Titles from the 1980s
304 titles - sorted alphabetically or by year prev 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 next
S (continued)
Stepping Out documentary – 1980
Stepping Out draws attention to the talents of people with intellectual disabilities. The group went on to perform at the Sydney Opera House.
Stir feature film – 1980
This revealing film about prison life has a violent tone and very bad language, but this helps give it credibility.
Strangers in Paradise documentary – 1989
On the eve of bicentennial celebrations, Strangers in Paradise looks at Australian culture through the eyes of tourists on a ‘Dreamtime’ tour.
A Street to Die feature film – 1985
A Vietnam veteran and his wife fight for legal recognition of the damage done to him by the defoliant Agent Orange.
Strikebound feature film – 1983
A docudrama based on the memories of Wattie and Agnes Doig, a miner and his wife involved in the Gippsland coal workers’ strike of 1937.
The Surfer feature film – 1986
Vietnam veteran Sam Barlow uncovers a conspiracy in Surfers Paradise involving police, politicians and a Vietnamese gang.
Suzi’s Story documentary – 1987
A mother who has contracted AIDS bravely decides to make a film of the experience.
Sweetie feature film – 1989
Ambiguity is filmmaker Jane Campion’s preferred method in Sweetie, and it works superbly as a destabilised narrative because of it.
T
The Tale of Ruby Rose feature film – 1987
In 1933 Ruby Rose leaves her isolated home in the Tasmanian highlands to rediscover her past.
Thanks Girls and Goodbye documentary – 1988
Thanks Girls and Goodbye is not just a 'feel good’ nostalgia film. It explores how the Women’s Land Army was exploited during the Second World War.
This Woman is Not a Car short film – 1982
An imaginative examination of sexual violence, This Woman is Not a Car turns the suburban dream of marriage and conformity into a nightmare.
The Tightrope Dancer documentary – 1989
A portrait of flamboyant Australian artist and dancer Vali Myers.
The Time Guardian feature film – 1987
The Time Guardian is one of the great missed opportunities of Australian cinema and symbolic of its wavering fortunes in the 1980s.
Torque – Series 4, Episode 10 television program – 1980
Peter Wherrett is great talent. He knows cars and can warn of the dangers of the road without sounding preachy.
Touch the Sun – Captain Johnno television program – 1988
Captain Johnno is a significant Australian children’s film which won the 1988 International Emmy Award for Children and Young People’s Programming.
Touch the Sun – Devil’s Hill television program – c1988
With his gap-toothed smile and great integrity, Badge is the delightful hero of this adventure story based on the classic Australian children’s novel.
Touch the Sun – Peter & Pompey television program – 1988
This lovely film has a delightful ocker Aussie feel, and is a quirky, fantastic yarn filled with mystery, greed, loyalty, betrayal, ancient curses and Roman history.
Touch the Sun – Princess Kate television program – c1988
This is a story of insecurity, snobbery, fear, love and hope as this young girl takes herself and two families on an emotionally painful journey to find out who she really is.
Touch the Sun – The Gift television program – c1988
This film offers a glimpse into the lives of a Greek-Australian family as they struggle with cultural differences, materialism, environmental issues and family relationships.
Touch the Sun – Top Enders television program – 1988
This lovely production captures the exotic frontier feel of Darwin, as it explores human survival and the challenges and rewards of family relationships and friendship.
A Town Like Alice television program – 1980
This mini-series, based on the novel by Nevil Shute, tells an epic love story that begins in Malaya during the Japanese occupation of 1941–45.
Travelling North feature film – 1987
Casting Leo McKern was a coup because he almost never accepted roles in his place of birth once he’d become successful in England.
Tuckson documentary – 1988
Examines the life and work of little-known but important artist Tony Tuckson, a 'decisive, ethical, hard-painting, hard-drinking, Craven A smoking artist’.
Turkey Shoot feature film – 1982
Without doubt one of the most notorious Australian films ever made, Turkey Shoot has attracted both wildly positive and negative reactions over the years.
Two Laws documentary – 1981
The concept of two laws – colonial and Indigenous law – can also be spoken about as two ways of storytelling or filmmaking.
V
Vietnam television program – 1988
This classic mini-series tells the epic story of Australia’s involvement in the Vietnam War through the history of a middle class family and features an award-winning performance from a young Nicole Kidman.
A Voice for the Wilderness documentary – 1983
Jobs versus rainforest preservation – this 1983 documentary was part of a successful popular campaign to save the rainforest inland from Port Macquarie.
Voss music – 1987
Voss is an opera about the fateful outback expeditions of Ludwig Leichhardt, as recreated by Patrick White in his iconic novel.
W
Waterfront – Episode 1 television program – 1984
Wharfies involved in a worker’s dispute and Italian refugees desperate to work during the Depression clash with tragic consequences.
Waterfront – Episode 2 television program – 1984
The series tells of the determination to stand up for what is right in a world that is rapidly slipping into a showdown between the extremes of fascism and communism.
Waterloo documentary – 1981
Tom Zubrycki’s skills as a documentary filmmaker are clearly evident in this history of the redevelopment of Waterloo in Sydney.
Weekend Magazine – Carnarvon Gorge and the Fighting Highlanders television program – 1982
Weekend Magazine was one of the first programs on television to teach people about the environment and how it should be cherished and protected.
We Have Survived music – 1981
The No Fixed Address version of Bart Willoughby’s ‘We Have Survived’ has became an unofficial anthem for Australia’s Aboriginal community.
We of the Never Never feature film – 1982
Race relations is the theme that is constantly lurking in this story about one woman’s life on an outback station.
Where Death Wears a Smile documentary – 1985
The little-known story of two Australian soldiers interned in a Nazi concentration camp in Czechoslovakia during the Second World War.
The White Monkey documentary – 1987
Father Brian Gore, a Columban missionary on Negros Island in the Philippines, was imprisoned on trumped-up charges by the Marcos Government.
Wings to Victory documentary – 1984
Celebrating the win by 12-metre yacht Australia II, this was the first time that America had lost the America’s Cup in 132 years.
Winners – Just Friends television program – 1985
Just Friends reveals the hard asks of a young teenager – trying to fit in, standing up for yourself and resisting peer pressure to do things you’re not comfortable with.
Winners – On Loan television program – 1985
This is a strong and very painful story as Lindy is forced to make a difficult choice between her natural father and her adoptive parents.
Winners – Quest Beyond Time television program – 1985
Simply told, and not too frightening, Quest Beyond Time shows the changes that could occur in the world if a nuclear war takes place.
Winners – Room to Move television program – 1985
The script of this telemovie (starring a young Nicole Kidman) was criticised at the time for undermining parental authority but that seems hard to understand now.
Winners – The Other Facts of Life television program – 1985
Ben’s over-the-top campaign to right the wrongs of the world is funny to watch but at the same time confronts viewers with some serious global and local issues.
Winners – The Paper Boy television program – 1985
The Paper Boy is a beautifully shot period film that captures the era and gives a realistic insight into the lives of struggling people in the Depression.
Winners – Top Kid television program – 1985
A compelling moral drama, made more powerful by its refusal to deal in absolutes, Top Kid draws on the real-life rigging of top American quiz shows in the 1950s.
Winner Take All – Downside Risk television program – 1982
An ABC TV series about the fast-paced world of big business, Winner Take All is an early ‘80s time capsule.
Winter of Our Dreams feature film – 1981
It was surprising that this uncompromising film about a junkie prostitute’s failure to find love, would work so well with audiences.
Women in the Surf documentary – 1986
Documentary on the battle for women to take to the waves, from Isabel Letham in 1914 to Pam Burridge in the 1980s.
Women of the Sun television program – 1982
The colonisation of Aboriginal peoples, and their lands and resources, as seen through the eyes of four generations of Aboriginal women.
