As part of Midsumma Festival 2026, and in conjunction with artist Pia de Bruyn’s exhibition, Female Trouble, join us for an evening of feminism, schlock and awe, with the screening of the cult classic film, She-Devils on Wheels.
She-Devils on Wheels heavily influenced John Waters’ Female Trouble, the title of which inspired de Bruyn’s exhibition. Following the screening, join us for a short panel discussion with the artist Pia de Bruyn alongside filmmaker Fiona Hergstrom, writer and critic Brodie Lancaster and author and Senior Lecturer Screen Studies School of Culture and Communication (University of Melbourne), Dr Janice Loreck
When
Cost
Free to attend, all welcome! Bookings essential.
About the Panelists
Brodie Lancaster is a culture critic and author from Melbourne. Her writing has been published in The New York Times, Vogue, Rolling Stone, Pitchfork, The Guardian and others. She was the founding editor of Filmme Fatales, a zine about the intersections of feminism and cinema, from 2012 to 2017. She writes a fortnightly column in The Age and is the author of the memoir, No Way! Okay, Fine.
Fiona Hergstrom is a documentary writer and director whose films include “Hollywood Hotel” (1995 Melbourne Film Festival), “Till Death Do Us Part” (Auto Stories, ABC), “Hear No Evil,” (SBS) and “No Place Like Home“(ABC). Fiona is currently Head of Senior Media at Belmont High School, Geelong, inspiring future storytellers.
Dr Janice Loreck is a Senior Lecturer in Screen Studies at the University of Melbourne. Dr Loreck’s research expertise centres on cinefeminism, women’s filmmaking, screen violence, transgression and global art cinema. She is the author of multiple publications and her latest monograph is Provocation in Women’s Filmmaking: Authorship and Art Cinema (2023). Loreck is a founding member and organiser of the Melbourne Women in Film Festival (MWFF).
Pia de Bruyn is a visual artist and educator working across drawing, painting, film, and sculpture. Born in Meanjin Brisbane, she currently lives and works on coastal Wadawurrung Country in Victoria. Since graduating from Monash University in 2004 with a BFA in Painting, Pia has exhibited in both solo and group exhibitions, with her work held in private collections across Australia. Alongside her practice, she has worked in arts education since 2005 and has been teaching Visual Arts and Sculpture at a secondary level for over a decade. She is the winner of the Bundoora Homestead Prize as part of the 2025 Midsumma Australia Post Art Award, and a recipient of the 2025 Nancy Fairfax Artist in Residency at the Tweed Regional Gallery and Margaret Olley Art Centre in Northern NSW.
Getting here
To plan your visit click here
Image credit: 1. Pia de Bruyn, She Devils on Wheels (from the series Female Trouble 2019-2025). Courtesy the artist.
2. She-Devils on Wheels. Film title. Courtesy Tricoast Worldwide.
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