Phoenix – Long distance call – A Take Away Show from La Blogotheque on Vimeo.

If I had any teensy powers of resistance left to Phoenix’s insanely infectious pop candy (and who am I kidding, I didn’t have much), it melted into the Seine once and for all after seeing their Takeaway Show. The premise is pretty perfect – amazing musicians play great locations, are captured in super cute lo-fi films!

Since their first foray in 2006, Vincent Moon’s Takeaway Shows have consistently made me feel like it’s summer time, and I’m driving up to some beach house in Byron with a bunch of friends, pear ciders and Polaroid cameras.

The thought of seeing some of the best Takeaways out in the real world (as opposed to the Internet, y’know), on a big screen, nursing a glass of red wine is prettttty darn appealing, right?

Well, thank your lucky stars! This Monday, non-fiction film collective Don’t You Have Headphones is bringing their short doco screening night to Sydney, kicking off at FBi Social with Don’t You Have Docs and the Takeaway Shows! So fuck pear cider. Who needs a beach house? Hit up the Cross and get your fill of sunshine and warmth from the eleven gems Don’t You Have Docs have got in store for us.

I caught up with filmmaker and Don’t You Have Docs curator James Arneman about the night.

FBi: Could you tell me a bit about the Don’t You Have Docs nights? How did they get started?

James Arneman: Some friends and I were bitching and moaning about how short docos have such limited screening opportunities. Being documentary filmmakers ourselves we thought about what sort of environment we'd like to screen our films in and bingo, the Don't You Have Docs? format was born. We decided to start curating a monthly program of short docos that is accessible online and also has a physical screening which can take place in as many cities around the world as there are willing facilitators. So far its only Melbourne, Sydney and Perth but we are hoping for some international screenings to kick off in the coming months.

What can we expect for the first at FBI social?

The May program is a retrospective of sorts, focusing on one of my favourite video blogs from the past few years – The Takeaway Shows. It's a series where various bands and artists perform in unorthodox spaces captured by a single camera, usually in one take. Its spontaneous, lo-fi and darn entertaining. I've programmed a bunch of the Takeaway Shows together to give a sense of what this format has explored over its 5 years of existence, so it includes a mixture of some marquee indie artists and some interesting lesser known ones too. It's very celebratory and sorta makes you want to go out into the street and have a sing-a-long afterwards.

I love the takeaway shows. What do you think it is about them that's captured peoples imaginations? The intimacy? The DIY aesthetic?

I think its a combination of all those things, the Tak