Trilby Glover’s feature directorial debut screens tonight at Event Cinemas George Street, followed by an in-conversation event with the filmmaker.

One of the films that sent a buzz through the recent CinefestOZ program in Busselton was Trilby Glover’s All That Glisters.

Following its world premiere before a sold-out audience at the Western Australian festival, the Hollywood satire will screen in Sydney tonight as a special presentation in the Australian Women’s Film Festival’s 2026 Spotlight Series.

The 6pm screening at Event Cinemas George Street will be followed by an in-conversation event with Glover, who makes her feature debut as both writer and director.

A comedy mystery with a satirical edge, All That Glisters unfolds during a dinner party in the Hollywood Hills. A collection of aging artists and starry-eyed ingenues gather for expensive wine, professional validation and another chance at relevance.

As the evening unravels, old secrets emerge, egos collide and relationships begin to fracture. Complicating matters is the unexplained absence of their friend Henry, who may be missing, may be dead and yet somehow continues to post on Instagram.

The story draws on Glover’s own experiences at two memorable Los Angeles dinner parties.

“The film grew out of two unforgettable dinner parties I attended in Los Angeles, where secrets surfaced, ambitions collided and friendships were quietly tested,” Glover said in her filmmaker’s statement.

“I became fascinated, even a little obsessed, with the strange, funny ways people behave in pursuit of their dreams. Why do we do the things we do? What makes ambition so powerful, and sometimes so ridiculous?”

Many of those observations found their way into the film, with its ensemble of characters constructed from personalities Glover encountered around Hollywood.

As the 13 guests gather, professional anxieties quickly overwhelm any concern for their absent friend. Who is rising, who is fading and which project might come next become the most urgent questions in the room.

Although the film takes aim at Hollywood ambition, Glover said its satire is underpinned by affection for the people chasing those ambitions.

“In this sardonic, champagne-soaked portrait of Hollywood, we both satirise and feel deeply for these characters,” she said.

Glover describes the film’s increasingly unstable reality in visual terms, comparing its polished surface and underlying disorientation to the work of Belgian surrealist René Magritte.

“Something is just slightly off. Reality loosens its grip,” she said. “Like a Magritte painting, the world of the film is polished and familiar on the surface, yet quietly disorienting upon closer look.”

The production was made independently by a group of friends brought together by the desire to create something outside the traditional studio system.

“This is a true independent film, made by a group of friends driven by the urge to create something together and put a story into the world that might bring audiences a bit of joy,” Glover said.

Tonight’s conversation will give Sydney audiences an opportunity to hear more about the real encounters that inspired the film, the process of directing an ensemble around a dinner table and the challenges of bringing an independent feature to the screen.

It will also offer Glover the chance to consider the question hanging over her characters throughout the film: “Is there one more shot at relevance before the curtain drops?”

All That Glisters screens tonight, Wednesday, Sept. 23, at 6pm at Event Cinemas George Street, Sydney, as part of the Australian Women’s Film Festival Spotlight Series. The screening will be followed by an in-conversation event with Trilby Glover.