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Mental Health (1/3)
A growing collection of films on mental health issues, ranging from case studies to the social context of mental health issues. The films are generally made by independent filmmakers and represent a body of work that expresses individual concerns and interests, rather than institutions and facilities.
AFTER THE APOLOGY
2017 (M) 82 min
In Larissa Behrendt's riveting documentary, four Aboriginal women each face their own battle to challenge government policies and bureaucracies to bring their grandchildren home. Their grassroots actions spearhead a national conversation to curb skyrocketing rates of child removal. more
AGONY OF ECSTASY, THE
2014 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 31 min
Convinced that ecstasy use is behind her struggle with anxiety, depression and memory loss, 28-year old Lise sets out to discover how the 'Love Drug' is affecting her brain and those of the half a million Ecstasy users in Australia today. more
ANGELS GATHER HERE
2017 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 49 min
Angels Gather Here follows Jacki Trapman's journey back to her hometown of Brewarrina to celebrate her parents' 60th Wedding Anniversary. Going home is never easy, and for Jackie it means facing the traumas of her past. more
ARLI (from the CAAMA Collection)
2016 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 30 min
A moving story of rehabilitation and re-connection with family and community. Arlun McCormack, a young Arrernte man from Alice Springs, tells us the story of his fight with substance abuse, and his rehabilitation through writing and performing rap music. An award-winning film by Christopher Fitzpatrick. more
BAULKHAM HILLS AFRICAN LADIES TROUPE, THE
2016 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: M) 81 min
The story of four charismatic and inspirational African women, now living in Australia, who, with the help of acclaimed theatre director Ros Horin, turned their harrowing stories of survival into a joyous theatre of humanity that has filled theatres from across their new country to the other side of the world. more
BAXTER AND ME
2016 (PG) 83 min
One woman's life, with and without men, but always with dogs. This personal and inventive film by Gillian Leahy raises questions about how we relate to the 'wild' in dogs, and how we relate to other animals (and humans) in the world at large. more
BIG BAD LOVE
2016 (M) 26 min
After discovering her best friend was violently abused by her partner, stand-up comedian Becky Lucas wants to know how you can spot an abusive relationship and what you can do about it. more
BIG NAME, NO BLANKET
2013 (M) 58 min
The extraordinary story of George Rrurrambu, the former lead singer of the pioneering Warumpi Band of the 1980s. George was the charismatic frontman, who combined rock and roll, reggae, pop and traditional culture to spread the message about Indigenous contemporary issues, awakening the Australian consciousness of another... more
BILLAL
1996 (M) 86 min
Sixteen-year-old Lebanese-Australian Billal is struck by a car in the aftermath of fighting between Anglo–Australian and Lebanese youths on a state housing estate in south-west Sydney. Billal is hospitalised with permanent brain damage. The film follows Billal's long fight back to some sort of health, and the stresses... more
BLISS
1985/2022 (MA) 111 min
The celebrated debut feature by Ray Lawrence is a masterwork of bold ideas, gleefully surreal images, subversive farce and tenderness. From a Peter Carey screenplay and novel. Now re-mastered from the original film negatives by the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia. more
BORDER POLITICS
2018 (PG) 90 min
In this film, leading Human Rights barrister, Julian Burnside AO, deconstructs harsh asylum seeker policies around the world, arguing that failure in political leadership is compromising human rights and destroying democratic principles in the West. more
BULLYING CULTURES
2017 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 65 min
Professor Valerie Braithwaite, renowned internationally for her studies of work-place and school-yard bullying, examines the social and psychological dynamics that contribute to a bullying culture and what must happen to break that culture. more
COMPLAINTS OF A DUTIFUL DAUGHTER
1994 (PG) 44 min
A loving and optimistic film which portrays a mother and daughter's battle with Alzheimer's Disease. more
DRIVING WITH RICHARD
1992 (G) 50 min
DRIVING WITH RICHARD is the story of a remarkable friendship between two women - Deirdre Croft and Carley Pukallus. Deirdre and Carley have provided support for each other for over six years as they cope with the trauma, hardship and enormous challenge of caring for their handicapped children. more
EXILE AND THE KINGDOM
1993 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 110 min
The experiences of a community of Aboriginal people from pre-colonial times to the 1990s. The re-release of the award-winning feature documentary from 1993, made with the YINDJIBARNDI, NGARLUMA, BANYJIMA and GURRAMA people of Roebourne, Western Australia. more
FREEDOM STORIES
2015 (PG) 99 min
Explores the achievements of former 'boat people' who arrived from the Middle-East around the watershed year of 2001. Locked in remote detention centres and then placed on temporary protection visas, their limbo lasted for years. Now Australian citizens, they are building secure lives and contributing to their new country. more
GENOCIDE IN THE WILDFLOWER STATE
2024 (M) 58 min
An intensively researched documentary which describes a violent, state-run system of eugenics, racial absorption, and social assimilation in 20th century Western Australia. more
HABITS OF NEW NORCIA, THE
2000 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 53 min
Re-release of a remarkable documentary from 2000: the story of the Benedictine Aboriginal Mission at New Norcia, in Western Australia. Now a popular tourist destination north of Perth, the Mission holds harsh memories for the former Aboriginal "inmates" who were placed there during the 1920s through to the 1960s. more
HANDLING THE HEART
2022 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 27 min
An exploration of patient experiences following major heart surgery - how to understand them and live with them: a story of existential crises and transformative experiences, told by four ex-patients. Adapted from the feature-length documentary, PUMPHEAD. more
HILLMEN, THE - a Soccer Fable
1996 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 56 min
A story about cross-cultural relationships, the generation gap and what it's like to lose. ... A film by Steve Thomas. WINNER! BEST TV DOCUMENTARY in the AFI Awards,1996. more