Richard Feidler

They'd amuse themselves by whistling these merry and jaunty little tunes.

And it made them seem younger and approachable.

People don't whistle so much these days, but Molly Lewis does.

Molly's an Australian-American who whistles her own tunes.

They're gorgeous and cinematic and lush and a little eerie.

They're both weirdly comforting and unsettling at the same time.

Molly's music lands on your ears like something between Birdsong and the soundtrack to an impossible film noir movie.

Molly Lewis has collaborated with musicians as diverse as Dr. Dre and Karen Oh and many others.

She's performed all over the world and she even whistles a little Billie Eilish tune in the Barbie movie.

Molly released her debut full-length album On The Lips in 2024 and she's now at the centre of a new documentary playing at the Sydney Film Festival called Whistle, which follows a group of whistlers from all over the world as they prepare and perform at the Masters of Musical Whistling competition.

Hello, Molly.

There's a lovely moment at the start of that movie, at the documentary, where you're just whistling in your apartment in Los Angeles and you wander out into the balcony late afternoon.

There's something really romantic about this.

And there's a guy walking past and he goes, oh, are you Molly the Whistler?

And it seems like a little magical moment.

How pleased were you for that to happen?

People used to whistle all the time, like I say.

They don't whistle so much anymore.

Do you have a theory on why that is?

You have a distinct style and, like I say, it felt like the soundtrack to a kind of luminous old Hollywood movie.