Crowds line the streets in Coolgardie last year. Coolgardie is a mining town, so most of the population will be men who "fly in fly out" to work on up to 4 weeks on 1 week off swings. Among Gleesons inspirations are the documentaries of American film-maker Frederick Wiseman, who is known for a fly-on-the-wall style. Later he briefly worked in Coolgardie as laborer while studying film, and struck up a relationship with the pub's owner. 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. Hotel Coolgardie trailer: watch an outback Australian nightmare unfold. Enjoy free WiFi, free parking, and breakfast. [It is] absurd almost to the point of comedy how downhill things go in the film, she says. "Not quite sure what to expect," said one Coolgardie local who drove to nearby Kalgoorlie for the local premiere on Wednesday. Indeed, it was the friends dire financial straits that led them to the ramshackle hellhole of the title a bar-cum-hovel that emerges as the films true villain. 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. "Harangued by their new boss, relentlessly pursued and pilloried by booze-addled patrons and prey to the madness and malaise of an environment as claustrophobic as it is isolated," the film's synopsis reads. One sloshed patron early in the running time suggests he should go to bed with one of the bartenders, because his penis is very small and thus it would be short and painless. Hotel Coolgardie Documentary 2017 1 hr 23 min English audio CC BUY OR RENT In remotest red-dust Australia is the sleepy mining town of Coolgardie. Most girls would get on great they adapted well and would leave with an authentic outback story to tell.. 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. To say the pairs stay in Australia was doomed from the start might be a little bit dramatic, but its fair to say their trip of a lifetime began pretty shakily. Described as "a nightmare version of Cheers" (POV Magazine) and "one of the most captivating Australian documentar | dG1fbm9wX0pxOU1fUjg. As director Gleeson himself says, "it might be an intensely Aussie experience, but its themes are universal". Our guests praise the restaurant and the helpful staff in our reviews. While Lina is still in hospital, Stephie is told to pack their things and go. For something soaked in XXXX beer, Hotel Coolgardie is absolutely sobering, absolutely skin-crawling and absolutely necessary viewing. Reindeer? "I think they've just gone a bit Australian, you know what I mean, a bit too much Australian. Many talk like Mick Taylor, drink like Barry McKenzie and appear to have an understanding of foreign cultures comparable to Crocodile Dundee. . "What do you eat in Finland? Dolphins, seals?" Like, were not faking it. 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"Harangued by their new boss, relentlessly pursued and pilloried by booze-addle patrons and prey to madness and malaise of an environment as claustrophobic as it is isolated," read the synopsis of the film at the time. It was emotional to see the film. I thought that might speak to something about Australian culture, or culture in general, he tells Guardian Australia. As Hotel Coolgardie makes clear, when young inexperienced women are bussed into remote towns like this to take on "barmaid" work, there's a risk that they aren't just being employed to do their job and be treated as fully human workers. Thats up to the audience to decide. Coolgardie is located 550 kilometres east of Perth, approximately 40 kilometres west of Kalgoorlie, and 187 kilometres north of Norseman. The idea of sending groups of women to provide for male-dominated outposts sounds like something from convict-era Australia, but it's an attitude that appears ingrained in some remote towns populated by largely male workforces. 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 . 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. takes a hard UNFLINCHING look at FRAGILE MASCULINITY Toronto Film Scene, SIMMERING, UNSETTLING, ACCOMPLISHED verit Tom Roston, a MARVEL almost from a different world. Scene Creek, feels already like a TIMELESS film. Hunter & Bligh, a COMPELLING yet CHILLING watch Stuff NZ, an UNFORGETTABLE piece of work Wylie Writes, 96B FM Auckland with Mikey Havoc [LISTEN], CinefestOz Director Interview, ABC South West [LISTEN], Triple J with Veronica & Lewis, Director Interview [LISTEN], For all media and publicity inquiries: Raw And Cooked Media, Distribution enquiries: Raw And Cooked Media (Australia) / Journeyman Pictures (International). 01 00 53 14. Hotel Coolgardie - Full Cast & Crew 2017 1 hr 23 mins Documentary, Travel NR Watchlist Where to Watch Documentary about two foreign backpackers who travel to the isolated Australian town of. Something like that., On the question of whether she harbours any regrets about her time in Coolgardie, Linda responds: Oh yes. For the latest information, searchABC Emergency, For the latestweather warnings in the Northern Territory, search onABC Emergency. Its a troubling portrait of small-town Australia and one thats sure to stir up controversy on theinternational film festival circuit. 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. You're told you've signed up to work a stint at a pub in a mining town, a minimum of three months. 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. Runtime: 102 mins. The Miners Rest Motel. ', The comments below have not been moderated, By About 4.0 Very good 25 reviews #1 of 3 B&Bs / Inns in Coolgardie Location Cleanliness Service Value Hotel, Accommodation & Meals are available from the Oldest Licenced hotel in the goldfields. documentary or otherwise, to come out of Australia in ages. Film Blerg, veers between INTIMATE MOMENTS of human warmth and vulnerability He says the program, one of several, had no involvement with the film, and due to being "heavily controlled" it was a roaring success. Discover genuine guest reviews for Coolgardie GoldRush Motels along with the latest prices and availability - book now. This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost Australia, which closed in 2021. Labelled "fresh meat" by locals, Lina and Stephie fast learnto deflect the near-constant pick up attempts from pub-goers who make a game out of trying to sleep with them. There's no escape. You don't have your own car and are relying on the same locals who've made you fear for your safety in the pub in order to go anywhere else. "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. 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. When Finnish backpackers Lina and Stephie decided to head to Australia for the trip of a lifetime its not quite where they expectedto end up. There is some good amongst the rampant sexism,particularly in kind-hearted, foul-smelling local The Canman, who becomes afather figure to the girls. "People realise it was an era of the past, a lot of people have moved on and the face of the hotel has changed," Mr Cullen said. Everyone feels good when theyre a part of a gang and part of reinforcing that is identifying who is not in the gang, by picking differences such as race, gender or language.. Hotel Coolgardie is now available to stream on DocPlay and Amazon Prime Video. These women are a fixation for the men who frequent the pub, most of whom fully expect that the promise of sexual relations is part of the deal. "Because if you look at the trailer, it depicts a fairly sleazy sort of atmosphere at some of the hotels of that era.". "So when you're in that, nothing really seems abnormal.". It did feel like we were being objectified. It is leaves a very bad taste at the end of a film in which violence never breaks out, but there are several moments when it feels on the cards. He reminded people that it was a film and by that very nature, it was only able to capture a limited perspective. The characters we meet at the titular watering hole are fair dinkum. Tick to subscribe, untick to unsubscribe from any newsletters below: Get unlimited access to the coverage that shapes our culture. I'm not allowed to pick them up cos I'll scare them away. Khaleda Rahman For Daily Mail Australia The locals eagerly anticipating the arrival Lina and Stephie's arrival. Phil Thompson on Google (August 21, 2019, 5:02 am) Stopped here for some lunch, we had roast chicken and gravy rolls and a huge serve of wedges. Hotel Coolgardieis to bogans whatJawsis to sharks. "I think very few people are that perturbed about it at all.". Featuring room service, this property also provides guests with a grill. 560 Hannan Street, Kalgoorlie, WA, 6430. Or maybe they are scared of being hurt? But it also shouldn't be viewed as some sort of natural consequence of life in remote areas where there's a gender imbalance. Shire of Coolgardie Place Number 00570 Enlarge Map Show Property Street View Location 75-77 Bayley St Coolgardie Location Details Other Name (s) Ghost Inn Hotel, Michelle Lodge Gold Rush Lodge, Railway Lodge Local Government Coolgardie Region Goldfields Construction Date Constructed from 1898 Demolition Year N/A Statutory Heritage Listings it out there unconcerned with box office or public approval. Otago Daily Times, completely unexpected, COMPLETELY STUNNING. The Young Folks, borders on being FRIGHTENING, HILARIOUS and HEARTBREAKING all at once AB Reviews Best Of 2017, full of ANXIETY, COMEDY, FRIENDSHIP, LOVE, NAIL BITING TENSION and DESPERATE UNEASINESS Hotel Coolgardie sits uncomfortably astride that conflict. SEE MORE PROPERTIES. You should be able to hold it up to scrutiny.. We are no longer accepting comments on this article. So we had to bite our tongues and be nice and polite, then cry behind closed doors.. One of the first questions this incongruously true-blue, stranger-than-fiction, human meme-maker of a publican asks his new employees concerns Finnish cuisine. Hotel Coolgardie, a documentary (shot in 2012) that's been compared to 1971's nightmare thriller Wake In Fright, follows two young Finnish backpackers, Lina and Stephie, as they're plonked in the middle of the desert by a company that recruits women like them to engage in temporary bar work servicing towns that don't attract many long-term residents (and certainly not many if any young women). You're robbed on a tropical island, and instead of going home defeated you decide to stick it out, get a job for a few months and earn some cash so you can continue your travels. Source: Hot Docs. On a dusty highway between Australia's most isolated city and its largest gold pit lies Coolgardie - where the arrival every three months of a new pair of foreign backpackers to work the onl On a dusty highway between Australia's most isolated city and its largest gold pit lies Coolgardie - where the arrival every three months of a new pair of foreign backpackers to work the only bar in town is a keenly anticipated event. 'So we had to bite out tongues and be nice and polite, then cry behind closed doors. Australian release date: 23 February 2023. Maybe they were showing off, or scared of being hurt, says Lina. Menu. They've agreed to be the [] I was crying, and I was angry: Hotel Coolgardie's shocking portrait of sexism in the outback | Film | The Guardian. We came for a meal and I was told the Garlic Steakburger with chips was a very large meal and thoroughly recommended. Theyscore the dubious honour of being barmaids at the local watering hole in Coolgardie, a speck of a town 38 kilometres from Kalgoorlie populated predominantly by miners most of them men. "If we had been in a better economic situation, we would have left the same day we arrived in Coolgardie," says Lina simply. Top hotels in Coolgardie. Prior to production the director visited the hotel from time to time. "The pub's like an institution, and you've got institutionalised behaviours going on in there that have been normalised over a number of years," he said. It doesn't get much realer than this. Theyquickly discovered they were just the latest in a long line of young femaleemployees at the pub where they were used by their boss and abused by the piss-addled patronage. "They don't get off on the right foot, they don't adapt well," Gleeson said. For the latest information, searchABC Emergency, For the latestweather warnings in the Northern Territory, search onABC Emergency. PETE (OOS) . What she is referring to, revealed in the documentarys final moments, is best left for viewers to discover themselves. The real heroes of the film are Lina and Steph, who display a stoicism despite being thousands of miles from home in a hostile environment with few allies and, for Lina, very serious health struggles. (ABC Goldfields-Esperance: Nathan Morris) Shire President Malcolm Cullen said he would not be going out of his way to view the film. All that remains of Workstay now, however, is a website that connects individuals with potential employers and according to the site manager Eddie, "99.99 per cent" of the bar work available is for women. Life at Coolgardie's Denver City Hotel is not for the faint-hearted or easily-offended. "You eat seals and shit, don't you?" Little did they know that I have a masters degree in economics. It was difficult to be in a foreign country, with no money, no family and without any support system. 01 04 47 18. 21.39 miles. Contractor Read more But we had just been robbed in Bali and didnt want to lose the job, because we needed the money. 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. On a dusty highway between Australia's most isolated city and its largest gold pit lies Coolgardie - where the arrival every three months of a new pair of foreign backpackers to work the only bar in town is a keenly anticipated event. As director Pete Gleeson tells Fairfax Media, "how the women adapted to the dominant culture determined everything, from whether they could have enjoyable tourist experiences, to whether they could get a lift into town to buy groceries, to even their meals". Hotel Coolgardie is every negative connotation of Australian culture transformed into a single, slanted building: a den of alcoholism and antagonism that blights Steph and Linas exploits from the outset. 08:09 GMT 22 Jun 2017 They had been robbed in Bali, so needed/wanted to earn enough money to buy a car and drive around Australia. We didnt even notice after the first day or two that we had a film crew surrounding us all the time., However, despite how tough their time in Coolgardie might have been, in retrospect Lina can see the lighter side of it. Chosen by Pete through an agency ("If they look good, they don't need experience," he leers in one of the first of the doco's many disturbing pronouncements), each new pair of backpackers faces a warm welcome that includes outside chalkboard top billing. History. 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. No woman in this day and age should be subjected to a workplace where a culture of sexual harassment is accepted, regardless of the job's location. On your first shift, you're ogled and propositioned by the local men who have no qualms in announcing the game is on to see who'll "bag" the first one. Mum wouldnt want to see this.. They delved deep into the Australian outback on the hunt for a job and they landed in a mining town called Coolgardie, a small dot on the map about 550km east of Perth, with a population of about 1000. Previous experience in pubs is not required. They're tossed aside like rubbish. When Finnish backpackers Lina and Stephie decided to head to Australia for the "trip of a lifetime" it's not quite where they expected to end up. The 120-year-old building contains the town's watering hole and 26 hotel rooms in the centre of Coolgardie's . 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Coolgardie Hotels with Outdoor Pool. The subtext of their employment is that their presence will soothe bored, lonely and frustrated men. She added the same situation would never happen in Finland, which made it "even harder to try to accept it and to be quiet". You sign up to a program that sends backpackers to remote pubs. When theres a dominant culture at play with certain norms and customs you do need to fall in line without joining in. And weve had people totally outraged at what theyre seeing on screen, as if it is something they thought never existed., Adds Lina: Its real. But he said the trailer was just that a trailer. RIP Canman, a good dude. It becomes clear very quickly that their job is more than just pulling beers and managing a few loose units. Characters we meet at the titular watering hole are fair dinkum north of Norseman downhill go... It also should n't be viewed as some sort of natural consequence of life in remote areas where 's. 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