All titles produced in 1985
37 titles
A
Arthur Boyd: Figures in the Landscape documentary – 1985
Arthur Boyd shows how he uses his fingers and the palm of his hand to paint, allowing him to 'feel his way through the painting’.
Australia Post – News Release E-Post Electronic Mail sponsored film – 1985
This 1985 video press release explains E-Post, a new service offered by Australia Post to replace the old telegram service and superseded teleprinter technology.
Australia Post – The Last of the TPOs sponsored film – 1985
This program marks the closure of the Travelling Post Office, a mail service that had worked in conjunction with Australia’s various railway networks since 1865.
B
Belsen For Example documentary – 1985
The recollections of concentration camp survivors, now living in Australia, and rescuers, are extraordinary.
Bliss feature film – 1985
To say Bliss was ahead of its time is an understatement: the bold metaphors and sharp satire weren’t appreciated by everyone in 1985.
Burke & Wills feature film – 1985
The epic and tragic story of the first expedition to cross Australia from south to north, in 1860–61.
Butterfly Island – Series 1 Episode 1 television program – 1985
A young Vietnamese refugee on the run complicates the Wilson family’s attempts to save idyllic Butterfly Island from a crooked resort developer.
C
Clowns and their Make-Up documentary – 1985
As the title indicates, this is about how to apply clown make-up and not about much else.
The Coca-Cola Kid feature film – 1985
The Coca–Cola company sends its top trouble shooter to boost sales in Australia. He plans to win customers away from a much loved, old-style soft-drink maker.
Crocodile Dundee feature film – 1985
This is not just the most commercially successful Australian film ever made, but also one of the most successful non-Hollywood films.
D
Desert Walker: Gulf to Gulf documentary – 1985
The Flying Doctor base helped Denis Bartell when he became the first white man to walk across Australia from north to south.
D-Generation – Series 1 Episode 1 television program – 1985
While the D-Generation credits read like a who’s who of two decades’ worth of Australian comedy, at the time these comedians were unknowns.
The Dunera Boys – Episode 2 television program – 1985
German Jews who had fled to Britain to escape Nazi persecution were then interned as 'enemy aliens’ in Australia and became known as the 'Dunera boys’.
The Dunera Boys – Episode 3 television program – 1985
Just who or what is a Jew is an important theme of this series. Private Dunstan’s response shows how sheltered Australia was from the maelstrom of Europe.
F
For a Price documentary – 1985
This catalogue of what kinds of sex there was for sale in the mid-1980s, also makes a link between drugs and prostitution.
A Fortunate Life television program – 1985
While most viewers will be aware of a strong note of irony underlying the story, there is no doubt that in the final analysis it is one of hope, endurance and faith in humanity.
Four Corners – French Connections television program – 1985
An extraordinary docudrama about the sinking of the Rainbow Warrior and the death of a Portuguese cameraman.
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.
H
Half Life: A Parable for the Nuclear Age documentary – 1985
O’Rourke presents the case that the US government used the Marshall Islands as a testing ground for atomic weapons to document the long-term effects of radiation.
The Harold Holt Mystery documentary – 1985
On 17 December 1967 Australian Prime Minister Harold Holt disappeared while swimming at Cheviot Beach, Victoria. This docudrama reconstructs Holt’s last days and examines controversial theories surrounding his death.
Hellfire Jack: The John Curtin Story documentary – 1985
A portrait of John Curtin, Prime Minister of Australia from 1941 to 1945.
The Henderson Kids – Series 1 Episode 2 television program – 1985
Teenage actors Nadine Garner, Kylie Minogue and Ben Mendelsohn feature in this classic 1980s children’s drama from Crawford Productions.
P
Palace of Dreams television program – 1985
In this acclaimed drama series, an aspiring writer arrives in Sydney from the country during the turbulent and desperate times of the Great Depression.
Playing Beatie Bow feature film – 1985
Playing Beatie Bow has the sumptuous look and feel of a period film, thanks to its award-winning cinematography and production design.
R
Red Matildas documentary – 1985
Told through the lives of three women, Red Matildas explores the social and political conditions in Australia during the Great Depression.
Robbery Under Arms television program – 1985
Before this 1985 version there had been five attempts to tell this story, the best known being the Australian–British feature film of 1957 starring Peter Finch as Captain Starlight.
Rocking the Foundations documentary – 1985
Rocking The Foundations is more than a film about a union: it’s a film about social change and how ordinary people can make that happen.
S
Short Changed feature film – 1985
The script is beautifully weighted so that the political context of the film does not inhibit the personal journey of the characters.
A Street to Die feature film – 1985
A Vietnam veteran and his wife fight for legal recognition of the damage done to him by the defoliant Agent Orange.
W
Where Death Wears a Smile documentary – 1985
The little-known story of two Australian soldiers interned in a Nazi concentration camp in Czechoslovakia during the Second World War.
Winners – Just Friends television program – 1985
Just Friends reveals the hard asks of a young teenager – trying to fit in, standing up for yourself and resisting peer pressure to do things you’re not comfortable with.
Winners – On Loan television program – 1985
This is a strong and very painful story as Lindy is forced to make a difficult choice between her natural father and her adoptive parents.
Winners – Quest Beyond Time television program – 1985
Simply told, and not too frightening, Quest Beyond Time shows the changes that could occur in the world if a nuclear war takes place.
Winners – Room to Move television program – 1985
The script of this telemovie (starring a young Nicole Kidman) was criticised at the time for undermining parental authority but that seems hard to understand now.
Winners – The Other Facts of Life television program – 1985
Ben’s over-the-top campaign to right the wrongs of the world is funny to watch but at the same time confronts viewers with some serious global and local issues.
Winners – The Paper Boy television program – 1985
The Paper Boy is a beautifully shot period film that captures the era and gives a realistic insight into the lives of struggling people in the Depression.
Winners – Top Kid television program – 1985
A compelling moral drama, made more powerful by its refusal to deal in absolutes, Top Kid draws on the real-life rigging of top American quiz shows in the 1950s.
