The Pacific In The Wake of Captain Cook
History is taking to the seas and walking in the footsteps of Captain James Cook. 250 years after Cook began his epic exploration of the Pacific, Sam Neill (Jurassic Park, The Piano) journeys in his wake uncovering stories that resonate from those times on both sides of the beach. Sam begins with a disclaimer – he is merely an actor – but the story of Cook, and the impact he has had on the Pacific in the 250 years since his first voyage, has always fascinated him.
Sally Aitken
Kriv Stenders
Casts & Crew
Sam Neill
Also Directed by Sally Aitken
A fascinating look at the colorful career of architect Frank Gehry who despite being well into his eighties remains one of the world's most celebrated and famously provocative creative forces. From the iconic Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao to LA's Walt Disney Concert Hall, Gehry's buildings both intrigue and ignite. For Frank, rules are there to be broken. Alan Yentob explores Gehry's remarkable journey from poor outsider in Toronto to global 'starchitect' and follows the construction of a characteristically audacious new Gehry building in Sydney - his first in Australia.
An intimate portrait of Sidney Nolan, the Australian artist.
A compelling personal journey with David Stratton, as he relates the fascinating development of our cinema history. David guides us from his boyhood cinema experience of Australia in England, where he saw the first images of this strange and exotic landscape via the medium of film, to his migration to Australia as a ‘ten pound pom’ in 1963 and onto his present day reflections on the iconic themes that run through our cinematic legacy. All of this reflects a passionate engagement in a uniquely Australian medium. Parallel and at the heart of the series is the story of an industry whose growing pains David has witnessed over a lifetime. Alongside David, the protagonists of this history are the giants of Australian cinema – both behind the camera and in front of it.
Valerie Taylor is a shark fanatic and an Australian icon – a marine maverick who forged her way as a fearless diver, cinematographer and conservationist. She filmed the real sharks for Jaws and famously wore a chainmail suit, using herself as shark bait, changing our scientific understanding of sharks forever.
The band’s story from the very beginning with founding members Anthony, Murray, Greg and Jeff as they face doubters and disbelievers, before unprecedented fame and reinvention with the power of friendship and dreams, and features extraordinary, never-before seen personal archival footage.
Also Directed by Kriv Stenders
Sam Neill examines the enduring myths of the Anzac legend, sharing his family's war stories and uncovering forgotten truths that haunt us still today.
1902....the Australian Federation is a year old. Twelve year-old Tom's father, Nat, has dragged him and his sister, Sarah, to an isolated farm at the edge of the woods. But Nat's dream of living off the land has died and he is losing his grip on sanity. When three ex-soldiers arrive at their cabin one night Tom, like his father, believes they are providence.
Explores the early events leading up to Red Dog's discovery on the road to Dampier, and his ultimate rise from ordinary dog to Australian legend.
When history teacher Matt Bashir is promoted to Principal of a notoriously violent Boys' school in Sydney's south-west, his radical approach brings him into conflict and leaves his personal life dangerously exposed. But just when he seems to be making progress, a 17-year-old student is found dead on school grounds.
While on a seemingly routine job, a jaded hit man discovers that he's not the only one with his target in the crosshairs.
Love can be difficult at the best of times, and the remarkable Blacktown is a disarmingly honest tale of love-against-the-odds. Office secretary Nikki (Nikki Owen) is disillusioned with her fraught, ‘sometime’ relationship with her married boyfriend, Peter. Emotionally scarred by the dysfunctional relationship, she all but gives up on the possibility of finding anything more meaningful. But in the wake of a torturous and disturbing blind date, Nikki meets Tony (Tony Ryan), a “black fella on a white bus”. Despite their obvious differences and Nikki’s disillusionment, the charismatic Tony shows Nikki that there is indeed room for love and romance in the desperate world of Blacktown. (Madman Entertainment)
Gary Kelp (Samuel Johnson) is losing the plot. As he edits a medical journal called The Illustrated Family Doctor, his life and his body seem to be falling apart. A black comedy about coping with the modern world, based on the novel by David Snell.
A chronological history of one of the most influential bands to come out of Australia, the Go-Betweens.
Short film directed by Kriv Stenders based on the play, "Jack" by Jim McNeil. Starring - Tony Ryan & Richard Green Awards Best Australian Short Film - 1998 AFI Awards Best Short Film Under 15 Minutes - Dendy Awards 1998 Sydney Film Festival Best Australian Short Film - The Erwin Rado Award 1998 Melbourne Film Festival Best European Short Film - 1998 Rotterdam Film Festival Best Director - 1998 St Kilda Film Festival Best Short Film - 1999 Noosa Film Festival
Brock: Over the Top is a feature length documentary that not only chronicles the extraordinary life of Australia’s greatest racing car driver, Peter Brock, but peels away the surface to reveal the profoundly human story behind the legend. This film is a cinematic, thrilling yet intimately personal portrait of a life lived on the racing track and in the public eye. Using a treasure trove of rare archival material coupled with candid interviews with the key characters in Peter Brock’s life including his family, his partners, and closest colleagues, this film tells the epic story of Brock's early obsession with cars, his hard won ascension to the top, his incredible record-breaking victories at Bathurst, his various professional and personal controversies, and his ultimate, tragic death on the race track.