All titles in the ‘Social realism’ genre
22 titles - sorted alphabetically or by year
B
Boxing Day feature film – 2007
The unconventional production method helped give Boxing Day an unusually intense sense of foreboding, danger and unpredictability.
C
Cedar Boys feature film – 2008
Three young Lebanese Australians get into deep water by stealing drugs from a dealer.
The Combination feature film – 2009
After serving a jail term a young Lebanese Australian man struggles to stop his wild younger brother from making the mistakes that he made.
D
Dance Me to My Song feature film – 1998
A woman with severe cerebral palsy battles to maintain her dignity and independence in the face of a selfish and negligent carer.
F
The Finished People feature film – 2003
This ultra-low budget feature cuts between three stories of disadvantaged young people struggling to survive on the streets of Cabramatta.
Fran feature film – 1985
A vivacious young mother is married to a violent man. Her desperate need for love leads her to some tragically inappropriate choices.
G
The Golden Cage feature film – 1975
Murat and Ayhan are Turkish migrants living in Sydney. Ayhan falls in love with Sarah, but religious and cultural differences create problems.
H
A Hard God television program – 1980
A Hard God, based on the play of the same name, is the story of a working-class Irish-Australian Catholic family in Sydney in the 1940s.
Harp in the South television program – 1986
The ‘harp in the south’ refers to Irish immigrants in Australia. A mini-series, based on Ruth Park’s book, follows the Darcys in the aftermath of the Second World War.
J
Jack and Jill: A Postscript feature film – 1970
Jack lives in a condemned house and rides with a bikie gang. Gillian, a kindergarten teacher from a middle-class family, is attracted to Jack.
L
The Leaving of Liverpool television program – 1992
Lily and Bert are transported from an orphanage in England to Australia, where their childhoods are stolen from them in so-called 'centres of care’.
M
Mail Order Bride television program – 1984
A hard-hitting drama about racism, sexism and xenophobia in a small country town.
P
Petersen feature film – 1974
Though promoted as a lusty yarn, the frequent and fairly explicit sex scenes between the film’s unhappy characters are hardly titillating.
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.
R
Rats in the Ranks documentary – 1996
The behind-the-scenes political wheeling and dealing in the countdown to the election of a new mayor for Sydney’s Leichhardt Council.
S
Snowtown feature film – 2010
A vulnerable South Australian teenage boy is drawn into a horrific world of murder and torture.
Son of a Lion feature film – 2007
The story behind this brave independent film, shot secretly in Pakistan and depicting everyday life there, is as fascinating as the film itself.
The Sound of One Hand Clapping feature film – 1997
Sonja Buloh returns to Hobart 20 years after leaving her violent father, Bojan. Their reunion ignites painful memories of shattered family life.
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.
Sunshine Sally feature film – 1922
The working-class Sally falls in love with the adopted son of wealthy parents from whom she was kidnapped as a child.
T
Third Person Plural feature film – 1978
A look at the emotional entanglements of four Sydney friends who take a weekend boating trip.
W
West feature film – 2007
Pete and Jerry are like the ‘dole-bludgers’ and ‘welfare cheats’ found in current affairs programs; West makes them human.
