A daring and unusual film (2006)
Margaret Pomeranz is reviewing the new Rolf de Heer film Ten Canoes. Excerpts from the film illustrate her words. [read more]
Swamp canoes (2006)
Rolf de Heer oversees the construction of swamp canoes that will be used in the film Ten Canoes (2006). [read more]
‘I want to be an actor’ (2008)
Frances explains that she would like to be an actor like her famous uncle, David Gulpilil, and how she secured a role in the Rolf de Heer film Ten Canoes (2006). [read more]
Magic realism in South America (2004)
Rolf de Heer was the director of a troubled co-production with a French producer for the film The Old Man Who Read Love Stories with fine performances from Richard Dreyfuss and Hugo Weaving. In the studio, David Stratton and Margaret ... [read more]
For the future (2006)
Against a backdrop of images of the Ramingining community, director Rolf de Heer talks about the unexpected problems in casting Ten Canoes (2006). The kinship laws are so complex that the final choice of cast is now in the hands ... [read more]
Rolf Harris at the Sydney Opera House (1973)
Australian entertainer Rolf Harris sings a self-penned tribute to the SOH while he does a painting of it. We see him in make up, preparing for the first performance in the concert hall. [read more]
The director speaks (2004)
David Stratton and Margaret Pomeranz interview Rolf de Heer who is quite frank about the delays and overruns of the film which caused him such heartache, despite the film turning out so well in the end. [read more]
An invitation (2006)
Rolf de Heer talks about being invited by David Gulpilil to his country to make Ten Canoes (2006). Images of men stripping bark from a tree to make a canoe will eventually be incorporated in the film. [read more]
Cecil de Milo (1939)
Mrs Chedworth (Rita Pauncefort) has chosen a new house befitting the social status to which she aspires – with statues and grand windows through which the neighbours can see her parties. Mr Chedworth (Cecil Kellaway) is disturbed at the speed ... [read more]
Reacting to globalisation (2009)
This sequence looks at the struggles of Australian filmmakers in an international context. It asks if audiences have been colonised by US films and TV, then suggests that other national industries are also pitted against Hollywood domination but that Australia ... [read more]
Company for Mrs De Marco (1990)
After the accidental death of Mustafa, Carl (Sam Neill) calls his best friend Dave (John Clarke) for help. Dave is a gravedigger, so they take the body to a cemetery, where Dave selects an open grave, in which to place ... [read more]
Tamara Toumanova (c1939)
Filmed in slow motion, Tamara Toumanova, wearing a green and black swimsuit, performs a series of leaps and poses on the sand at Bungan Beach. [read more]
Mutiny (2002)
The young policeman, known in the credits as the follower (Damon Gameau) takes control after his boss, the fanatic (Gary Sweet) opens fire without warning on a family of Aborigines. The fanatic is now placed in irons. The tracker (David ... [read more]
Strange happenings (1988)
Eddie Cleary (Steven Vidler) discovers dead birds and a mysterious black circle in a field. His brother, Richard (Ritchie Singer), hears a high-pitched tone. Local cop Skinner (Vincent Gil) mocks Richard’s attempt to find water on his dry property. [read more]
Kirsova’s wedding reception (1938)
In a series of moving portraits, Ewan Murray-Will films Hélène Kirsova with friends and family at her wedding reception. In the first shot, Kirsova stands with her newly-wed husband, Danish Vice-Consul Erik Fischer, and a flower girl. In the following ... [read more]
Performing on the beach (c1939)
Wearing what looks to be Christmas decorations around her neck, a female dancer, crouched on a rock, alerts her sleeping friend to something out to sea. A man carrying an unconscious woman emerges from the waves. He tries to revive ... [read more]
Dancing on the beach (c1939)
Filmed in slow motion, two women and a man (Paul Petroff) make human formations on the shoreline of the beach. A woman dressed in black swimwear runs towards Petroff and leaps into his arms. He holds her over his head ... [read more]
The ancestors coming (2006)
The narrator (David Gulpilil) introduces his ancestors, as they walk into the bush on a hunting trip. Minygululu (Peter Minygululu) leads the column, followed by his younger brother Dayindi (Jamie Gulpilil). Djigirr (Peter Djigirr) complains about being at the back ... [read more]
Two brothers face payback (2006)
As the men prepare for a big lunch of magpie-geese, cooked in the canoes on the swamp, the narrator (David Gulpilil) returns to the climax of the old story. Ridjimiraril (Crusoe Kurddal) and his brother Yeeralparil (Jamie Gulpilil) must stand ... [read more]
‘Happy birthday, dad’ (2003)
The camera slowly crawls towards the front door, over the first-floor balcony and into the front bedroom to discover Steve (Gary Sweet) asleep in his bed, watched by his wife Alexandra (Helen Buday). She goes to the bathroom where she ... [read more]
