Discover Movies

698 Matches Found

The Human Face of the Pacific. A Place of Power in French Polynesia

A Tahiti is a rugged, forest-clad South Pacific island, surrounded by coral reefs. Its traditional Polynesian way of life has been swamped over the years by foreign influences, particularly that of France. However, the long-awaited re-emergence of traditional culture is the focus of this documentary. We look at some of the people responsible for the cultural revival and their arts including the building of a double hulled canoe, the art of full body tattooing and the fierce dance competitions at the high point of celebration of Polynesian culture, the Tiurai Festival.

The Human Face of the Pacific. A Place of Power in French Polynesia

NR 1983
Australian Bush

“When you walk through the Bush, you hardly ever see any animals—they tend to take cover long before you actually come anywhere near them. Like a lizard, or a wallaby, which sees you and disappears. So I decided to make a film where I’d insert them… from photographs…into footage of the Bush. To make this work physically and filmically I had to invent and construct my matte-box image shifter. I wanted the animals, the sentinels of the Bush, to appear and disappear…the Bush to be living and moving. With the image shifter I matted them in and matted them out…what they now call ‘morphing’. This film was very popular with people who didn’t know much about avant-garde film—it was easy to watch, and they could get a lot of information about the type of flora and fauna in this country.” (Paul Winkler)

Australian Bush

NR 1986
Celso and Cora

A documentary of a young couple and their two children living in a squatter settlement in the Philippine capital, Manila. Rather than just a report on poverty, this is a universal story of people experiencing everyday events with a mixture of humor, irritation, weariness, and courage. Cora and Celso make a living selling cigarettes at night outside a downtown hotel in defiance of City regulations. The film follows their lives over a three-month period, beginning with Cora's attempt to find a new room for the family after they have been evicted from their previous home. Later, Celso and Cora face a crisis in their own relationship aggravated by the stresses of their daily life.

Celso and Cora

NR 1983
Traces

“Some had given me an iris—a little gadget which opens and closes—they were used a lot in silent movies to indicate the beginning or end of a scene. And that got me thinking about how we actually see, and how, though we barely notice it, every time we blink our own irises close down to black, and then open up again. Black and image. Black and image. I wanted to do something with time…with time as an iris closes and an iris opens. The name Traces refers to the traces we leave in time as, say, we walk across footpath, or traces on buildings, paint peeling off, or windows being dirty and being cleaned again…everything to do with time lagging. To show traces within traces within traces I put irises in many parts of the frame.” (Paul Winkler)

Traces

NR 1982
Man Into Woman: The Transsexual Experience

The first documentary about Australian trans lives. Given only a limited release in 1983, it has rarely been shown since. Filmed in Sydney in 1981, the film unusually seeks to provide a voice for trans women and men of the time, in contrast with the sensational viewpoints that were a feature of most reportage of the period. Man into Woman features eight interviews with trans women and men, interspersed with the views of ‘authority’ represented by figures like the then Attorney-General of NSW Frank Walker. The film was a turning point in the Australian media for understanding the complexity and diversity of the trans experience.

Man Into Woman: The Transsexual Experience

NR 1983
Philippines, My Philippines

Philippines my Philippines (1989) is a feature length documentary about the situation in the Philippines two years after the notionally democratic Cory Aquino replaced the dictator Ferdinand Marcos in the ‘People Power’ revolution of 1986. Touching on the influence and interests of the United States and Australia, it examines the social context and dimensions of the violent conflict between government and big business on one hand and the rural and urban poor (led by the Communist Party of the Philippines and its New People Army) on the other.

Philippines, My Philippines

1.0 1989
Facades

“I was interested in how people behave at street crossings… particularly at ‘Walk’ and ‘Don’t Walk’ signs. With a 200mm lens I shot stills of people at traffic lights and pedestrian crossings. The look was flat and harsh. Again I used the matte-box image shifter, to create motion where there was no motion…to create a tension. I wanted to show the frustration you sometimes feel when the damn light doesn’t change. You stand there…in your mind you’re already moving…but you can’t move.” (Paul Winkler)

Facades

NR 1987
The Human Face of the Pacific: Fiji. Legacies of Empire

People whose family originated in India comprise just over half of Fiji’s population. Indians came to Fiji in colonial times under an indentured labour system to work in the sugar cane fields. Some indigenous Fijians wish to repossess the land now worked by the Indians and this results in Indians feeling insecure about their livelihood. The film looks at the life of Bechu Prasad, an old Indian man, who has lived in Fiji all his life in a large extended family of which he is now head. We watch him at work on his self-owned sugar cane farm and in his position as well-respected community leader who gets on well with both Indian and indigenous Fijians.

The Human Face of the Pacific: Fiji. Legacies of Empire

NR 1983