Australian
Screen

an NFSA website

Titles tagged with ‘migrants’

52 titles - sorted alphabetically or by year

B

The Broken Melody feature film – 1938

A film with music rather than a musical, The Broken Melody is one of the few films of the 1930s that tries to depict the Depression’s effect on real people.

C

Chequerboard – It’s A Big Day In Any Girl’s Life television program – 1973

A 1970s country society wedding is contrasted with the union of two people living in the city who met on their way to work in a local shoe factory.

Clubland feature film – 2007

Clubland explores that time when a young man discovers sex and has to sever the relationship he has with his mother.

Compass – Embracing the Enemy television program – 2005

Turkish immigrants in the 1970s found they were forbidden to march with the Australians on Anzac Day.

D

Dangerous Immigrant documentary – 1960

This CSIRO documentary alerts the general public to the dangers of the European house borer.

Darwin c1926 historical – c1926

This historical and cultural record of Darwin in the 1920s includes valuable footage of the city’s environment and its multicultural population.

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.

Dimpel, Konrad: Burned Out Fields Around My Walking Ways home movie – 2003

This home movie by Canberra resident Konrad Dimpel documents the bushfires that swept through the ACT in January 2003 and their destructive aftermath.

Driving Home short film – 1999

In this animated short film, a young Korean immigrant struggles to define her cultural identity.

E

Eureka Stockade feature film – 1949

In 1854, miners in the Ballarat goldfields take up arms against government troops in a defining moment of Australian history.

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.

Floating Life feature film – 1996

Being a new migrant is portrayed with amazing freshness, perhaps because the film’s key creators had not been in Australia for long.

The Food Lovers’ Guide to Australia – Series 5 Episode 6 television program – 2004

Another program in this very attractive series with its blend of produce, recipes and the cultures that make up contemporary Australia.

Footy Legends feature film – 2006

Anh Do, best known as a stand-up comedian, gives a heartbreakingly real performance as a man of limited education trying to keep his family together, and get back into the economic mainstream.

The Forerunner documentary – 1957

The Forerunner positions the the Snowy Mountains Hydro-electric Scheme’s as the country’s 'first major step towards the final solution of Australia’s water problem’.

Friday on My Mind music – 1966

‘Friday on My Mind’ was the first international pop hit by an Australian band, and a landmark in the distinguished career of songwriting team Harry Vanda and George Young.

G

Gerakiteys: Greek Community Picnics home movie – 1950

This beautiful colour footage captures how the Greek community in Canberra lived at the time, and the ways they contributed to community life.

Gerakiteys: Greek Scenes home movie – c1955

The Gerakiteys home movies represent a detailed example of multicultural life in Australia during the 1950s.

Gerakiteys: Greek Wedding Reception: Canberra Scenes home movie – c1954

This is a rare example of home movie footage of migrant communities living in Australia in the 1950s.

Go Back to Where You Came From – Series 1 television program – 2011

An immersive documentary in which six Australians test their prejudices by tracing in reverse the journeys taken by refugees to Australia.

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.

Green Tea and Cherry Ripe documentary – 1989

A portrait of Japanese women who came to Australia as war brides after the Second World War, and their experiences in an alien land.

H

Harvie Krumpet short film – 2003

Adam Elliot combines darkness and humour, tragedy and triumph, Alzheimer’s and living life to the full, so that we may learn more about what it means to be human.

Head On feature film – 1998

In terms of iconoclastic daring, Head On has no equal in Australian cinema. It broke so many rules, offended so many polite conventions, attacked so many silences, that it left audiences stunned and gulping for air.

I

Il Contratto feature film – 1953

In 1950s Melbourne, four recent Italian migrants eager for work to pay off their debts finally find employment on a rural farm near the city.

L

La Spagnola feature film – 2001

The men here are little better than beasts, and into sex without responsibility; the women are crafty, creative and capable of malice.

Letters From Poland short film – 1978

While the plight of migrant women was a pillar issue for 1970s and 1980s Australian feminism, this film’s approach to the issue is very much focused on the individual.

Looking For Alibrandi feature film – 1999

There is a lot of genuine affection between the grandmother, mother, and daughter in this film but conversations are bruising too.

Lucky Miles feature film – 2007

Few Australian films have dealt with illegal immigration and refugees. Lucky Miles does so through comedy, but without losing its sense of compassion.

M

Mail Order Bride television program – 1984

A hard-hitting drama about racism, sexism and xenophobia in a small country town.

Mother Tongue short film – 2002

Set in Korea in 1976, this haunting film conveys how a young girl’s relationship with her parents is altered by the loss of her mother tongue.

N

Ninety Nine Per Cent short feature – 1963

Pino, an Italian immigrant widower, seeks an agency bride to keep house and be wife and mother to him and his son Peter.

O

Only the Brave short feature – 1994

Although made on a low budget, Only the Brave showed that first-time filmmaker Ana Kokkinos had an uncompromising ambition to tell powerful and personal stories.

P

Peach’s Gold – Eureka television program – 1983

This series exploits a range of first-hand sources for its vibrant retelling of the history, while Bill Peach appears from time to time to explain and analyse.

The Piano feature film – 1993

The Piano is a film about an artist and the story of a woman whose passionate nature is akin to a form of madness. Both themes are common to Jane Campion’s work.

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.

Romper Stomper feature film – 1992

Romper Stomper makes viewers participants, forcing them to confront how they feel about violence as entertainment.

Romulus, My Father feature film – 2007

This film is one of a small number of high quality films dealing with the lives of migrants, but it doesn’t labour this point.

S

Snowy Hydro – Conquest of the Rivers sponsored film – 1957

This is essentially a recruitment film, targeting the types of workers whose adaptability and skills base would well serve the Snowy Hydro scheme’s requirements.

Snowy Hydro – Conservation in the Snowy Mountains sponsored film – 1955

This film traces the history of soil erosion in the Snowy Mountains and demonstrates the approach taken by the Snowy Mountains Scheme to counteract the problem.

Snowy Hydro - The Best of the Years sponsored film – 1974

This 1974 documentary examines the multicultural workforce and its achievement in building one of the world’s largest hydroelectric schemes to that date.

Snowy Hydro – The Snowy Mountains Scheme sponsored film – 1952

Interesting as an early document on the Snowy Hydro scheme, it’s an unabashed celebration of the entire endeavour, depicting it as a model of postwar reconstruction.

Snowy Hydro - Where Men and Mountains Meet sponsored film – 1963

This film is a fascinating depiction of the national ideal of postwar masculinity, looking at the spectrum of workers involved in the Snowy Mountains Scheme.

Soft Fruit feature film – 1999

This comedy, drenched in grief and family conflict, would be a tragedy if it were not so funny and affectionate.

Some of Many: Germans in Australia documentary – 1983

An Australian-based German filmmaker traces the changing fortunes of German immigrants to Australia from the first fleet to the late 1980s.

Sunstruck feature film – 1972

Welsh schoolteacher Stanley Evans takes a posting in Kookaburra Springs, a tiny outback town. He forms a children’s choir which travels to Sydney for a national competition.

T

Temple of Dreams documentary – 2007

Made at the time of the Cronulla riots, articulate young Australian Muslim leaders take action to recognise and address the needs of their community.

They’re a Weird Mob feature film – 1966

An Italian sports journalist arrives in Australia to find his cousin’s new magazine for migrant Italians has folded. He soon gets a job as a builder’s labourer, learns to talk and drink like an Australian, and falls in love with an Australian girl.

Through the Centre sponsored film – 1940

The Indian camel trader and the Japanese pearl diver become part of the film’s projection of the exotic within the expansive space of the Australian outback.

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.

W

A World for Children documentary – c1962

Siblings Maret, Juri and Yanni convey the experience of European immigrant children arriving at the Bonegilla Migrant Reception Centre in Victoria.

Y

Yanks Down Under documentary – 1983

This documentary profiles Americans in the entertainment business, including a 16-year-old Marcia Hines brought to Australia by the musical Hair.