Senses of Cinema
As notions of civil rights transformed across the world, so was the screen landscape reformed by the ascension of grassroots film movements seeking to challenge the mainstream. Some aspired to push form to its limit; others worked to destabilise what they saw as a homogenous industry, or to provoke questions around gender, sexuality, migration and race.
Casts & Crew
Gillian Armstrong
Jan Chapman
Phillip Noyce
Gary Foley
Ivan Gaal
Digby Duncan
Albie Thoms
Also Directed by John Hughes
Filmed over a ten-month period throughout Australia, this probing documentary examines the political controversy surrounding Native Title and the Australian Federal Governments proposed amendments to the Native Title Act, 1993. It follows the Indigenous representatives in their attempt to fight the amendments in the media, in the bush, and in the halls of Parliament House, Canberra.
This intellectual, witty Australian drama offers an intriguingly sophisticated look into adultery. Too say too much about this plot would give away the secrets and surprises that gradually unfold, so what follows is the barest sketch. The story features two couples from Melbourne (both played by the same actors) whose lives and romantic troubles seem to overlap or perhaps intertwine in unexpected ways. University lecturer Christopher and his wife Sorrel comprise the main couple. A recent trip to Europe seems to have brought their marriage close to ruins. Avery and Gillian also experience marital turmoil when Avery gets involved with an older French seductress, Catherine.
Partly funded as a Bicentennial commission through the University of Queensland Art Museum and the ABC, Hughes’ speculative, essayistic documentary is an examination of the future of Australia in light of the processes of post-industrialisation, Walter Benjamin’s ruinous “angel of history” and Marx’s quixotic vision of modernity.
A film that is built around a simple narrative about the concerns of a reporter in public radio whose work takes her from the tele-room in March '83 when the present Labor Prime Minister Bob Hawke came to power, to the biennial Labor Party Conference and through to the elections in Dec. '84. Traps throws up a host of questions and leads on the nature of power and politics.
Also Directed by Tom Zubrycki
A refugee from the Sudanese civil war, Zacharia (one of the ‘Lost Boys' of Sudan) lives in Sydney with his wife and daughter. He desperately wants to do something for his former village, now in the newly created nation of South Sudan. His dream is to build a much-needed school, enlisting the backing of numerous Australians. Janet, a dedicated supporter, joins him on a 40-day fundraising walk from Tweed Heads to Sydney along with filmmaker Tom Zubrycki. But will this strategy raise the funds they need? Thwarted by escalating conflict back in South Sudan, and shocked by a broken relationship, Zac must decide what's important in his life.
For 24 years East Timor's freedom fighter and Nobel Peace Prize winner José Ramos Horta campaigned to secure independence for his country, a Portuguese colony invaded by Indonesia in 1975. The Diplomat takes up Ramos Horta's story in the final dramatic stages of his long journey - the fall of Indonesia's President Suharto, the referendum to determine East Timor's future, the overwhelming vote for independence, the devastating carnage that ensued, the intervention of United Nations peacekeepers, and Ramos Horta's final triumphant return to his homeland.
The film outlines the history of the redevelopment of the Sydney suburb of Waterloo. Residents are interviewed and archival footage is used to outline the history of change in the area. The documentary emphasises the need for consultation and shows the results of more recent residents’ action groups.
A community video made by Tom Zubrycki and the residents of Balmain and Rozelle that documents concerns held by residents and local businesses about the impact of an existing port terminal on their community. Residents give their perspectives on the issues of noise, pollution and safety which arise from trucks laden with shipping containers rolling down Mort Street, Balmain towards the terminal. The community’s protests and lobbying efforts are also recorded.
Goes behind the scenes of the original stage production of Bran Nue Dae, which was eventually adapted into the box-office hit musical.
Eccentric British developer Lord McAlpine has a dream – an urge to create a whole new civilisation in Australia’s North based around the town of Broome in the remote north of Western Australia. Within a year of arriving he buys a cinema, builds a luxury resort and starts a zoo. He even has his sights on an international airport. However not everyone likes the change this will bring to the town – least of all the Aboriginal community.
Molly & Mobarak is a 2003 Australian documentary directed by Tom Zubrycki. It follows a Hazara asylum seeker, 22-year-old Mobarak Tahiri, as he falls in love with 25-year-old Molly Rule, and faces possible deportation as his temporary visa nears expiration.
Zubrycki’s controversial, provocative and rarely screened documentary about the Australian trade-union movement was originally commissioned by the ACTU and funded by the Bicentennial Authority to provide an audio-visual history stretching from the birth of the movement in the mid-1850s and the formation of the Australian Labor Party to key events like the 1891 shearers’ strike and the 1988 Bicentenary. This pro-union but objective history, focusing on the struggle between capital and labour, and featuring the candid testimony of many unionists, was refused sanction by the ACTU and has long languished in obscurity aside from some “illegal” screenings in the early 1990s.
On the eve of bicentennial celebrations, Strangers in Paradise looks at Australian culture through the eyes of tourists on a ‘Dreamtime’ tour.
One thousand power workers went on strike against the South East Queensland Electrical Board (SEQEB)in February 1985 in protest against the introduction of contract worker hire. This documentary details the industrial relations dispute between the ensuing Joh Bjelke Peterson coalition government and the Electrical Trades Union in Queensland, Australia during 1985.