Titles curated by Damien Parer
234 titles - sorted alphabetically or by year prev 1 2 3 4 5 next
B (continued)
Brothers and Sisters documentary – 1997
Actor Rachael Maza and her sister are among the people featured in this look at sibling behaviour.
Business Behind Bars documentary – 2000
This film claims that 50 per cent of Australian prisoners are kept in private prisons, the biggest proportion of any nation.
The Business of Making Saints documentary – 1994
This documentary explores what has to happen before someone is declared a saint, and notes that women don’t fare well in the system.
C
Cannibal Tours documentary – 1987
Dennis O’Rourke highlights the absurdity of the interactions between 'civilised’ tourists and 'primitives’ in a PNG village.
Carcrash documentary – 1995
Plenty of emotion and trauma is on display when 26 people speak to camera about the road accidents they were involved in.
Cenotaph documentary – 1993
The documentary looks at the effect of the First World War on the New South Wales country town of Hay. Fourteen men and seven women revisit the Western Front after 70 years.
Child Soldiers documentary – 2002
It is horrifying to hear children talk of killing and maiming people.
Chile: Hasta Cuando? documentary – 1986
Filmed in secret, this is a significant record of Chilean dictator Augusto Pinochet and his murderous regime.
China, the Long March documentary – 1986
There is much to learn from this work about China’s Communist Party leader Mao Zedong, who died in 1976.
Clifton Pugh documentary – 1988
This landscape painter says painting an amalgam of his surroundings is more authentic than taking a 'myopic view’.
Clowns and their Make-Up documentary – 1985
As the title indicates, this is about how to apply clown make-up and not about much else.
Colour Bars documentary – 1997
Director Mahmoud Yekta’s Colour Bars was nominated for Best Documentary at the 1997 Australian Film Institute Awards.
Coming Up from Down Under documentary – 1983
Filmmaking is in our blood,’ says actor Bryan Brown. 'We’d [Australia] made 14 films before Hollywood had made one’.
Commuting by Cable documentary – 1988
Even the most dedicated tram enthusiast will be fully satisfied by the detail in this 1988 study.
Concrete City documentary – 1994
The Pyrmont quarries Paradise, Purgatory and Hellhole, supplied the sandstone for many landmark buildings in Sydney.
Conrad Martens documentary – 1978
Conrad Martens, whose watercolours are a valuable record of colonial Sydney, is reputed to be its first successful artist.
Convictions documentary – 1994
Convictions honours those Australians who fought in The Korean War, a war that is all but forgotten in this country.
Cricket in Australia documentary – 1987
Some say Ian Chappell betrayed the tradition of cricket for financial gain when he joined Kerry Packer’s World Series Cricket.
D
Daddy Cool documentary – 1973
A film about successful 1970s rock band Daddy Cool could not be anything but charmingly laid-back.
Dance of Nature: The Music of Ross Edwards documentary – 1995
Interesting points on the effect nature has on creativity are raised in this documentary about composer Ross Edwards.
The Dance of the Eyes documentary – c1940
Skylogues’ like this one from Bali, were shown in cinemas prior to a feature film; few Australians travelled abroad then.
Deadly Hurt documentary – 1994
A filmmaker questions whether the National Committee on Violence Against Women’s 1992 national strategy was appropriate.
Demons at Drivetime documentary – 1995
A day-in-the-life-of shock jocks Howard Sattler, Bob Francis, Alan Jones, Ron Casey, Brian Wiltshire and Stan Zemanek.
Desert Walker: Gulf to Gulf documentary – 1985
The Flying Doctor base helped Denis Bartell when he became the first white man to walk across Australia from north to south.
Diaries of Vaslav Nijinsky documentary – 2001
Vaslav Nijinsky, from Russia, was widely considered the most talented male dancer of the 20th century.
Dick Smith Explorer documentary – 1983
Dick Smith records his own solo around-the-world flight in a helicopter in 1982; his unfailing enthusiasm helps sustain interest.
Difficult Pleasure: A Portrait of Brett Whiteley documentary – 1989
Artist Brett Whiteley says many 'gifted people shipwreck’ ; he died from a drug overdose three years later.
Dirty War documentary – 2005
Defence force personnel say all military exercises are environmentally sustainable, but the filmmaker sides with the community.
Doesn’t Everybody Want a Golden Guitar documentary – 1995
A theme of this foot-tapping documentary, set in Tamworth, is that country music fans are also down-to-earth like country people.
Doggie Day Afternoon television program – 2000
This program about pampered pets and their exotic owners includes a doggie hotel, beauty parlour, cemetery and 'Dogue’ – the fashion house for dogs.
E
Echidna the Survivor documentary – 1995
Echidnas have no sweat pores and don’t pant, so in hot weather they go swimming to cool down.
Emily’s Eyes documentary – 1998
Emily has physical disabilities, but this documentary is moving and uplifting because of the way the family deals with her.
Empty Arms, Broken Hearts documentary – 1994
One of the people who made this study of abduction had her own children taken out of Australia by their father, a Malaysian prince.
Errands of Mercy documentary – 1998
The observational material provides a real sense of the day-to-day life of ambulance workers, and their challenges.
Eternity documentary – 1994
Cinematographer Dion Beebe has beautifully recreated 1930s Sydney here — and about 10 years later won an Oscar.
An Evergreen Island documentary – 2000
Arson and sabotage were eventually used to stop the shocking environmental degradation being caused by copper mining in Bougainville.
F
Facing the Demons documentary – 1999
This is absolutely compelling: two of the four men convicted of the murder of a teenager after a robbery, face his family and friends.
Fear or Favour documentary – 1993
Chequebook journalism is one of the topics put under the spotlight when Iain Gillespie points the camera at his own kind.
Fences documentary – 1994
When a man pulls a sheet over a woman’s head and yell’s 'Dutch oven’, the relationship needs to be severed, says Judi McCrossin.
Final Insult documentary – 1997
When some people are 'allergic to the 20th century’ they become captives in their own homes.
Flamingo Park documentary – 1980
Fashion designer Jenny Kee had talent but so did the film’s crew, many of whom went on to make outstanding documentaries.
The Flying Vet documentary – 1984
The bonus for the viewer is that the vet, and his wife, provide a real sense of what it’s like to live in remote Australia.
Fond Memories of Cuba documentary – 2002
Two perspectives are presented: admiration for Fidel Castro and proud optimism, alongside evidence of poverty and decay.
For All the World to See documentary – 1992
Fred Hollows, eye surgeon with a passion for medical reform, visits Aboriginal communities and Eritrea in Africa.
For a Price documentary – 1985
This catalogue of what kinds of sex there was for sale in the mid-1980s, also makes a link between drugs and prostitution.
For the Defence documentary – 1998
Unusual access to Australian law in action allows a glimpse into the complexities of theft, rape and murder trials.
Frame Up. Who Bombed the Hilton, Who Didn’t? documentary – 1983
Produced in 1982, an example of the power of the media in the controversial trial of three Ananda Marga members – the men were acquitted two years later.
Frank Hurley: The Man Who Made History documentary – 2004
An excellent look at the man who produced some of Australia’s first documentaries, and some of our most iconic images.
Franklin River Journey documentary – 1980
Amateur botanist Antonius Moscal says that rafting down the wilderness of the Franklin River reminds him of the definition of God.
The Franklin Wild River documentary – 1980
Bob Brown takes a rubber dinghy through spectacular rapids as part of a filmed campaign to halt plans to flood the Franklin River.
