-documentary-hotel-coolgardie-holds-mirror-to-culture/8622168, Get breaking news alerts directly to your phone with our app, Help keep family & friends informed by sharing this article, Daily letter deliveries in the firing line as part of new Australia Post review, Defiant Wilkinson lays out defamation defence, Edmund Rice Education Australia issues apology to parents at Victorian school for failing to meet child safety standards, Station master arrested over deadly Greece train collision, Australia leads India by 47 runs after spin dominates day one of the third Test, Three unpublicised data breaches affected millions of Australians' personal details, according to watchdog, NSW mother to be sentenced next month for 24yo daughter's manslaughter, Key figures from the Voice 'Yes' and 'No' campaigns explain the state of play, Dutton warns against UK submarines for AUKUS, drawing fire from government. The town of Coolgardie, with its grand, but tired, facades, empty blocks of land and quiet streets, is far from the bustling WA gold capital it was in the late 1800s, once dubbed the mother of the Goldfields. Recently renovated. There's also no small amount of humour amongst the horror,from what surely must be the worst Mr Whippy in the world to the unique world-view of local celebrity Can Man. And thats where things start to go wrong. Hotels with Free Wifi in Coolgardie. Our guests praise the restaurant and the helpful staff in our reviews. Your boss berates you from across the bar, and describes you as "fresh meat", laughing along with the leering men. "If we have sex it will be bad but it will be very quick," one bar-fly proffers. Don Hyland founded the Workstay organisation in 1986, and in 2001 opened a Perth office that ran what became to be known as the Country Pub Workstay program for four years. Very good filming where you forget there is a camera and it is quite clear the people in this documentary forgot the camera quickly as well. Source: Hot Docs. For his career, Morgan had a .271 batting average to go with 2,517 hits, 1,650 runs scored, and a .392 on-base percentage. There are moments of levity - and a lot of heart in form of a toothless gentle giant named Can Man - but through the chuckles remains a looming threat that all women will be familiar with. Or [maybe] they dont even know theyre being sexist maybe they think thats just the way things are? Credit: Tori O'Connor. It alsono longer hires every three months, but that didn't stop Lina giving the Coolgardie Hotel zero stars. Asks one night prohibits developing meaningful tongues and be nice and polite, then cry closed. Their boss asks one night faint-hearted or easily-offended film was emotional and left her feeling angry, Australia. 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