Solstice ahead: stories for the change of season
Beamafilm
|
18/06/2026
As the solstice approaches, there’s something special about settling in with a great film to prepare for the season ahead. Whether it's the depths of winter in the Southern Hemisphere or the height of summer up north, the solstice is a moment to pause, reflect , plan a holiday or just embrace the changing rhythm of the year.
21 June is the International Day of the Celebration of the Solstice. Long before streaming services and cinemas, people gathered around fires, under starlit skies, or in shared community spaces to tell stories that entertained, inspired and connected them through seasonal transitions. Today, that tradition continues, only now the stories come from the far corners of the earth.
Whether you’re in the mood for comfort, inspiration, laughter, suspense or reflection, Beamafilm’s collection curated for the solstice offers the perfect companion for cosy winter evenings or relaxed summer nights.
Escape into extraordinary worlds
The solstice is an ideal time to immerse yourself in stories that transport you beyond the everyday. Journey through breathtaking landscapes, discover fascinating cultures, and experience lives and perspectives far removed from your own. From acclaimed international dramas and award-winning documentaries to beloved classics and contemporary independent cinema, Beamafilm’s collection offers thousands of stories designed to entertain, educate and inspire.
Festival favourites from around the globe
If you couldn't make it to Cannes, Sydney, Shanghai or other great film festivals at this time of year, why not let the festivals come to you? Explore films that have screened, won awards or earned nominations at prestigious events including the Sydney Film Festival, Cannes Film Festival, Sundance Film Festival, Berlin International Film Festival and many more. These are the films that spark conversations, challenge perspectives and remain with audiences long after the credits roll.
Stories to share
Whether it’s a long winter evening spent indoors or a warm summer night winding down after a day outdoors, great stories are often best enjoyed together. Discover uplifting favourites, compelling documentaries, unforgettable stories from Down Under and thought-provoking dramas that make for perfect post-film conversations. Whether you’re watching at home alone, sharing a film with family, or recommending a hidden gem to a friend, there’s always a story waiting to be discovered.
Stream through the season
Embrace the solstice and make time for stories that matter as the seasons shift. From critically acclaimed festival favourites and cinematic classics to inspiring documentaries and contemporary discoveries, Beamafilm brings world-class storytelling directly to your screen.
So get comfortable, settle in, and let the stories begin. Happy viewing from the Beamafilm team.
Watch for FREE with a participating library card or on a 30-day trial. Also, you can rent a film for 72 hours.
Daffodils is a heart-aching drama of a quintessential New Zealand marriage, told with iconic New Zealand music
Director:
A couple in their sixties get to know one another over the course of 23 dog walks. Set against the dramatic background of the changing seasons of one year.
Director:
A former music industry mogul grieving the death of his wife retreats to an isolated lakeside home, where an unexpected friendship with two young boys helps him rediscover connection, purpose, and subtle redemption.
Director:
England 1959. In a small East Anglian town, Florence Green decides, against polite but ruthless local opposition, to open a bookshop.
Director:
A year in the garden with 90-year-old Sister Loyola Galvin.
Director:
Cast:
Eleanor Coppola's delightful romantic comedy stars Diane Lane, Arnaud Viard and Alec Baldwin as the wife of a successful movie producer who takes a car trip from Cannes to Paris with one of her husband's associates.
Director:
In this series, 18 talented Australian directors from diverse artistic disciplines each create a chapter of the hauntingly beautiful novel by multi-award-winning author Tim Winton.
Reclusive Everett Lewis hires a fragile yet determined woman named Maudie to be his housekeeper. Maudie, bright-eyed but hunched with crippled hands, yearns to create art.
Director:
In Tuscany, two women escape from a psychiatric facility and go on an adventure.
Director:
When a painting is termed blasphemous, a young minister and his wife visit the artist... and the three sexually playful models living with him.
Director:
The aristocratic sisters Charlotte and Caroline both fall in love with the controversial young writer and hothead Friedrich Schiller.
Director:
When an unknown man lays flowers on her husband's grave, Anna forms a strange bond.
Director:
Jack Willis (Hugh Jackman) is a handsome road-train driver with a secret - he has just become a top-selling romance novelist.
Director:
Filmmaker Agnes Varda was a French film director, photographer, and artist, widely considered one of the most important and influential figures in world cinema. Often described as the “Grandmother of the French New Wave, she...
Director:
Cast:
One couple's story as they try to reclaim the life and love they once knew and pick up the pieces of a past that may be too far gone.
Director:
Photographer Bill Cunningham chronicles NY's fashions.
Director:
When 16-year-old Alexis capsizes off the coast of Normandy, 18-year-old David heroically saves him. Alexis has just met the friend of his dreams, who opens his eyes to a new horizon of friendship.
Director:
Young Charmian left home for Sydney, met writer George Johnston in Melbourne. They moved to Hydra, befriending Leonard Cohen, before returning to Sydney. Her unfinished novel was set aside to help George's career.
Director:
In order to keep a promise he made to his wife, an old man and his granddaughter set off to her native village with a bird in a cage.
Director:
The story of Tracy Edwards, a 24-year-old cook on charter boats, who became the skipper of the first ever all-female crew to enter the Whitbread Round the World Race in 1989.
Director:
An aspiring singer living with his grandmother in the capital of Bhutan dreams of getting a visa to move to Australia.
Director:
When Bunny and Aila face the challenges of new motherhood, they develop a precarious friendship leading each to confront her past and come to terms with the paternity of her baby.
Chuck Chuck Baby is a film of love, loss and music set amongst the falling feathers of a chicken factory.
Director:
Love Opera showcases Brisbane's world-class Lisa Gasteen National Opera Program (LGNOP) as it prepares a production of Carmen with the Queensland Symphony Orchestra.
Director:
Cast:
A feature documentary celebrating everything great and British.
Director:
Years after meeting a jazzman in Australia, an outback trumpeter goes to Paris and meets him again.
Director:
University student Lucy agrees to work as a sleeper in Sleeping Beauty chamber, but find herself drawn into a mysterious hidden world of beauty and desire.
Director:
A tender and emotional movie about Delfin, an intrepid 11-year-old child living alone with his father in a small town in Buenos Aires who dreams of playing the French horn in a neighbouring village's orchestra.
Director:
Three sisters are reunited at their seaside family home by the disappearance of their father. Based on the award-winning play by Hannie Rayson.
Director:
1940, London, the Blitz; with the country’s morale at stake, Catrin, an untried screenwriter, and a makeshift cast and crew, work to make a film to lift the nation’s spirits – and inspire America to join the war.
Director:
Anarchic and offbeat 1960s story of 36 hours in the lives of The Beatles, as they travel to a TV show in London.
Director:
A boy and his friends run away to find a rare duck.
Director:
Two spinsters have their world shaken when a Parisian cook enters their lives.
Director:
Mike, a.k.a. Storm Boy, lives with his recluse father on South Australia's lonely and beautiful coast. Here his spirit roams with his pet pelican, Mr. Percival.
Director:
A Parisian sewer worker longs for a rise in status and a beautiful wife. He rescues a girl from the police, lives with her in a barren flat on the seventh floor, then goes to war.
Director:
A ‘cine-ramic’ roller-coaster ride through the rise, fall and re-birth of projected film.
Director:
A fearless racing driver, a visionary and brilliant engineer, Bruce McLaren was a humble New Zealander who became a Formula One superstar. He also created an enduring legacy – the McLaren motor racing brand.
Director:
Three sisters live together in Kamakura, Japan. When theirabsent father dies, they travel to the countryside for his funeral and meet their orphaned 13-year old half-sister, Suzu. Bonding quickly, they invite her to live with them.
Director: