The highly anticipated feature documentary Jebediah: Are We OK? is set to screen in cinemas nationwide in October. Distributed across Australia and New Zealand by Madman Entertainment, the national theatrical release will be accompanied by a special series of Q&A event screenings featuring members of the band and the filmmakers. Tickets for the Q&A sessions are on sale now.
Q&A with Kevin Mitchell after screening dates
Fresh from its selection for the Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) 2026 Premiere Fund, Jebediah: Are We OK? goes behind the songs and the mythology to spend time with the four people who have been making music together since they were teenagers.
Formed in suburban Perth in 1994, Kevin Mitchell, Chris Daymond, Vanessa Thornton and Brett Mitchell went from playing in school bands to national stardom with their double-platinum debut Slightly Odway. Thirty years later, they’re still making records, still playing together and still working out how to balance the band with the lives they’ve built beyond it.
Crafted over eleven years by Victorian writer-director Arlo Dean Cook and produced by Western Australian producer Brooke Tia Silcox (Rockabul, Meal Tickets) of No Thing Productions, the 89-minute film combines thirty years of unseen personal archives and home videos with intimate present-day access. What emerges is a story about friendship, creativity and the strange, complicated business of growing up without growing apart.
The release will be celebrated with an exclusive national Q&A Tour, bringing the band and creative team directly to fans in cinemas across the country.
Watch the trailer here:
JEBEDIAH: ARE WE OKAY?
NATIONAL Q&A TOUR DATES
Tickets on sale now
WESTERN AUSTRALIA (Full Band + Filmmakers in Attendance)
Friday, 2 October – 6:45 PM
Luna Leederville (Perth)
Q&A with Jebediah, Arlo Dean Cook & Brooke Silcox
Saturday, 3 October – 4:00 PM
Luna SX (Fremantle)
Q&A with Jebediah, Arlo Dean Cook & Brooke Silcox
SOUTH AUSTRALIAFriday, 9 October – 6:30 PM
Palace Nova Eastend
Q&A with Kevin Mitchell & Arlo Dean Cook
QUEENSLAND
Saturday, 10 October – 6:30 PM
New Farm Cinemas (Brisbane)
Q&A with Kevin Mitchell & Arlo Dean Cook
NEW SOUTH WALESSunday, 11 October – 3:00 PM
Ritz Cinemas (Sydney)
Q&A with Kevin Mitchell & Arlo Dean Cook
hosted by Richard Kingsmill
Saturday, 17 October – 6.30PM
Tower Cinemas (Newcastle)
Q&A with Vanessa Thornton & Arlo Dean Cook
VICTORIATuesday, 13 October – 6:30 PM
Cinema Nova (Melbourne)
Q&A with Kevin Mitchell & Arlo Dean Cook
Wednesday, 14 October – 6:30 PM
Sun Theatre (Yarraville)
Q&A with Kevin Mitchell & Arlo Dean Cook
Thursday, 15 October – 6:30 PM
Kino Cinemas (Melbourne)
Q&A with Director Arlo Dean Cook
Sunday, 18 October- 6.30 PM
The Corner Hotel (Melbourne)
30th Anniversary Special Q&A Event
with Vanessa Thornton & Arlo Dean Cook
hosted by Jane Gazzo and Dylan Lewis
Monday, 19 October – 6:30 PM
Elsternwick (Melbourne)
Q&A with Director Arlo Dean Cook
General national release sessions across Dendy Cinemas and independent sites nationwide will be announced soon.
Q&A with Kevin Mitchell
Regional tours – how is a regional tour different now vs when you went out for Odway 30 years ago?
My memories of regional touring 30 years ago are somewhat fuzzy but I mostly recall the shows being pretty wild and loose and the audiences turning up for a good time and I don’t think too much has changed there. Really, our audiences everywhere are pretty similar in a great way but if I had to distinguish regional crowds from city ones I would say that maybe they go a little harder. I don’t know if it’s the tropical air up in North Queensland or because bands don’t always come to the regions but people get rowdy.
What has been your favourite regional gig or venue?
I love Cairns and Darwin, just because they are the furthest North we have played and you really feel like you are far away from home, which gives the touring experience a little extra spice. It feels like you are on a holiday with a gig thrown in. There’s an atmosphere among the touring group that gets a bit more relaxed and jovial. We might be more inclined to order a cocktail or an expensive seafood dish cos, what the hell, y’know, we’re so far away from home! Let’s live a little!
In all this time, there has not been a line-up change in Jebediah in 30 years – how do you keep this band so ‘harmonious’?
I’m sure we have all had our moments where we have questioned things or been unsure about the band’s future but we keep hanging in there I think because it’s still fun and we have a good time together most of the time. Playing in Jebediah still throws up so many opportunities to have a bit of fun. I think we would all miss it alot if it were to end. So perhaps the secret to keeping it harmonious is just an appreciation for how lucky we are. Also the band feels like a family, which means it’s not harmonious all the time but we all love each other at the end of the day.
When you go off and have your “hiatus” time, what does everyone get up to? We all know about Kevin’s Bob Evans project, does everyone else have projects (and to that, alternate personas)?
I can’t speak for the others…but I will. Ness retires to her off grid property deep in the forests of Southern W.A, where she spends her days foraging for nuts and berries and her evenings weaving tapestries by soft candlelight. Brett is a motorsport enthusiast, so when not drumming you will find him tinkering with hot rods and competing in demolition derbies down at the local speedway. Chris flies to Peru at every opportunity to take part in spiritual ceremonies with local medicine men and is busy writing his first novel, a treatise on the relationship between modern ethics and ancient wisdom.
OIKS was your last new material in 2024, is there anymore new stuff coming up? Can we expect any tests of new material out in the regional shows?
No.
Are there any songs that are in the set, that the band would like to NOT play, but you leave in because the audience love them?
Haha. That’s a great question that I don’t think I’ve ever been asked! There are plenty of songs that we are bored of rehearsing cos we’ve played them a million times but that we still love to play live. A song like ‘Teflon’, which doesn’t necessarily get played every show but still gets played a lot, is probably the closest example of a song that I don’t really play for my own personal satisfaction but it’s still fun at a show and people still seem to like it. It can feel a little ridiculous at almost 50 to sing a song like that but then, this whole rock and roll game in its entirety can often feel a bit ridiculous. We lean into it. I don’t know how bands that take themselves too seriously survive to be honest.
We will always play songs that we think the audience wants to hear, I have never had a problem with that. Some bands have a bad relationship with their own most popular songs, perhaps because they feel they have outgrown them or are embarrassed by them. I’ve never felt that way. If the audience loves a song then I think it’s kind of our job to play it cos at the end of the night we want people to have had the best time possible.
