144 Matches Found
This documentary chronicles Australia's early scientific expeditions to Antarctica between 1911 and 1954. It features rare historical footage captured by legendary explorer Frank Hurley during the 1911 Aurora voyage. The film highlights the massive challenges faced by pioneers establishing the continent's first permanent research stations.
An elderly artist thinks he has become too stale and is past his prime. His friend (and agent) persuades him to go to an offshore island to try once more. On the island he re-discovers his muse in the form of a young girl.
Shows new methods in treating those afflicted with mental health issues. Contrasts past treatment regimes where people were locked away out of sight with the new, 1960s, psychiatric ideas of "group therapy" and talking therapy. Also shows practical behaviours aimed at returning patients to productive lives in society and outpatient services.
A young man named Phillip finds himself in a purgatory reality that's littered with clues of his past life. From the discovery of his own corpse to the mysterious connection with a woman scheduled for an abortion, Phillip slowly reveals this doomed fate by his own hands.
The road through the wood is said to be haunted; but are the ghosts from the past or the future?
Shot with a big cowboy nod to the Western genre, this road safety film shows the danger of speeding on an unknown country road at night.
An Italian sports journalist arrives in Australia but finds no work. The only employment he can find is as a builder's labourer. At first, he cannot comprehend the culture, but eventually he finds mateship and romance.
Albie Thoms' Marinetti was the culmination of the synthetic environments that the UBU group had pioneered in Australia; festive public 'happenings' that combined the energy and volume of creative rock and jazz with the mesmeric effect of multi-dimensional lightshows. Another kind of culmination: Marinetti records most of the principal collaborators in the UBU film group, like Aggy Read and the Perrys. Uniquely valuable as a document of Australia's late 1960s counter-culture, the soundtrack provides the best indication of the unrestrained liberty that bands like Tully and the John Sangster Underground band some of whose members perform on this recording were famously achieving in their improvisations of the period.
When the clubhouse of a group of country kids, known as the "Terrible ten" needs money for funding they invent numerous ways to make money. During their attempts at making puddings and selling mineral water they stumble on a formula for breeding coloured sheep.
Frankie McCoy (Ken Shorter) is a born loser from the Sydney suburb of Newtown, and a gambler and a bit of an SP bookie. When he's conscripted into the army to fight in the Vietnam war, he deserts, but in pursuit of money, he falls into debt with SP bookies at the local pub. This film, shot at Kapooka camp, contains one of the only depictions in Australian cinema of soldiers training for Vietnam.
A mood piece involving two lesbian lovers and a disturbed young man contemplating suicide.
A German professor un-nerves the residents when he claims to have been in a small Yorkshire moors inn sometime previously.
Skippy and the Intruders (also known as The Intruders) is a 1969 Australian film directed by Lee Robinson, and is a spin-off of the popular Skippy the Bush Kangaroo TV series. A gang of criminals led by Meredith is looking for sunken treasure off Mallacoota, pretending to be diving for abalone. Sonny, son of Matt Hammond, the Chief Ranger of Waratah National Park, investigates with their family friend, Clancy. Sonny and Clancy are kidnapped. Skippy comes to the rescue. After a speedboat chase and a fight in the sand dunes, Meredith is captured.
A detailed historical account of the major campaigns fought by Australian and New Zealand forces during the First World War. Compiled from the archives of the Australian War Memorial, this film utilizes rare battlefield footage from the Middle East and Europe to trace the journey of the ANZAC troops from their initial departure to the frontline conflicts in Egypt, the Somme, and Cambrai.
A montage of a Nigerian athletics meeting cut to music by Okoli Obazo
A killer on the run is found lying flat on his face in a wet clay bank. He is rescued by potters who shelter him within their community. There he falls in love with a woman. Unfortunately, another man who has been calling upon the woman gets jealous and turns the fugitive in to the cops. The woman gets revenge.
This Australian television musical follows Mr. Maloon, a traveler on a heavily laden green bicycle, as he passes through a series of stylized communities, encountering the mayors of three distinct worlds—mediaeval, futuristic, and 1930s-inspired—whose lives are unsettled by his presence.
Part 1 of the History of Australian Cinema series. Australian cinema from the very beginning, from the newsreels, ethnographic and actuality films, to the controversy of "The Story of the Kelly Gang" and the success of "The Sentimental Bloke".
An American brother and sister move to Australia to manage a cattle station, but the brother's racist attitude causes problems. After hearing a message by evangelist Billy Graham on the radio though, he has a change of heart and learns to accept the Aboriginal people.
Short film is based on the ballet 'Les Fausses Sceptiques' by the French film scenarist and surrealist poet Jacques Prevert
A man discovers that he has been deliberately poisoned and hasn't long to live. In the short time he has left, he determines to find out who poisoned him and why. Remake of the 1950 film noir classic, D.O.A.
Set in 1901, the film follows the progress of Constable Peterson (Matthaei) on his quest to bring an Aboriginal man (Kamahl) to justice under the White Man's law. Having heard of a killing that took place under tribal law, Peterson embarks on a mission to arrest the accused man with the help of Black Tracker Jubbal (Devereaux) and bring him back to Melbourne for trial. It is a journey of discovery for both Peterson and Jubbal. Jubbal finds himself caught between black and white society, eventually dying following a curse placed on him during a traditional bone pointing ceremony. Peterson is left to try take the prisoner back to Melbourne alone, but cannot negotiate the pitfalls of the desert without the help of his prisoner. During the latter stages of his return, Peterson begins to understand the folly of his mission, releasing the Aboriginal man to return to his people. Finally, the metaphorical journey out of darkness is the one made by Peterson.
David Low's classic narration says it all: King Cross is a "glittering mile of dreams, delusions, hopes and headaches, where life comes out of an espresso machine and you can have it any way you like it."
On Christmas Eve, an old miser named Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by the spirit of his former partner, Jacob Marley.
In What's On The Flipside, filmmakers Peter Clifton and Chris McCullough take on the 60s cultural phenomenon of music through renowned Sydney radio disc jockey of the time Ward 'Pally' Austin. Featuring interviews and on-the-job footage, as Austin spins vinyl and spends time with international sensation The Rolling Stones on their 1966 Aussie tour, as well as The Searchers, local legend Normie Rowe and promoter Harry M. Miller, What's On The Flipside is a fascinating and rare insight into the Australian music scene during the 1960s.
A documentary about the making of the film "They're a Weird Mob", a movie about an Italian adjusting to life in Australia.
A colorful account of Nigeria's brilliantly painted buses with their biblical names, edited to the beat of Nigerian rock and roll.
An evil scientist, Parta Beno, who has been found guilty of imprisoning and reducing in size inhabitants of various planets. As punishment he is exiled to a remote asteroid, with the only amenities being a crude laboratory. All the specimens that Parta Beno collected were sent back to their home worlds by the World Council, except those few that the Council had no knowledge of, let alone any idea about the planets from whence they came. The hand-picked crew of 'The Interpretaris' were given the mission of returning these aliens to their home planets.
An advertising film with a difference: Into a strange computerised future where women “run things” by controlling huge colourful computers that go bleep booble bob bob ping etc, comes Yockoo, the boy from the bush, with his satchel of dried fruits. Slowly the women overcome their cold, futuristic ways in light of Yockoo’s size, shape and overall manliness. Eventually they unearth their deep feminine sexuality and cook Yockoo a feast of dried fruit dishes using cooking utensils from their local museum.
A small city in the tropical north of Queensland, Cairns boasts a life that is leisurely and comfortable. The tempo quickens, however, at cane-cutting time when the sugar is harvested, and in winter when tourists come north to escape the cold. The Life In Australia series portrays Australian cities and rural centres as happy, lively places where good homes, abundant jobs, schools, hospitals and amenities provide the foundation for a relaxed lifestyle where sport, shopping, religion and even art combine to create a homogenous and prosperous society.
This short opens with a confrontation between a Customs officer and Melbourne actress Robin Bryning naked in a tin trunk.
An early short film directed by Peter Weir, known through archival records.
Documentary following the 1964 groundbreaking Beatles tour of Australia.
A ballet based on the Edgar Allen Poe story. A woman murders an old man and is haunted by the sound of his heart.
In a dry unforgiving part of Australia, a man and his wife have set up home and live stock to make their living. Just when it seemed the drought and lack of finances were getting to be too much, things change: BP is looking for a suitable area to attempt the world land speed record.
Herman's Hermits perform nine songs in a televised concert at the GTV-9 studio, sponsored by the Hilton Hosiery company.
A series of Resnais-like tracking shots are interspersed with candid interviews with “freshers” by Maudson and co-writer Robin Laurie.
This film shows an idyllic picture of life in the Victorian capital of Melbourne in the mid 1960s.
Cameras from the Australian Channel 9 recorded the sixth and final show of the Melbourne leg of The Beatles' world tour on 17 June 1964. It was screened on 1 July 1964 as an hour-long special, The Beatles Sing For Shell, named after the oil company which sponsored the broadcast. Nine of The Beatles' Melbourne performances were included in the show (the others edited out and discarded at the insistence of Beatles manager Brian Epstein): I Saw Her Standing There, You Can't Do That, All My Loving, She Loves You, Till There Was You, Roll Over Beethoven, Can't Buy Me Love, Twist And Shout and Long Tall Sally. The complete unedited concert (from an alternate audio feed) was also aired on Australian radio.
An early short film directed by Peter Weir in 1968, centered on the life of a bird enthusiast who becomes a Christian evangelist, and described in archival sources as a surrealistic documentary.
A subjective view of a crisis in the life of a writer who calculates he has 2,000 weeks left in his life to fulfill himself.
An early short film by Peter Weir, produced between 1967 and 1968 for a Channel Seven staff revue and later screened in underground film programs.
When a child nearly drowns his friends decide to start a local lifesaving and surf rescue club.
Pemberton Forest, a karri forest in the southwest region of Western Australia, is the site of a youth camp for school children. In this film, forest officers explain various aspects of forestry and associated industries to the children.
"The Quatermass Experiment" was a 1967 Australian teleplay based on a novel by Nigel Kneale - "The Quatermass Experiment".
Made by the Department of Immigration to entice immigrants from Great Britain, this film shows an idyllic picture of life in the South Australian regional town of Mount Gambier in the mid 1960s.
Ella Fitzgerald visited Australia back in 1960. Gracefully stepping up to the microphone for the celebrated television event 'The BP Super Show', hosted by musician and entertainer Horrie Dargie, Fitzgerald delivered a mellifluous set of legendary songs in an intimate concert setting at The Embers Nightclub in Toorak Road, South Yarra Victoria. This rarely seen B&W television treat is considered to be one of the earliest audio-visual recordings of the 'First Lady of Song', backed by the smooth sounds of the Lou Levy Quartet. Beside Fitzgerald's performance of 14 memorable Jazz and Blues classics, the program also contains original BP musical interludes and jingles from the Horrie Dargie Quartet.
Made by the Department of Immigration to entice immigrants from Great Britain, this film shows an idyllic picture of life in the New South Wales regional town of Wagga Wagga in the mid 1960s.
This film about Library services in Australia shows some of the work of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Library, the National Library with its varied resources and examples of State, University, special and public services suggesting their value in meeting needs for information at all levels. The library movement has become a vital part of Australian life. How libraries have fitted into society all over Australia, from the bustle of Sydney's Kings Cross to the remote outback.
Life inside a late 1960s Carlton student share house plays out across six alternately comedic and melancholy real-time vignettes. When his friend takes a trip, cinephile Al is left alone for the weekend with three female housemates, a situation that only serves to exacerbate his social awkwardness. One of the most distinctive works to emerge from the ‘Carlton ripple’, David Minter’s 1969 slice-of-life comedy carries echoes of Éric Rohmer’s moral tales.
Bored during the summer holidays and escaping the heat, a group of kids (and their joey!) from Cook, on the Nullarbor Plain, discover a limestone cave with a huge underground lake. Meanwhile in town, a detective is called in from Port Augusta to investigate a stolen car and some sinister kangaroo shooters. When the kids discover their tucker and canoe have disappeared, they decide to do some investigating of their own. An Australian black and white short film written and directed by Tim Burstall (Alvin Purple).
While flying to the first stop on their latest tour, the four members of the Australian music group The Seekers recall in flashback the origins of the group and their rise to success.
Summary of 1954 in Australia, including the Queen's visit, the Petrov Affair and the Empire Games.
Set on the Upper Sepik River in New Guinea, this film records the day-to-day experiences of Kiap (one-man representative of the Australian government in regional areas) Barry Downes as he patrols an area that in 1963 had only recently been brought under control from headhunters. As well as being a record of the role of the colonial administration, Along the Sepik offers insights into some tribal communities' cultures through depictions of their spirit houses and traditional 'sing sing' ceremonies. Downes investigates a murder, and the culprit is caught and tried by a magistrate in a jungle courthouse under the Australian flag, on the edge of the Sepik River. Australian patrol officers and their men operated under rugged conditions to bring western law and order to this remote area. The film also portrays some of the impact the colonial government had on regional, traditional communities.
If you every needed to show somebody the effect Easyfever had on mid 1960’s Australia, then you would only need to show them their Australian “farewell” television special. Although completely mimed, the bands energy is absolutely electrifying as the storm through their set list in front of a studio audience of screaming teenagers complete with go-go dancers and pop idol Billy Thorpe to compère. Special guests of the program included Janice Slater performing her then current release ‘We’re Doin’ Fine’ with it’s flip side ‘If You Don’t Think’ and Tony Worsley with ‘Raining in My Heart’ and ‘Knocking On Wood’ (released that month on Sunshine).
Thoms dedicated three months and a toolkit of pins, razor blades and scalpels to create the rich, abstract surface texture in Bluto. The result, according to the filmmaker, ‘was something like thunder and rain, interspersed with burps, belches and farts, which added an urgency that seemed to express the anxieties of the time’.
A minimalist exercise described by Thoms as ‘observing the effect of movement on perception within the framework of Ravel’s music’.
The Tiffany Group was formed to raise money for Guide Dogs for the Blind Association of NSW, holding dog shows, drag shows, balls, and other events. Initially these events supported wider community groups, but in later years provided increasing support to the LGBTIQ+ community (or gay and lesbian community as it was termed in the 1980s), in particular HIV/AIDS support. In this clip we see a Tiffany Dog Show from 1968, held in a suburban park, it included a number of events, but was mostly an opportunity for socialising.
In this film, David Perry scratched onto celluloid the numbers of a poem by Kurt Schwitters, which were projected beside the actor reciting it.