Australian
Screen

an NFSA website

All titles in the ‘Experimental’ genre

19 titles - sorted alphabetically or by year

A

Against the Grain: More Meat than Wheat feature film – 1980

A terrorist visits his family in Western Australia after detonating a bomb in Sydney on Anzac Day.

B

Breathing Under Water feature film – 1991

The director’s preoccupation with humankind’s tendency to self-destruct was one factor that lead to the creation of this complex film.

C

Camera Natura short film – 1986

This montage film is about the spirit of the land: charting the contours of myth, geography and landscape.

E

Epsilon feature film – 1995

Rolf de Heer combines extraordinary time lapse photography with a drama that argues that the human race is killing the planet.

F

From Sand to Celluloid – Black Man Down short film – 1996

This short experimental drama offers a spiritual alternative to fighting the system. To overcome injustice, return to your spiritual roots for healing to take place.

I

Indefinable Moods short film – 2001

This short animation by artist Kathy Smith is a surreal Australian dream landscape with music.

In the Head the Fire radio – 1966

This radiophonic piece written by composer Nigel Butterley in 1966 won the prestigious Prix Italia and set a benchmark for radio in Australia.

L

Living Room documentary – 1988

This beautiful, unsettling experimental documentary is a meditation on Australian suburbia and notions of home.

M

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.

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.

Moodeitj Yorgas documentary – 1988

Moffatt’s work, influenced by cinema and pop culture, probes misconceptions about Aboriginality and explores gender, sexuality and identity.

N

Night Cries: A Rural Tragedy short film – 1989

Tracey Moffatt continues to challenge the social construction of Aboriginality and how it is viewed nationally and internationally. Night Cries is a possible sequel to Jedda.

O

One Way Street: Fragments for Walter Benjamin documentary – 1992

One Way Street is a timely exploration of a figure who was on the way to being recognised among the great 20th century philosophers.

P

Palm Beach feature film – 1979

The underrated Palm Beach, set on Sydney’s northern beaches, is very daring in its use of sound.

The Picture Woman short film – 1997

Over a series of seemingly unrelated images, a woman speaks in voice-over of taking a photo of herself every other day.

S

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.

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.

W

We Aim to Please short film – 1976

We Aim to Please incorporated experimental and feminist ideas and was a bold break away from the narrative films and factual documentaries of the time.

The Workman’s Nightmare short film – 1951

In the first short film from amateur filmmakers the Straford Brothers, a young man falls asleep on his work break and dreams that his ladder attacks him.