Australian
Screen

an NFSA website

Titles tagged with ‘communities’

25 titles - sorted alphabetically or by year

A

Addison Road Drop-In documentary – 1977

The Sydney suburb of Marrickville has Australia’s ‘first, largest and longest-surviving community centre’; it is shown here in the 1970s.

B

The Back of Beyond documentary – 1954

Battling heat, dust and flood, Tom Kruse delivers mail, stores and supplies along the 517 kilometre Birdsville Track in central Australia.

Big Girls Don’t Cry documentary – 2002

This is about Indigenous women living with renal disease, and their strength pulls at the heart strings.

Bit of Black Business – Sharpeye short film – 2007

An 11-year-old boy’s sharp eyes help thwart an invasion exercise by elite Special Forces soldiers in the Torres Strait.

Blackrock feature film – 1996

Blackrock’s depiction of teenagers letting off steam with sex and drink and rock 'n’ roll is very dynamic because of the fluid camerawork, lively soundtrack and energetic choreography.

C

Collingwood Community School documentary – 1975

These students would probably no longer be at school if an alternative education environment like the one they’re in didn’t exist.

D

Delivery Day short film – 2000

A girl is caught between competing demands of family and school. Uncle Le needs help in his garment shop but it’s parent-teacher night.

F

Fig Street Fiasco documentary – 1974

Residents take on the bulldozers and the police in Tom Zubrycki’s look at urban redevelopment in Sydney in the 1970s.

Footy The La Perouse Way documentary – 2006

Sydney’s La Perouse had an all-black football team in the 1930s but all nationalities were being welcomed by the 1950s.

G

Going Tribal documentary – 1995

It takes sophistication to live simply. Going Tribal captures the joy of life and values of a group of ferals living in the Byron Bay area.

Green Bush short film – 2005

Warwick Thornton began his film career as a cinematographer and moved into directing and writing. In Green Bush, his visual aesthetic complements his storytelling strengths.

I

I Can Jump Puddles television program – 1981

Based on the autobiographical novel of the same name by Alan Marshall, this story of struggle and courage has become a classic Australian tale.

The Inner City Tape documentary – 1974

‘This is our story. The story of our city, our people, our communities.’ This is an example of the work of the community video movement of the 1970s.

J

Joe Leahy’s Neighbours documentary – 1988

This was an excellent opportunity to make a contemporary film about the Papua New Guinea highlands and explore the society forming in the wake of Western contact.

L

Last Mail from Birdsville: The Story of Tom Kruse documentary – 2000

As a result of the 1954 film Back of Beyond, Tom Kruse and the historic last mail run drew considerable media attention and inspired the making of this film.

M

Message Stick – Koori Court television program – 2005

The Koori Court in Victoria was set up to reduce high imprisonment rates by combining Aboriginal beliefs with the white legal system.

Message Stick – Wathaurong Glass television program – 2003

Wathaurong Glass is an initiative that not only creates a new way of expressing Aboriginal art, but also provides a service to the community from which it comes.

O

Our Park documentary – 1998

Gillian Leahy visits a micro-world – the park outside her house. Her films are both documentaries and works of fiction.

P

The Painters and Dockers Strike documentary – 1976

In the 1950s the Waterside Workers’ Federation of Australia had its own film unit to counter government policies of the day.

Prahran 3181: Swimming in the Backyard documentary – 2001

Simple subject matter – life at a swimming pool – captures the social interaction of the regulars and the sense of community.

R

Raccolta D’Inverno, Winter’s Harvest documentary – 1979

The government has now outlawed this traditional Italian community event of slaughtering and butchering a pig and feasting on it.

Return Home feature film – 1990

Suburbs in Australian cinema are usually the place that characters flee from; this film suggests you can also go back.

S

Shifting Sands – Tears short film – 1997

Tears introduces the two main characters from Ivan Sen’s feature film Beneath Clouds, and also presents the elements that shape his later feature.

U

Union Street short film – 1990

An ordinary city street is revealed as a ‘street of many colours’.

W

We Have To Live With It documentary – 1974

Tom Zubrycki’s first foray into filmmaking – a 1970s community video – reflects an interest in social issues that continues throughout his career.