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The Cheaters (silent) (1929)

Bill Marsh (Arthur Greenaway) serves a 20-year prison sentence for embezzling from businessman John Travers (John Faulkner). On his release Marsh forms a criminal organisation whose members include his daughter Paula Marsh (Isabel McDonagh billed as 'Marie Lorraine’), and whose ... [read more]

The Surfer (1986)

Vietnam veteran Sam Barlow (Gary Day) runs a surf hire shop on the beach at Surfers Paradise. When fellow veterans Jack (Gerard MacGuire) and Slaney (Stephen Leeder) are murdered, Sam’s investigations point to a conspiracy involving crooked cop Calhoun (Tony ... [read more]

Red Matildas (1985)

Red Matildas tells the personal stories of three women who lived in Australia during the Great Depression – May Pennefather, Joan Goodwin and Audrey Blake. All three were touched by the massive unemployment, poverty and uncertainty of the time and ... [read more]

Gallipoli (1981)

In Western Australia in 1915 two young men join up to fight in the First World War. Archy Hamilton (Mark Lee) is the patriotic son of a grazier. Frank Dunne (Mel Gibson) is a drifter with no great desire to ... [read more]

Anzac Day Promotional (c1916)

This silent, black-and-white cinema advertisement was used to encourage Australians to commemorate Anzac Day. It shows a re-enactment of soldiers wearing gas masks walking through some trenches with their rifles and ends with a title card that says ‘A nation’s ... [read more]

The Man from Hong Kong (1975)

When a Hong Kong drug courier is arrested at Uluru (Ayers Rock), Inspector Fang of the Hong Kong Special Branch (Jimmy Wang Yu) comes to Sydney to handle his extradition. The local cops don’t offer much cooperation, so Fang gets ... [read more]

Diggers (1931)

At a battalion reunion after the First World War, Chic Williams (Pat Hanna) and his ‘cobber’ Joe Mulga (George Moon) recall their exploits on the Western Front in France. In extended flashbacks, we see them getting wounded, repatriated to London, ... [read more]

The Trespassers (1976)

Richard, a radical journalist (John Derum), begins an affair with Dee, an actress and activist (Judy Morris). Richard conceals the fact that he’s married, but his wife Penny (Briony Behets) walks in on them. Once past their initial wariness, the ... [read more]

The Quiet Room (1996)

A seven-year-old girl (Chloe Ferguson) refuses to speak. We hear her thoughts in a constant and perceptive monologue, but she will not talk to her parents (Celine O’Leary and Paul Blackwell). A series of flashbacks shows that their increasingly vicious ... [read more]

Children’s Party, Boys Wrestling and Outdoor Performances (c1925)

A home movie recording of a children’s party and an outdoor celebration in a garden. It begins with some of the children arriving and being greeted by two adults. Subsequent scenes show two young boys wrestling as their dog ... [read more]

Behind the Big Top (1949)

A documentary about the travelling Wirth’s Circus and Zoo that toured to Melbourne in 1949. The circus train arrives in town and workers (and elephants) help set up the big top for the main show. Inside the sawdust arena ... [read more]

Pugwall – Hollow Drums (1989)

Thirteen-year-old Pugwall (Jason Torrens) is trying to get a band together. The first task is to find Orfo (Jay McCormack) a drum set. Eventually, and by luck, Pugwall and Orfo legitimately buy a great drum set, cheap. Now the band ... [read more]

The Ship That Shouldn’t Have (1984)

The story of an astonishing real-life adventure, when a scientific expedition went wrong. Mountaineers, adventurers and scientists set out in Cheynes 2, a former whaling vessel, on a voyage from Hobart to Heard Island, south-west of Perth, near Antarctica. Bad ... [read more]

Hunt Angels (2006)

Hunt Angels is a dramatised documentary based on the life of the virtually unknown filmmaker Rupert Kathner (Ben Mendelsohn) and his collaborator, Alma Brooks (Victoria Hill). It tells the story of a struggling filmmaker in the 1930s and ‘40s who ... [read more]

Concrete City (1994)

Residents of Pyrmont, a suburb next to the city of Sydney, try to secure meaningful consultation with the various government bodies involved in a proposed redevelopment in their area. Planners and developers also explain their point of view. The documentary ... [read more]

Child Soldiers (2002)

There is a minimum of 300,000 child soldiers in the world. The documentary takes an intimate look at children fighting in Uganda, Sudan, Myanmar, Colombia and Sierra Leone. The film features historical footage, interviews with child soldiers and their families ... [read more]

Angst (1993)

The film looks at the lives of three Jewish comedians who are the children of Holocaust survivors. Deb Filler is from New Zealand, Sandy Gutman (Austen Tayshus) from Melbourne and Moshe Waldoks is from the USA. Each of the ... [read more]

Loggerheads (c1990)

In 1992 the NSW State Government gave permission for logging to commence in Northern NSW, prior to an environmental impact study being completed. Environmentalists protested to stop the logging until the study was completed, claiming that there were ... [read more]

Smart’s Labyrinth (1994)

Australian artist Jeffrey Smart has been living in Italy since the 1970s. This documentary looks at his life in the 1990s. He reflects on his life as a painter and offers observations about his artistic work. The film features footage ... [read more]

Menzies 1948 Journey, Reel 2 (1948)

This home movie filmed by Australian Prime Minister, Sir Robert Menzies, during a family journey through Europe in 1948, begins with a title card that says ‘I didn’t see enough of it’ and cuts to footage of the cricket at ... [read more]

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