Titles tagged with ‘experimental’
32 titles - sorted alphabetically or by year
1930s
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.
1950s
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.
1960s
The Piano Tuner short film – 1960
Amateur filmmakers the Straford Brothers started making this comedy short to test their newly purchased 16mm Bolex camera.
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.
1970s
Oz – A Rock ‘n’ Roll Road Movie feature film – 1976
Director Chris Löfvén was heavily involved in the rock music scene. Oz was his attempt to rework The Wizard of Oz for a mid-1970s youth audience.
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.
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.
Third Person Plural feature film – 1978
A look at the emotional entanglements of four Sydney friends who take a weekend boating trip.
Palm Beach feature film – 1979
The underrated Palm Beach, set on Sydney’s northern beaches, is very daring in its use of sound.
1980s
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.
An Exercise in Discipline: Peel short film – 1982
In Jane Campion’s Palme d’Or winning student short, a bickering red-headed family on a weekend road trip reach a standoff by the side of a country road.
A Girl’s Own Story short film – 1983
In this short film by Jane Campion about changes afoot in 1960s society, teenage girls get in trouble for acting out Beatles concerts in the playground.
Passionless Moments short film – 1983
Jane Campion’s student short film delivers funny, fragmentary tales with an unsentimental whimsy.
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.
Camera Natura short film – 1986
This montage film is about the spirit of the land: charting the contours of myth, geography and landscape.
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.
Living Room documentary – 1988
This beautiful, unsettling experimental documentary is a meditation on Australian suburbia and notions of home.
Moodeitj Yorgas documentary – 1988
Moffatt’s work, influenced by cinema and pop culture, probes misconceptions about Aboriginality and explores gender, sexuality and identity.
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.
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.
1990s
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Cheap Blonde short film – 1998
A humorous experimental word game which examines gender representation and authorship in the cinema.
2000s
Episodes in Disbelief short film – 2000
This short animation is a reflection on childhood loss as the narrator attempts to come to terms with the death of her father.
Indefinable Moods short film – 2001
This short animation by artist Kathy Smith is a surreal Australian dream landscape with music.
Palermo: ‘History’ Standing Still short film – 2004
Images of architecture and street life shot in Palermo in 1999 are edited as a mock-documentary to suggest a century of history, and to examine issues of authenticity in the period film.
The First Thing I Remember short film – 2005
A short documentary in which 12 people recall their first memory.
My Mother Told Me short film – 2007
A fragmentary account of the horrors of war in Cambodia evolves into an exploration of its aftershocks in a family and the impact of cultural dislocation on identity.
Night documentary – 2007
The real time and time-lapse images in Night are edited seamlessly and, in combination with the music, become very meditative.
