Category Archive for: ‘Issue 30 – First Release’

This paper extends our previous analyses of the early history of the Sydney and Melbourne Film Festivals, by examining the relations between the festivals and the Australian film industry, from 1954 to 1970. [1] Like those previous papers, it is built on the premise that the history of the two Festivals is best understood as an ongoing negotiation between the …

The time is short; the enemy is sly; And all who once loved peace and sorely tried; But she shall take her people this reply: “Our cause is common, and your pride our pride Your triumph ours: sacred as ours, your loam,” When she goes through the far horizon, home. – Anonymous, Sonnet III, “Three Sonnets Written for Madame Chiang” …

Since Australia’s film renaissance from the mid-1970s, there have been numerous films featuring Asian characters in both leading and marginal roles. This paper traces the historical representation of Asian characters in Australian feature films, focusing on films from the 1920s as establishing some of the earliest tropes that have persisted through to contemporary examples. Character types—from the cook to the …

Gerry O’Hara is a true original, and if he never really got the chance to definitively climb out of the ranks of assistant directors into the realm of full-fledged feature directors, he nevertheless managed to carve out a solid career in the cinema working with such luminaries as Sir Laurence Olivier, Ronald Neame, Michael Powell, Sir Carol Reed, Anatole Litvak, …

The image we make ourselves of history is, more than ever, shaped by the audiovisual record. But the documentary image and sound cannot provide a transparent view on reality; it represents a world by mediation through an interpretive act. Therefore the documentary film’s historical account requires a perceptual engagement that resists the pull of the indexical and views the audiovisual …