390 Matches Found
Scripted by four of Australia’s greatest authors (David Williamson, Thomas Keneally, Hal Porter and Craig McGregor), this quartet of carnal desires explores adultery and jealous fantasies, the end of innocence, the moral and spiritual conflicts of a priest and a nun in love. The stories define the exploration of women and the cultural upheaval of the early 70s.
Produced for the Adults Learning series, this short film uses a conversation between a potential university dropout, a friend, and an observer to examine adult learning in the context of management–staff relations.
Bert Deling's surreal, button-pushing and hallucinogenic paean to the emerging possibilities of avant-garde and homemade filmmaking. Telling the tale of a violent ex-cop searching for the man who killed his partner, the film takes an unexpected turn when he encounters drug lord Plastic Man and a tribe of LSD enthusiasts. What follows is both literal and metaphorical mayhem as the boundaries of the film start collapsing and our idea of what's real is pushed to its very limits.
An anthropological documentary about the people of the Trobriand Islands and their unique innovations to the game of cricket.
A young girl who has just spent an afternoon playing tennis and making love with a man, gets accidentally run off the road by a truck. Ending up on a dead-end dirt road, her car gets stuck in a ditch, where she starts getting terrorized by a drooling, gibbering psycho, who also has a colony of rats.
Four young heroin addicts scour the streets of Melbourne in search of some good-quality narcotics – or as they call it, 'pure shit’. In the space of 48 hours, a friend dies of an overdose, they are ripped off by criminals and arrested and assaulted by police. They bungle a break-in, get chased by hooligans and one is sent to a methadone clinic. The search for drugs veers between farce and tragedy, but it never stops.
Produced for the Adults Learning series, this short film presents a training session in which adults are introduced to punch card systems, exploring their apprehension and adjustment to emerging computer technology.
A disturbing drama about a young mother who physically abuses her baby. Feeling overwhelmed and aware that she's not coping after the birth of her third child, she sends desperate cries for help. But her mother, husband, neighbour and clinic sister do not recognise the seriousness of the situation until the baby ends up in hospital with a fractured skull. A heart-wrenching film that illustrates the experiences of many women who suffer from post-natal depression.
Tony is released from prison and goes in search of what once was happiness: Anna. He hits the road hoping to find her and makes a friend along the way.
A journey by lugger along the north-west coast and by 4WD vehicle into the rugged Kimberley. A classic adventure showing pearling, fishing, tribal Aborigines and the rugged wilderness of the north-west coast.
Barry McKenzie's Aunt Edna is kidnapped by Count Von Plasma, the vampire head of an isolated Eastern European dictatorship who mistakes her for the Queen of England and thinks that kidnapping her will draw tourists to his country. Barry and his mates set out to rescue her and bring her back to Australia.
A rapid montage of stills giving impressions of New Guinea before and during the Second World War.
A group of aliens plans to invade Australia as a means of taking over the Earth. In order to communicate with the people of Earth, they bring a statue of the long-dead Duke of Edinburgh to life.
Two brothers working as news cameramen for competing companies in '50s Australia find their lives dramatically affected by the constantly changing times in which they live.
Max Foster (Carl Betz), an American newspaper reporter, is in Hong Kong to assist a defecting Russian diplomat. In return for arranging an escape, the diplomat must turn over to Foster a diary revealing the true events taking place in China. While making his escape, the defector is killed ant the diary vanishes. The reporter sets off on a search for it, from Hong Kong to Australia. The chase ends in an action-filled climax, with the journalist finally meeting up with "That Lady from Peking" (Nancy Kwan) - the diplomat's daughter.
A drama about a group of people stranded at an old wartime guesthouse during a flood. One guest announces that he has the power to "decreate" people and is asked to demonstrate. From an original story by Harry Farjeon.
Dimboola follows the interaction of various characters at a country wedding reception.
This short documentary showcases three Australian music acts—Wendy Saddington and Teardrop, the Captain Matchbox Whoopee Band, and the Indelible Murtceps—each performing live as examples of distinct directions in the country’s early 1970s pop scene.
Judy, a young woman living in a provincial town, spends her final weeks at home preparing to move to the city in search of new opportunities. As she interacts with her family, coworkers, and boyfriend, differing expectations and perspectives reveal the challenges surrounding her decision. (Note: This film is one segment of the anthology feature "Three to Go" (1971).)
In the tradition of Sunday Too Far Away, this independent film is based on the classic Australian play by John Power. Pic tells the story of a group of miners living in a camp in outback Australia. They swear, brawl, gamble, and drink heavily. Central to the story is the conflict between Tarzan, the authoritarian group leader and cocky loud-mouth wisecracking Pansy. This results in a bare-knuckle punch-up for the movie's denouement.
Static images of an old country house are combined with voices of the past to evocative effect. Haunting and nostalgic, ‘Return’ conveys the life that exists in old, abandoned places.
In the 1870s, the colonial administrator hires bounty hunter Palmer and gun salesman Ben to wipe out an army of Irish Catholic revolutionaries in their stronghold. Palmer and Ben recruit three gun men to help them and their mission is successful but when they go to get their payment they are trapped by treacherous officials. Ben and Palmer must fight their way to safety.
Broke and homeless Australian teenagers in love.
"An exploration of a specific area of space and time. The space: 360 degrees of action at a traffic intersection, and the time: the period of waiting before the lights change - the illusion that time is running slower than normally." - Cantrill's Film Notes 1971.
In a small Japanese town, Ko-Ko is appointed to the unenviable position of executioner. Knowing he must successfully perform before the appearance of the Mikado in a month's time, Ko-Ko finds a suitable victim in Nanki-Poo, who is distraught over his unrequited love for the maiden Yum-Yum. Nanki-Poo agrees to sacrifice his life if he is allowed to spend his remaining days with Yum-Yum, who is betrothed to Ko-Ko.
Paul Lawrence is a working class man who dates Cara, sells shirts at a Sydney department store, and dreams of attending art school. Cara leaves for London and Paul becomes the protege of designer Marie Rosefield. Through this he enters the 'set', the world of Sydney art society. Rosefield is friends with Mark Broniski, an artist who commissions Paul to design a set for British stage director, John L. Fredericks. Paul is helped by art student Tony Brown, who is dating Paul's cousin, Kim Sylvester. Paul and Tony begin a homosexual affair. Kim's mother Peggy has an affair with Boronoski.
Stork is a gangly young man, a virgin with an overactive imagination who thinks he’s a revolutionary. Bored with a design job at General Motors Holden in Melbourne, he drops out and moves into a share house with his mate Westy. He daydreams his way through life, bungling job interviews, upsetting ‘respectable’ people, and getting drunk. The only girl in the house, Anna resists Stork’s advances, because she’s already involved with the other two resident males, Tony and Clyde. But when she becomes pregnant and Clyde and Anna decide to marry, Stork, Tony, Clyde and Westy are shocked when they realize that either one of the foursome could be the father. Then the fun begins....
An American military man moves his family to Australia to undergo training in submarine warfare, providing new challenges for his wife and their developmentally disabled son.
Why is everyone out to sabotage him? Cliff Rowan has been hired to recover a stolen payroll hidden in the rugged Australian hills and mountains near his boyhood town. But instead of a warm welcome and helping hand, his former sweatheart, his old school friends, and in fact, practically the whole town...want him out! When his friend, Riley, is needlessly killed, Cliff realizes the buried strongbox holds more than cold cash. The mystery unfolds.
A light-hearted, but pointed examination of Australia's most eccentric soap-box orator John Webster. Webster draws the large crowds to the Sydney Domain (Australia) and to Hyde Park, London (Great Britain), where he speaks during his annual trip to the continent. He is so outrageous that even the Police laugh.
Claustrophobic drama sent in the summer of 1973 against the backdrop of day-to-day social and political turmoil including the sacking of the Whitlam government. Two people meet: the gap between their intellectual and emotional response widens as their relationship develops.
Tells the story of how the famous Christmas carol Silent Night was written.
A classic Australian underground comedy in which a group of people fight over how to make the truly collective/revolutionary/existential movie. Original intentions get sidetracked but all attempts to set things straight result in yet another, but strangely similar, script. Cast includes: John Flaus, Peggy Cole.
About a cannery in Brisbane, this story of the first day of the rest of Daphne's life exposes the working conditions of migrant women.
A series of surreal short scenes portraying a suburban family and their everyday rituals.
With a group of Kukadja men, Malcolm travels into the remote Great Sandy Desert of Western Australia. The desert tribesmen teach him their skills of survival, hunting and collecting. The amazing wildlife in the film includes rare footage of the tiny marsupial mole.
In 1194 England, it is a time of rebellion as King Richard is away fighting in the Crusades, and his evil brother Prince John has employed the malicious Sheriff of Nottingham to take advantage of the people. It is up to Robin Hood and his Merry Men, Little John, Will Scarlett, and Friar Tuck, as they take on the scheming Sheriff in their defense of the poor and powerless.
This anthology film brings together three stories—"Michael", "Judy", and "Toula"—each centered on a young Australian confronting personal and social choices about their future. Produced by the Commonwealth Film Unit, the film explores themes of identity, independence, and cultural tension through distinct perspectives from directors Brian Hannant, Oliver Howes, and Peter Weir.
Suburban Australia in the late 70s. It was the era of the drive-in movie, the Chico Roll girl and the beloved FJ Holden. Boasting drunken fist fights, back seat sex, illegal drag racing, a classic Oz rock soundtrack (featuring Ol'55, Skyhooks and Renee Geyer) and the screen debut of future star Sigrid Thornton. THE FJ HOLDEN forged a strong connection with 70s mainstream youth audiences and today
Following the instructions on a mysterious parchment, Prof. Lindenbrock and his companion, Alex, discover and explore the center of the Earth, a mysterious place full of dangerous electrical storms, prehistoric reptiles and swamp monsters. Based on author Jules Verne's fantasy novel, this animated adventure follows the explorers' struggles to survive and prove their findings to the rest of the world.
"The infamous Finks bikie gang caught off-guard as they shoot their latest 8mm movie epic: the story of a bikie and hillbilly showdown. " - Filmmakers Co-operatives Catalogue of Independent Film 1975/6
Unmarried, beautiful and talented, Melanie Hilton discovers she is pregnant. The editor of a woman's magazine, she decides to have her baby and take leave from her job. Caught between her ex-lover and a colleague who wants to marry her, Melanie must find a solution or an alternative to her problem. When she falls in love with a woman, she questions the value of the traditional value unit.
Clyde is a typical junior clerk in a public service office. He watches the budding friendship between two co-workers and he turns it into the permanent office joke. At the same time he plays out his own neurotic relationship with a bored and frustrated secretary. The cruel mass victimisation of the young lovers is carried to the annual office picnic. Office tensions are changed by the unfamiliar surroundings where the disappearance of the two lovers forces Clyde to re-examine his own shallow emotional development.
"The beautiful pulsating winter sun discovered by a single frame camera." - Filmmakers Co-operatives Catalogue of Independent Film.
A singing mechanic from 1912 finds himself in Arthurian Britain.
Proud and classy Caddie Marsh is forced to get a job as a barmaid and raise two children on her own after her husband walks out on her.
An exotic world of eroticism, witchcraft, masochism and strange secret places.
Cathy Baikas is a woman of Greek heritage who lives in Sydney, Australia with her three-year-old daughter. When her daughter's father kidnaps the child and takes her back to Greece, Cathy discovers the authorities can do little to help her. She turns to the media. The editor of a major daily newspaper proves sympathetic to Cathy's problem and begins giving her case press coverage. The film is based on a true story.
Documents Independence Day of Papua New Guinea on September 16, 1975, comparing the pageantry of local celebrations with the official ceremony in the capital. Also provides historical background about the area's 19th-century colonization by Holland, Germany, and Great Britain.
1972 animated adaptation of the classic Mark Twain tale
Nine women convicts escape from a prison hell-hole and dare to create a savage world free of man.
Marco, a descendant of Marco Polo, journeys to the mythical kingdom of Xanadu to assist Princess Shining Moon in defeating the evil magician, the Red Dragon.
Australian Short Film directed by Ian Stocks
An ex-pro athlete runner and his wife find a strange boy in the middle of nowhere along with a murdered couple. He runs to a nearby town for help while she keeps the boy company. Meanwhile, escaped convicts are heading to their location.
The Stuntmen is a one-hour documentary for Australian TV written and directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith. It was through this movie that Trenchard-Smith met Grant Page, who he put under a five-year contract and featured in a number of movies. The film also acted as a "calling card" which enabled the director to get finance for The Man from Hong Kong (1975).
When greed threatens the livelihood of an Italian monastery, a monk flees with the formula for their special liquor.
Torn by the conflict between society and her own life, as well as her failing marriage and love for another woman, Cass desperately tried to pull together the pieces of her shattered life.
In 1917 rural New South Wales, a young boy with polio struggles to break free of his overprotective mother.