Titles from the 1980s
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O (continued)
Out of Darkness documentary – 1984
One of the most valuable messages of Out of Darkness is that the Australian landscape is in fact an Indigenous artefact.
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Painting the Town: A Film About Yosl Bergner documentary – 1987
Bergner was one of the first contemporary artists to depict the plight of urban Aboriginal people and parallel their dispossession with that of European Jews.
Palace of Dreams television program – 1985
In this acclaimed drama series, an aspiring writer arrives in Sydney from the country during the turbulent and desperate times of the Great Depression.
Passionless Moments short film – 1983
Jane Campion’s student short film delivers funny, fragmentary tales with an unsentimental whimsy.
Peach’s Explorers – East to West television program – 1984
Bill Peach loves Australian history and tells us explorers’ stories by using their words, cleverly recreated from diaries and notebooks, and journeying through the same arid interior.
Peach’s Explorers – South to North television program – 1984
There’s a strong sense that each of these men is very much of his time, imbued with a duty to expand knowledge and a ruthless craving for fame and fortune.
Peach’s Explorers – The Prison Walls television program – 1984
The story is entertainingly told with a clever use of dramatic re-creations. The various techniques work to bring history alive.
Peach’s Explorers – The Secret of the Rivers: Captain Charles Sturt television program – 1984
This Bill Peach series uses recreations, diary entries and letters, among other devices, to tell the story of Australia’s colonial exploration in visually interesting ways.
Peach’s Gold – Eureka television program – 1983
This series exploits a range of first-hand sources for its vibrant retelling of the history, while Bill Peach appears from time to time to explain and analyse.
Peach’s Gold – Finders Keepers television program – 1983
This series is a lively way to learn about history, skilfully blending actors, re-creations, paintings, songs and newspaper headlines to bring the era alive.
Peach’s Gold – Land of Gold television program – 1983
This Bill Peach documentary is full of events, larger-than-life characters and all the madness and colour of this most extraordinary chapter in Australia’s history.
A Personal History of the Australian Surf: Being the Confessions of a Straight Poofter documentary – 1981
His father told young Sydney-born theatre director Michael Blakemore that the world was divided into three groups, 'fools, crooks and gentlemen’.
Phar Lap feature film – 1983
The film is well constructed, both as a folkloric tale of a young man’s bond with a special horse and as an exciting spectacle with a couple of magically charged moments.
Pianoforte short film – 1984
A young woman who yearns to become a concert pianist is rescued from a sleazy cabaret by a mysterious cat burglar with whom she falls in love.
Playing Beatie Bow feature film – 1985
Playing Beatie Bow has the sumptuous look and feel of a period film, thanks to its award-winning cinematography and production design.
Play School – Bags Wednesday television program – 1984
An episode of the iconic pre-school program Play School from 1984, featuring presenters Noni Hazlehurst and John Hamblin.
Pleasure Domes short film – 1987
The first Australian animation to compete at Cannes, Pleasure Domes is a reflection on the inevitability of attaching associations to perceptions of landscape.
Police State television program – 1989
The script for this docudrama-style telemovie was developed using the transcripts from the Fitzgerald Inquiry into Queensland Police corruption.
Poor Man’s Orange television program – 1987
Harp in the South was so admired by Network Ten’s then head of drama, Valerie Hardy, that she immediately commissioned this second series.
Puberty Blues feature film – 1981
When the two teenage girls at the heart of this film buy a surfboard and teach themselves to surf, they become their own role models.
Public Enemy Number One documentary – 1981
Public Enemy Number One gives insight into journalist Wilfred Burchett’s motives in covering wars from the enemy’s point of view.
Pugwall – Hollow Drums television program – 1989
The insightful scripts capture teenager angst in a comic and recognisable way; fashions might change but relationships between teenagers and parents don’t.
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The Queen Goes West documentary – 1988
Queen Elizabeth II opens the Stockman’s Hall of Fame in Longreach, Queensland. Filmaker Christine Olsen went on to write Rabbit-Proof Fence.
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Raoul Wallenberg: Between the Lines documentary – 1984
Profile of Raoul Wallenberg, an extraordinary humanitarian who disappeared after performing heroic deeds during the Second World War.
Rebetika: Songs of Greece music – 1986
Rebetika music evolved in the 1920s, combining jail songs and hashish-smoking songs of the Greek underworld with music brought to Greece by refugees from the Greek-Turkish War.
Red Matildas documentary – 1985
Told through the lives of three women, Red Matildas explores the social and political conditions in Australia during the Great Depression.
Robbery Under Arms television program – 1985
Before this 1985 version there had been five attempts to tell this story, the best known being the Australian–British feature film of 1957 starring Peter Finch as Captain Starlight.
Rocking the Foundations documentary – 1985
Rocking The Foundations is more than a film about a union: it’s a film about social change and how ordinary people can make that happen.
The Rocks: Sydney, Australia documentary – 1983
The Rocks was considered a slum until it was restored in the 1970s. This sponsored documentary traces its redevelopment as a tourist precinct.
Round the Twist – Series One – Skeleton on the Dunny television program – 1989
This first episode gives a real taste for the eclectic range of themes and elements which combine to create the Round The Twist magic.
Round the Twist – Series One – Spaghetti Pig Out television program – 1989
This is a clever and funny episode, based on a simple ‘What if…’ premise. There is loads of silly slapstick, and a spectacular dose of yuck at the end.
Rusty Bugles television program – 1980
Based on a banned 1948 stage play, this telemovie follows a group of soldiers posted to a remote base in the Northern Territory during the Second World War.
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Sale of the Century – Series 1 Episode 1 television program – 1980
Host Tony Barber invites contestants to compete for prizes by answering general knowledge questions.
Scales of Justice television program – 1983
The quasi-documentary style of this series adds a gritty reality to the typical car patrol of a police crew on any evening shift around Sydney streets.
Serious Undertakings documentary – 1983
Serious Undertakings breaks new ground in understanding the construction of meaning and exemplifies the impact of 1970s screen theory on making independent films.
Shadowland short film – 1988
In Anthony Lucas’s animated student film, humanity evolves in a savage landscape.
Shadow Panic short film – 1989
An experiment in structure, Shadow Panic reflects the influence at the time of French screen theorists on Australian feminist filmmaking.
Shame feature film – 1987
Perth lawyer Asta Cadell uncovers a series of sex crimes and dark secrets in a small town in Western Australia.
The Sharkcallers of Kontu documentary – 1982
Believing that the spirits of their ancestors dwell in the mako shark, shark callers are not only hunting but also maintaining a connection with their past.
A Shifting Dreaming documentary – 1982
Ray Barrett stars in this story of Indigenous and non-Indigenous relations spanning from the 1928 Coniston massacre to Land Rights hearings in 1982.
The Ship That Shouldn’t Have documentary – 1984
A scientific expedition aboard the steam-powered Cheynes 2 was beset by disasters. The members of the expedition were lucky to survive.
The Shiralee television program – 1987
This miniseries was made during the golden decade of television drama. Its magic lies in the chemistry of Bryan Brown and Rebecca Smart.
Shooey’s Little World documentary – 1984
Keith and Gladys Shoesmith live in the country with their six children. An interesting insight into the family life of a genuine battler.
Short Changed feature film – 1985
The script is beautifully weighted so that the political context of the film does not inhibit the personal journey of the characters.
Snakes and Ladders documentary – 1987
An account of the achievements and setbacks of a ‘shifting landscape’ as Australian women attempt to gain equality in education in the 20th century.
Snow… Down Under documentary – 1982
Snow… Down Under shows three friends skiing on Mount Kosciuszko, intercut with the history of skiing in Australia.
Some of Many: Germans in Australia documentary – 1983
An Australian-based German filmmaker traces the changing fortunes of German immigrants to Australia from the first fleet to the late 1980s.
South of the Border documentary – 1987
This documentary explores the role of music in the grass roots political protest movement in Central America and also raises ethical dilemmas.
Starstruck feature film – 1982
Gillian Armstrong’s Starstruck is an energetic rock musical comedy, with a kitsch aesthetic very much influenced by the style of early ’80s video clips.
