Australian
Screen

an NFSA website

Titles beginning with M

159 titles - sorted alphabetically or by year prev 1 2 3 4 next

M

Mabo: An Address to the Nation television program – 1993

In a televised address to the nation, Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating outlines the government’s response to the High Court Mabo decision on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander land rights.

Mad Bastards feature film – 2011

TJ returns to the Kimberley region of Western Australia to try and reconnect with his teenage son.

The Mad Century short film – 2000

All you ever wanted to know about the 20th century according to cartoonist Bruce Petty.

Mad Dog Morgan feature film – 1976

Mad Dog Morgan updates the bushranging movie conventions, by seeing Morgan as a modern media phenomenon.

Mademoiselle and the Doctor documentary – 2004

Seventy-nine-year-old Lisette Nigot has decided to end her life. A powerful portrait illustrating the phrase ‘rational suicide’.

Mad Max feature film – 1979

Mad Max was a piece of impolite, independent cinema that had a profound effect on audiences and filmmakers across the world.

Mad Max 2 feature film – 1981

Mad Max 2 is a more self-consciously mythic film than its predecessor, in a much more primal landscape, with a lot more action.

Magical Powers short film – 1936

The idea behind Magical Powers was to show the audience some of the illusions and simple tricks that can be created with a moving image camera.

The Magic Boomerang – The Discovery television program – 1965

Tom uses a magic boomerang to find treasure, foil his greedy cousin’s plans and save the family farm.

Magnavox Wireless: Why Jones Chose a Magnavox advertisement – 1925

Compared to contemporary car radios, the Magnavox Wirelesses seems absurd because of its large size.

Maidens documentary – 1978

Almost four years in the making, Maidens sparked impassioned debate and became compulsory viewing in women and film courses around the country.

Mail Order Bride television program – 1984

A hard-hitting drama about racism, sexism and xenophobia in a small country town.

Maintaining the Links: Maintenance of Historic Timber Bridges in NSW sponsored film – 2001

This film from the RTA Oral History Program documents the history of timber bridge design and construction in New South Wales.

The Maitland and Morpeth String Quartet short film – 1989

A whimsical, animated tale of music and romance, narrated by Ruth Cracknell and set amidst the Great Maitland Flood of 1955.

Maitland Floods home movie – 1955

This home movie captures the devastation of the 1955 Maitland floods. The reaction of the residents make this footage surprisingly affecting.

Majestic Fanfare music – 1943

The original 1943 recording of the ABC’s much loved ‘Majestic Fanfare’, used in various forms since 1952 to introduce news broadcasts.

Making Venus documentary – 2002

Making Venus records in exquisitely painful detail the worst that can happen when making an under-budgeted, ill-prepared film.

Malcolm feature film – 1986

Malcolm is one of the most charming modern Australian comedies, and probably the closest we’ve come to matching the joyful silliness of Britain’s 1950s Ealing comedies.

The Man from Hong Kong feature film – 1975

The film has great energy and a series of superb action sequences, including quite possibly the best car chase in Australian cinema before Mad Max.

The Man from Kangaroo feature film – 1919

John Harland, a bush parson, is dismissed from his job for teaching children how to box. Harland moves to another town, where he combats ruffians and rescues his girlfriend from a forced marriage.

The Man from Snowy River feature film – 1982

The Man From Snowy River is an iconic Australian western. It’s a naive film of epic proportions, but the naiveté is calculated to appeal to a sense of American nostalgia, and Australian chauvinism.

Manganinnie feature film – 1980

Tasmania, 1830. Joanna, a little white girl, is adopted by Manganinnie, an Aborigine who has survived a slaughter.

Man of Flowers feature film – 1983

An elderly aesthete who regularly hires a young woman to strip for him finds his life becoming entwined with hers.

The Man Who Stole My Mother’s Face documentary – 2003

In 1989 Laura Henkel was raped. Thirteen years later her daughter, director Cathy Henkel, tries to get the case re-opened.

Man Without Pigs documentary – 1990

The first Papua New Guinea man to become a professor returns to his small village to celebrate, but inadvertently creates antagonism when rituals aren’t adhered to.

Mao’s Last Dancer feature film – 2009

A Chinese peasant boy grows up to become a bright star of the United States ballet world.

Mao’s New Suit documentary – 1997

A frank, behind-the-scenes look at modern China as two young fashion designers stage a show in Shanghai.

Maranoa Lullaby music – 1950

Harold Blair was the first Aboriginal Australian to achieve recognition as a classical singer.

Marn Grook documentary – 1996

'Marn Grook’ is the Indigenous name of a game very similar to AFL. This revealing documentary contends that AFL is in fact derived from Marn Grook.

Marvellous Melbourne: Queen City of the South documentary – c1910

Spencer believed cinema patrons wanted to see their own people and country. He went on to produce feature films, some with director Raymond Longford.

Mary and Max feature film – 2009

Across two continents and 20 years, the tragic comedy of life is described through the friendship of penpals, Mary and Max.

The Maryborough Railway Employees’ Picnic historical – 1938

In the late 1920s and early 1930s, thousands of children and their families would attend the Maryborough Railway’s annual employees’ picnic.

Masterpiece Special – Judy Davis television program – 1996

My Brilliant Career may have been a successful start to a career, but for Judy Davis it is an unhappy memory of an early experience working in film.

Masterpiece Special – Melvyn Bragg television program – 1996

Melvyn Bragg’s South Bank Show is the longest-running arts TV show in the English-speaking world.

Masterpiece Special – Robert Hughes television program – 1997

Art critic and writer Robert Hughes describes self-doubt as part of the creative process, for critics as well as artists and writers.

Masterpiece Special – Robyn Davidson television program – 1996

Masterpiece specials rely on the strength of the interviews, which can hold an audience especially if the interviewer is someone of the calibre of Andrea Stretton.

Masterpiece Special – Salman Rushdie television program – 1996

Andrea Stretton interviews Salman Rushdie, whose latest book has been written under the threat of a death sentence.

Masterpiece Special – Wole Soyinka television program – 1997

Nobel Laureate Wole Soyinka talks about his early life in Nigeria. He now lives in exile and misses the smells, sounds and textures of his native land.

Matlock Police – Episode 1, Twenty-six Hours television program – 1971

From an opening sequence strongly reminiscent of Easy Rider (1969) to a rollicking country car chase at its climax, this is a bumper first episode.

A Matter of Taste advertisement – c1954

This 1950s ad for Schweppes focuses on the drinks in the context of entertaining, socialising and recreation, rather than the science behind the 'Schweppervescent’ bubbles.

Maverick Mother documentary – 2007

When filmmaker Janet Merewether could no longer ignore her loudly ticking biological clock, she chose to have a child on her own.

The Mavis Bramston Show – Series 1 Episode 1 television program – 1964

A weekly variety show featuring topical satire, sketches and songs.

The Mavis Bramston Show – Series 2 Episode 1 television program – 1965

Although Mavis Bramston’s topical satire is no longer current, it is still sharp.

Mawson: Life and Death in Antarctica documentary – 2007

Polar adventurer Tim Jarvis attempts to re-create Douglas Mawson’s epic and controversial trek to safety in Antarctica in 1913.

Maxonol Gramophone: Buy a Good Gramophone and Keep Her at Home advertisement – 1925

Typically for a cinema advertisement of the time, it takes a narrative style and is shot like a slowly paced short film.

McIlwraith, Peter: Brisbane Show and Moonbi Park home movie – c1950

The experience of the Brisbane Exhibition (now officially called the Royal Queensland Show) is captured beautifully in this amateur footage.

McKenzie, Roger and Kent, Bernie: Around Sydney with a Camera home movie – 1962

Bernard Kent met Roger McKenzie in 1947. Aside from collecting films, they made their own amateur movies such as this travelogue of Sydney’s harbour suburbs.

McKenzie, Roger and Kent, Bernie: Silent Car Trip Australia home movie – c1960

This travelogue is from a trip around Australia made by Bernard Kent and Roger McKenzie, enthusiastic film collectors and amateur filmmakers.

McLeod’s Daughters television program – 1996

The McLeod’s Daughters telemovie about independent women running a rural Australian property inspired the later successful TV series.

McLeod’s Daughters – Welcome Home television program – 2001

Self-reliant women working the land, romantic rural vistas and horseriding and farming montages make up the signature style of McLeod’s Daughters.

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