Category Archive for: ‘Issue 19 – First Release’

This article was written in 2003. The author has administered a web-site on Western Australian cinemas for many years. Further information about all sites mentioned in this article can be obtained at that website:http://cinemaweb.scam.ecu.edu.au. Nowadays, everyone is familiar with the drive-in, but in the late 1950s, when the concept was still new, it was thought necessary to educate potential customers …

[1] “Mexicans with mobiles” is a phrase used by American crews working in Australia (Australia as a Film Location: Wallaby-wood, 84). “Mexicans with parkas” is the Canadian version of the same joke (Weyman). Both these pejorative descriptions demonstrate the American arrogance towards off-shore crews; however, they also reflect interesting ideologies. Apart from different props, both Australian and Canadian crews are …

Birch, Carroll and Coyle established Wintergarden Theatres at Ipswich, Bundaberg, Maryborough, Rockhampton and Townsville, during the second half of the 1920s. Research undertaken by the authors confirms their significant role in the entertainment industry extending to regional Queensland. Historically it also shows that since the advent of blockbuster movies and television, the presentation of movies to the public has turned …

This is the first of a sequence of three papers, which deal with the formative years (until 1972) of Australia’s two major international film festivals, Sydney and Melbourne. These papers will trace the Festivals’ development and growth over this period – from their early years as small-scale, amateur-driven events, to being the premier ‘film culture’ events in Australia.[1] If the …

I teach classes in criticism and history in an essentially film production department. These writings were prepared for students in a film history class. The classes met once a week for three hours only. A feature film was screened each week in class leaving only one hour for tuition. I thought the hour was best spent in dialogue with the …

Some explanation Historical memory is most often a matter of textual presence, and this paper constitutes an absence, which somehow seems fitting. As I remember it, the earliest version of “The Film of Memory” was given as a conference paper for the first Australian History and Film Conference in 1981. I have to write “as I remember it”, because the …

[1] Looking for Alibrandi (Australia, 2000) is significant not only because it is the financially most successful Australian teen film [2]  and a winner of five AFI awards. [3] This film has also played an important role in increasing the cinematic profile of Italo-Australians. It has attracted audiences that exceed the hitherto limited markets for most Italo-Australian films and expanded the …