SBS welcomes Lunar New Year with vibrant content showcasing festivity flavour and family – Mark your calendars – the SBS network is spreading Lunar New Year joy in 25 languages*, with an extensive and curated selection of audio, TV and digital content across 10 weeks from 5 January to 14 March, including global titles in a free, captivating Lunar New Year collection on SBS On Demand.
SBS Managing Director, James Taylor said:
“The SBS network continues to be the Australian destination for cultural celebrations like Lunar New Year, and it’s a privilege to play a role in communicating the importance of this event celebrated by two billion people around the world, including many Australians.
“Being uniquely positioned to share cultural knowledge and promote understanding to connect all Australians, SBS has developed a diverse, multi-platform Lunar New Year content offering across 25 languages. We will also support celebrations at 24 community events right across Australia.
“2025 is a special year, with SBS marking its 50th anniversary of reflecting the real Australia and recognising the contribution of diverse cultures to the fabric of Australian society, which includes the wonderful Lunar New Year celebrations.”
To help Australians celebrate, SBS’s Lunar New Year Festival Guide will provide a comprehensive list of celebratory events including those supported by SBS. Partnering with 24 community and government organisations, SBS will be a part of celebrations across Australia including with the Cairns & District Chinese Association Inc., Chinatown Adelaide, Eastwood Koreatown, and the Vietnamese Community Association.
SBS Audio’s language programs will feature a multilingual explainer video on the significance of the Year of the Snake and a collection of childhood Lunar New Year memories, plus a range of stories which include:
• SBS Cantonese report on what you might not know about snakes, including explaining the Indigenous creation story of the Rainbow Serpent;
• SBS Filipino look at celebrations after loss with a Filipino-Chinese migrant preparing to mark her first year without her mother;
• SBS Indonesian cover the key Feng Shui elements predicted to shape the Year of the Snake;
• SBS Japanese look into how Japanese people dress to impress at new year celebrations;
• SBS Khmer speak to young Cambodian-Australians about their festive traditions;
• SBS Korean look at celebrations with elders in care;
• SBS Mandarin meet three siblings from Bendigo returning to their ancestral home in Jiangmen, Guangdong, China;
• SBS Mongolian explore how those who miss Mongolian traditions creatively adapt to keep the spirit of Lunar New Year alive;
• SBS Nepali dive into the annual festival of Nag Puja where snakes are worshipped;
• SBS Thai re-discover traditions in Australia as a Chinese-Thai; and
• SBS Vietnamese report on how two Australian-born Vietnamese people in their thirties celebrate Tet.
On SBS Audio’s SBS PopAsia, Australians can bring their Lunar New Year party to life on Wednesday 29 January with a playlist of top hits from Asia from 5pm to 10pm AEDT.
On television, SBS will be taking Australians across Asia to discover ancient civilisations and food, kicking off with Asia’s Ancient Civilisations: Kingdoms of the East (Season 1) with historian Peter Lee and Destination Flavour China (Season 1) with celebrity chef, writer and SBS broadcaster, Adam Liaw.
Explore food from a Confucian lens with Confucius Was a Foodie alongside celebrity chef Christine Cushing, and experience China’s performing arts, from virtual hologram singers to Peking Opera superstars, on China On Stage. Take in spectacular landscapes of Vietnam and Malaysia in Amazing Railway Adventures with Nick Knowles, and join beloved Australian personalities: John Safran, the late stand-up comedian Cal Wilson and SBS’s own Adam Liaw on Who The Bloody Hell Are We?
Tune into love and romance on SBS Viceland, with the cultural dating phenomenon If You Are The One (Season 15) where singles buzz-in to find love, and learn more about finding love in China in the documentary, Love and Sex in China.
See China differently through the cinematic documentary Ascension, capturing the pursuit of the “Chinese Dream” and then join Ash Dykes as he travels across one of the world’s most iconic landmarks in The Great Wall with Ash Dykes. For movie night, catch Hollywood’s The Farewell and star-studded feature films The Flowers of War and So Close.
To celebrate the arrival of the Year of the Snake, SBS World Movies is showcasing the best of Asian cinema: South Korean drama film Broker staring Kang-ho Song, best known for his leading role in Parasite; Singaporean drama Wet Season directed by award-winning director Anthony Chen; Hong Kong legal drama A Guilty Conscience which won Best Film at the Hong Kong Film Awards; and Chinese comedy-action film Too Cool to Kill. Be mesmerised by fast-moving action with the best of the best in martial arts: Dennis To in Ip Man: Kung Fu Master; Donnie Yen in Seven Swords; Jet Li in Hero; and Bruce Lee in The Big Boss.
SBS Food has a feast for the eyes and taste buds this Lunar New Year. Meet Singapore’s local hawker heroes in Food Tales, and follow two food enthusiasts as they travel through China on Foodwise, savouring iconic dishes and uncovering the cultural tapestry that binds them.
Audiences can discover the delicacies of Taiwan in Have You Eaten Yet? Tasting Taiwan with inspirational master chefs creating Taiwan’s most popular dishes. Finally, learn more about the history of the colourful, bite-sized Asian snack, kueh, with Southeast Asia on a Plate: Kueh. Follow SBS Food on social media for a tour of taste buds, guided by chefs preparing family feasts and sharing memories of Lunar New Years past.
SBS On Demand’s Lunar New Year collection celebrating the Year of the Snake will showcase films, series and documentaries from around the globe and from home, including stylish Malaysian thriller Fly By Night; Vietnamese drama Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell, winner of the prestigious Camera d’Or for best first film at the 2023 Cannes Film Festival; and every episode of much-loved SBS Original, The Family Law, following a Chinese-Australian family from Queensland, based on the life of Benjamin Law.
To help all Australians learn more about Lunar New Year, SBS’s educational arm, SBS Learn, has created free bespoke resources for teachers including a video guide on making snake-inspired fans and guiding questions for deep discussion and classroom activities available here
For all of SBS’s Lunar New Year content, visit www.sbs.com.au/lny25
Cantonese, Dzongkha, English, Filipino, French, German, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Javanese, Khmer, Korean, Malay, Mandarin, Mongolian, Nepali, Polish, Portuguese, Shanghainese, Spanish, Tagalog, Teochew, Thai, Tibetan, and Vietnamese..
Media Release – SBS
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SBS welcomes Lunar New Year with vibrant content showcasing festivity flavour and family
