Darlinghurst Eats Its Young

Based on a box of photographs left to Madeleine after Maggie died by suicide, ‘Darlinghurst Eats Its Young’ is a moving account of a group of friends, artists and musicians living in inner city Darlinghurst in the early 80s.
When Madeleine is a teen, she meets Maggie who welcomes her into her Darlinghurst fold. Here Madeleine feels accepted as part of a group of people who didn’t care who she was.
In their inner-city enclave of squats, Madeleine finds a new kind of family with Maggie at the helm. The 20-something Darlinghurst group comes of age through alt music, drugs, art and friendship…but some of them don’t make it.
Featuring an evocative soundtrack of electronic music from the time including Severed Heads, Scattered Order, Wet Taxis and Systematics, Madeleine Preston’s ‘Darlinghurst Eats Its Young’ is a deeply personal narrative formed out of the artist’s own experience.
Initially exhibited in the Sedition barber shop window on Darlinghurst Road in 2010, the photographs from the ‘Darlinghurst Eats its Young’ collection developed into a series of notable exhibitions in Sydney, Launceston and Melbourne. This short film is the finale of a 15-year art project. Madeleine’s narration was recorded just two weeks before her death.

Directed by Madeleine Preston (Australia)