Tina Arena documentary tracks the making of her National Portrait Gallery commission by Georges Antoni

‘Tina Arena: Unravel Me’, a documentary that follows the making of Tina Arena’s National Portrait Gallery commission, had its world premiere at the Melbourne International Film Festival on Wednesday 12 August 2026 at The Astor Theatre, with Arena and writer-producer Jessica Carrera in attendance. Directed by Adrian Russell Wills, the 90-minute Australian film screens in further MIFF metropolitan and regional sessions through Sunday 23 August before opening in cinemas nationwide from 27 August.

The portrait at the centre of the film is ‘Tina’, 2025, a diptych by fashion photographer Georges Antoni, commissioned by the National Portrait Gallery in Canberra to mark 50 years of Arena’s career. It is currently on view at the Gallery, free and without bookings. Director Bree Pickering said the diptych captures Arena’s artistry and heritage as well as her presence as a performer, and that the work will hold the legacy of an extraordinary Australian in the National Portrait Collection. The commission was made with funds provided by lead donor Sam Meers AO and with major support from Ros Murphy.

MIFF describes the film as unravelling Arena’s private self in candid conversation, tracing her path from Young Talent Time in 1976, aged eight, through 25 albums and reinvention in the United Kingdom and France, singing in Italian, French and Spanish. New and archival interviews include her two sisters, her mentor Johnny Young, and collaborators and admirers among them Céline Dion, Marc Anthony, Ronan Keating, Jessica Mauboy, and Jessica and Lisa Origliasso of The Veronicas. The film sits in the festival’s Music on Film strand.

The Gallery has also published a recording of Arena in conversation with Antoni about the commission, alongside a magazine article on the project. The portrait remains on display in Canberra with no announced closing date.