Concrete Playground

Darius Devas is a freewheeling filmmaker who has forged a career out of his passion for adventure, the importance of place and his sensitive ear for listening to the stories of others. His company, Being Films, already holds a small selection of works that may at first seem light-handed in their treatment of subject, but their apparent softness belies a nuanced, committed retelling of personal worlds.

Devas' latest feature, Goa Hippy Tribe, is a documentary that traces a link across three decades between a community of hippies on an Indian beach to the social networking phenomenon of Facebook. Despite many of his subjects claiming to revile the medium, they all acknowledge that it was the perfect tool for reconnecting their mature selves back into their playful past. Following a massive friend-finding online, the Goa alumni organised a reunion on the beach in 2009 and Devas joined them to document the gathering. The result is a heartfelt collection of memories and stories that stretches beyond the cliched definition of 'hippy'.

This Tuesday, Devas will screen a special session of Goa Hippy Tribe at the Chauvel to help launch the official SBS interactive website. Definitely grab a seat at this event to learn more about film with soul and of the positive side of social media when it comes to preserving and sharing memory.

All money raised at this screening will go towards Devas' upcoming residency at the Binger Writers Lab in Amsterdam.