Film Catalogue (4/34)

BLACK MAN'S HOUSES

1992 (G) 58 min

This documentary tells the story of black survival in Tasmania amidst the continuing suppression of history and culture. In doing so, it challenges skin-deep assumptions about Aboriginality today. more

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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

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BLOOD ON THE COAL

2015 (PG) 103 min

Stories from the Queensland coalfields over the last 150 years, as told by mineworkers and their families: a rare and valuable contribution to the history of both Australian labour and the nation's mining industry. more

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BLOWN AWAY

2014 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 61 min

A powerful examination of the myths and facts of Cyclone Tracy, one of Australia's worst natural disasters which devastated the city of Darwin on Christmas Eve, 1974. The film especially explores previously unrecorded Indigenous responses to the crisis. more

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BLUEY

2016 (M) 14 min

A moving and powerful portrait of a young woman trapped in a cycle of violence, hopelessness and despair. She meets a mystery mentor who could change everything. more

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BODYWORK

1989 (PG) 51 min

Morticians, embalmers and grave-diggers talk intimately about each stage of the journey from death to dirt, from expiry to exit. In a matter-of-fact, down-to-earth way, these ordinary people tell us all we ever wanted to know about dead bodies but which our conditioning and socialisation prevented us from asking. more

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BOOMERANG TODAY (KARLI JALANGU) [from the CAAMA Collection]

2004 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 22 min

Re-living ancient traditions in the modern world. A film by David Tranter and Allan Collins. more

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BOOT CAKE, THE

2009 (G) 74 min

A small desert town on the edge of western India's famous salt plains is the unlikely home of the world's largest population of Charlie Chaplin impersonators. The Charlie Circle of Adipur embraces businessmen, shopkeepers, a doctor who prescribes Chaplin movies for medicinal purposes, teachers, engineers, students and... more

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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

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BORN TO SHOP

1991 (G) 53 min

Whether you love shopping or hate it, whether your favourite shop is David Jones, the local bookshop, an open-air market or a hardware store, BORN TO SHOP will make you think about an ordinary activity in a new way. This film does not induce guilt! more

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BOUGAINVILLE SKY

2004 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 75 min

A film about Bougainville's transition from bitter civil war to peace, and about the music and the people who made it happen. more

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BRAN NUE DAE

1991 (PG) 55 min

This documentary traces the development and production of the successful stage musical, Bran Nue Dae. The writer of the play, Jimmy Chi, talks about how his experiences and education led to his writing of the semi-autobiographical musical. Selections from the musical are intercut with interviews and historical footage. more

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BREAD AND DRIPPING

1981 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 17 min

Restored from original film materials: a classic documentary from 1981, telling women's stories of the Great Depression in the 1930s in Australia. more

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BREATHING LIFE INTO BOODJA

2021 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 48 min

A galvanising portrayal of large-scale environmental achievements being made by community groups, Aboriginal communities and rangers, conservation landholders, farmers and scientists, as they work together to restore and heal land around the Porongurup and Stirling Ranges in south-western Australia. more

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BREATHING UNDER WATER

1991 (PG) 78 min

A late 20th century Beatrice (Anne Louise Lambert), mother of a young child, keeps a map 'dredged from her dreams' in a copy of Dante's Inferno. Prompted by questions from her young daughter Maeve (Maeve Dermody), and feeling unease with her own historical present, Beatrice is compelled to make a journey to the underworld. more

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BREWARRINA'S ABORIGINAL LANGUAGE PROGRAM

1998 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 20 min

Made by students and staff at Brewarrina Central School in the north-west of New South Wales, this video documents an innovative Aboriginal language program for students in the first two years of high school (Years 7 and 8). more

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BRIDE FLIGHTS, THE (English version)

2022 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 58 min

The one-way ticket from Spain that changed Australian migration: about 700 Spanish women arrived in Australia during the early 1960s, supported by an informal agreement between the regime of Francisco Franco (1939-1975) and the Australian Government of that time. more

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BRIDE FLIGHTS, THE (Spanish version)

2022 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G)

The one-way ticket from Spain that changed Australian migration: about 700 Spanish women arrived in Australia during the early 1960s, supported by an informal agreement between the regime of Francisco Franco (1939-1975) and the Australian Government of that time. more

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BRIDEWEALTH FOR A GODDESS

2000 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 72 min

This film documents the last performance of the ritual for the fertility goddess Amb Kor, in the Western Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea. Shot over a period of approx. 15 years, the anthropologists and filmmakers have been participant-observers during a time of pivotal change for the clans of the Kawelka tribal group. more

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BRUCE & ME

2006 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 82 min

Filmmaker Oren Siedler's personal exploration into her troubled and unusual relationship with her brilliant, charming, con-artist, white-collar criminal father takes us around the world, from Australia to USA and Cuba. more

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BUCKSKIN

2013 (PG) 57 min

Jack Buckskin is a man whose mission is to sculpt a new urban Aboriginal language and culture, and through that bring hope back to his people. more

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BUDDHA'S FORGOTTEN NUNS, THE

2013 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 34 min

This documentary explores a little-known truth about Buddhism – that women cannot be fully ordained in the same way as men. The film-maker, Wiriya Sati, spent the past 5 years traveling to monasteries in Thailand, UK, USA and Australia, to tell the story of women fighting to regain their place as female monks, or Bhikkhunis,... more

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BUFFALO LEGENDS

1997 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 52 min

Bill Dempsey MBE, himself a football legend, narrates this story of a group of men who knocked down the barriers of racism on the sporting field. On the way they established a way of life based on tolerance, respect and an ethic of making your own fun whatever obstacles are placed along the path. more

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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

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BUNGALUNG [from the CAAMA Collection]

2007 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 22 min

An epic Dreaming story re-told by Anmatjere Elders, in which two young men challenge a clan of Demons. more

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BURNSIDE CONVERSATIONS, THE

2019 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 115 min

16 conversations, 1 topic: Human rights. In dynamic conversations with human rights barrister, Julian Burnside QC, key global thinkers reveal personal perspectives on current threats to human rights in the West, expanding on ideas raised in the film BORDER POLITICS (also available from Ronin Films). more

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BUSH TOYS [from the CAAMA Collection]

2005 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 23 min

Bush Toys is a whimsical and historical journey into the art of Bush Toy making in the Central Desert of Australia. more

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BUSINESS BEHIND BARS

2000 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: M) 104 min

This documentary reports on the privatisation of prisons in the USA and Australia. The film looks at the economics of allowing private companies to run jails and investigates the social and moral aspects of this new approach. Government representatives, legal officers, prisoners and guards are interviewed. more

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BUTOH: Piercing the Mask

1991 (PG) 49 min

This documentary pierces the mystery and mystique of a dance movement adored by the West and largely ignored by the Japanese. It uses archival and modern footage of leading Butoh performers and interviews Butoh specialists to throw light on the essential Butoh themes of darkness, violence and eroticism to get to the core... more

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BUT WE ARE STRONG

2006 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 30 min

BUT WE ARE STRONG tells the untold stories of five young women who survived Sierra Leone's civil war. This documentary series highlights these young women's strength and their resilience to the horror and atrocities that took place in their home. more

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BY COMPASS AND QURAN

2015 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 26 min

Retracing the steps of the Afghan cameleers, exploring their amazing lives in the Australian outback, and the discrimination and alienation that many endured in a white Australia. more

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BYSTANDER STORY, THE

2021 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 30 min

Fusing studio re-enactments, interviews, archival, bodycam and CCTV footage to tell a radically new story about psychology's bystander experiments, The Bystander Story investigates how strangers come together to help strangers – culminating with the bystanders who tried to prevent the killing of George Floyd. more

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CALL ME MUM

2006 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 76 min

Set in the recent past, the AFI award-winning Call Me Mum is a series of interlinked monologues where five characters unravel a complex tale of mothering, race relations and family in Australia. more

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CAMELS & THE PITJANTJARA [from the AIATSIS Collection]

1969 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 45 min

A classic documentary from 1969 which records the Pitjantjara people's use of feral camels in central Australia, capturing and taming them, and using them as pack animals. more

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CAMERA NATURA

1985 (G) 32 min

How has cinema shaped our relationship to the Australian landscape? What vision of the natural world and our place in it have filmmakers created? From Walkabout to Sunday Too Far Away to Mad Max, the camera moves restlessly across the landscape, creating a vision of a country more hostile than grand. more

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CANNING PARADISE

2012 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 90 min

Decades of over-fishing by the global tuna industry have now pushed the final frontiers to the waters of Papua New Guinea. In the 1950s, the world was fishing out 400,000 tons of tuna. This number is now close to 4 million. And it comes at a high cost: a human one, now affecting the last places on earth to receive the full... more

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CAR CRASH

1995 (M) 51 min

Twenty-six people speak to camera about their emotional relationship with their car and their experience of a car accident. The interviews are intercut with stylised close-ups of road signs, test dummy crashes and atmospheric photography. The music track gives the documentary a moody ambience. more

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CARING FOR THE LAGOON

2011 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 52 min

In the Indian Ocean island of Mayotte, a magnificent lagoon is at the heart of its social, cultural and economic life. The story of the islanders' efforts to protect their lagoon offers a microcosm of the challenges facing sensitive ecological systems world-wide. more

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CARNIVAL, THE

2023 (MA) 85 min

The Bells have been hauling their convoy of carnival rides and workers across Australia for six generations. Now, facing shutdowns and bushfires, and a dwindling economy – the family battles to keep their show, and ultimately their legacy, alive. more

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CASE 442 [from the CAAMA Collection]

2005 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 49 min

Frank Byrne spent most of his adult life on a personal crusade to find his mother, after being taken away from her at the age of 5. more

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CASS - NO SAUCEPAN DIVER [from the AIATSIS Collection]

1982 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 12 min

Cass is a part-Aboriginal, part-Malay, part-Scottish man who used to work as a diver in the pearling industry in Broome, Western Australia. A film by Wayne Barker, his grandson. more

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CASTANET CLUB, THE

1990 (PG) 85 min

A movie you can dance to! more

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CELSO AND CORA - A Manila Story

1983 (G) 109 min

CELSO AND CORA is a feature-length film about a young couple and their two children living in a squatter settlement in the Philippine capital, Manila. Rather than just a report on poverty, this is a universal story of people experiencing everyday events with a mixture of humor, irritation, weariness, and courage. more

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CHASING GOD

2003 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 52 min

A worldwide quest from the Vatican to the Ganges, the Wailing Wall to the Dalai Lama Temple and Dome of the Rock Mosque, seeking to discover the principle that drives humanity to believe in God - whatever or whoever that may be. more

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CHASING SHADOWS

2010 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 26 min

Colin Darcy and his two best mates from the mining town of Whyalla start a hip hop band called SHADOWS. They move to Adelaide with high hopes and write rap songs about their personal experiences – being Aboriginal, growing up in a small town, racism, loss of family and striving for success. more

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CHEEKY DOG [from the CAAMA Collection]

2005 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 22 min

Dion Beasley is 15 years old, profoundly deaf and suffers from Muscular Dystrophy. The only way he is able to communicate is through his drawings. With the help of a close friend and teacher, they have established a label for t-shirts and other apparel, called "Cheeky Dog". It is hoped that this venture will create... more

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CHIFLEYS OF BUSBY STREET, THE

2008 (G) 72 min

The Chifleys of Busby Street is an eloquent portrait of Australia's best-loved Prime Minister Ben Chifley, his wife Elizabeth, and their cherished spirit kept alive in Bathurst for the five decades since his death. Friends and colleagues share anecdotes and memories of the Chifleys in this charming documentary. more

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CHILDREN OF TIBET

2003 (G) 53 min

A remarkable story seen through the eyes of three children who risk their lives escaping Tibet across the Himalayas in search of a new life in India. A moving story of bravery and determination. more

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CHILD'S EYE, THE

2018 (G) 147 min

AVAILABLE ONLY ON DVD! Through a series of workshops across India, documentary filmmaker David MacDougall sought to empower young filmmakers to engage directly with the world around them, using cameras to interrogate and explore what they saw, from their own unique child's perspective. more

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CHINA'S 3 DREAMS

2014 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 84 min

Confused by the expurgated history they learned at school and the silence of their grandparents, China's young people are making their way with new dreams for the future - to make their country rich and powerful, and to find a better life and meaningful existence for themselves. more

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CHINESE TAKE AWAY

2002 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 52 min

CHINESE TAKE AWAY is an adaptation of an acclaimed physical theatre show, uniquely blends poetic storytelling, drama and archival footage, to bring a true story to the screen. more

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CLOSE TO THE BONE

2022 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 28 min

In this remarkable film, First Nations people and European settler descendants come together to confront legacies of violence from Australia's pastoral frontier. Can the scars of past atrocities be reconciled and healed through the act of truth-telling? more

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COLD TURKEY [from the CAAMA Collection]

2002 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 45 min

A drama about two brothers and their journey into a long night of desperate living. more

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COLLUM CALLING CANBERRA [from the AIATSIS Collection]

1981 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 56 min

A cattle station's view of negotiating with a distant bureaucracy. more

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COMMON PURPOSE, A

2011 (PG) 75 min

Twenty-five people are convicted of the murder of one man, fourteen are sentenced to hang, one lawyer is assassinated and the other goes into exile. A Common Purpose is the dramatic story behind a notorious murder trial that marks South Africa's transition from apartheid to democracy. more

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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

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CONISTON MUSTER [from the AIATSIS Collection]

1972 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 28 min

A classic documentary about the annual muster on Coniston cattle station, north-west of Alice Springs, and its Aboriginal head stockman, Coniston Johnny, who narrates much of the film. more

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COOLBAROO CLUB, THE

1996 (G) 55 min

A portrait of the Coolbaroo Club, an Aboriginal-run dance club which operated in Perth from 1946 - 1960. The film is delivered via the memories of those involved, stills, archive and extensive dramatisation. An award-winning documentary on post-war race relations in Australia. more

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COOL DRINK AND CULTURE [from the CAAMA Collection]

2006 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 22 min

The links between traditional bush foods and good health, and supermarket foods and poor health. more

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CORN ISLAND

2015 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: M) 100 min

A compelling feature film from the Republic of Georgia: a timeless story of struggle against the elements by an elderly peasant and his granddaughter. "An astonishing feat of cinema" (Variety). more

COWBOY AND MARIA IN TOWN

1991 (G) 59 min

Attracted by the myths of town life and the chance of work, people from villages all over Papua New Guinea have come to the towns. COWBOY AND MARIA IN TOWN tells the story of two such migrants living in the settlements that surround the capital, Port Moresby. more

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CRACKS IN THE MASK

1997 (G) 56 min

A century ago the Torres Strait Island were the subjects of the famous Cambridge Anthropological Expedition - the resulting depletion of their cultural artifacts left them with nothing but a history of remembered loss. The only people in the Pacific to make elaborate turtleshell masks have none left - they are all in foreign... more

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CREATING A MONSTER

2017 (PG) 20 min

A documentary by Gena Lida Riess exploring the ethics of reality television, how it is constructed and consumed, and the psychological impact that it has on participants. more

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CROCODILE DREAMING

2006 (M) 27 min

A stone holding the stories and songs of the ancestors has been stolen from its proper location and subsequently causes the death of two children. It must be found and brought back to restore the right order. The local Aboriginal mob cannot carry out this task alone and calls for Burrimmilla (David Gulpilil). more

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CROOKHAT AND THE KULUNADA [from the CAAMA Collection]

2010 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 23 min

Stories of the water serpent, Kulunada, which inhabits a permanent waterhole in the arid desert country of central Australia. more

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CROOK HAT & CAMPHOO [from the CAAMA Collection]

2005 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 22 min

An outstanding documentary about the survival of traditional skills in Aboriginal culture. more

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CROSSING THE LINE

2005 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 56 min

When two young, non-Indigenous medical students go to work in a remote Aboriginal community, their professional precepts and personal ideas are deeply challenged. more

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CROSS LIFE

2007 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 100 min

CROSS LIFE is the first feature film directed by Claire McCarthy, a rapidly emerging new star of Australian cinema. Her second feature is the acclaimed THE WAITING CITY, filmed in India and released nationally through Hopscotch Films. more

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DANCE ON YOUR LAND

1991 (G) 28 min

In 1988 fifty Aboriginal people from Mornington Island and Borroloola made an 8000km journey to 15 communities in the remote Kimberley Region of WA over a 5 week period. The aim of the journey was to strengthen Aboriginal cultural identity through performances of dance and song which carry the stories that are unique to... more

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DANCING WITH DICTATORS

2011 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 80 min

Witness the battle to run a newspaper in one of the most repressive countries in the world. Australian publisher, Ross Dunkley started Burma's leading newspaper The Myanmar Times. The paper comes out weekly in both Burmese and English and every edition is a tactical struggle against the censors to get the paper out. more

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DARK TO LIGHT

2010 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 25 min

Stretched to their limits, Burma's eye surgeons are trying their best - but for every one person's sight that is saved, three others go blind. more

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DAVID HIRSCHFELDER: Drawing the audience in - making the music for SHINE

2016 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 28 min

David Hirschfelder was the composer of original music, and music arranger, for the Oscar-winning feature film SHINE (1996). In this documentary, made for the 20th anniversary of the release of the feature, Hirschfelder recalls the complex process of selecting, arranging and recording the music for the film. more

DEADLY YARNS

2004 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 40 min

5 short films made by Indigenous West Australian filmmakers for the ABC's Message Stick series. more

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DEADLY YARNS 2

2006 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 33 min

A series of 5 short films made by Indigenous Western Australian filmmakers. [includes Special Features: A behind-the scenes documentary on each film] more

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DEADLY YARNS 3

2007 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 34 min

5 short films made by Indigenous Western Australian filmmakers for ABC TV's Message Stick series. [includes Special Features: A behind-the scenes documentary on each film] more

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DEADLY YARNS 4

2009 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 34 min

5 short films made by Indigenous Western Australians. [includes Special Features: A behind-the scenes documentary on each film]. more

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DEALING WITH THE DEMON

1996 (MA) 165 min

The story of the opiates in three chapters which gives a powerful insight into societies' epic struggle with all drugs of addiction. more

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DEATH IN THE CITY

2022 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 72 min

An intimate portrayal of the sacred city of Varanasi, situated on the holy Ganges, 'the river of life'. The city is the revered destination for death for Hindus since time immemorial, with legendary funeral pyres burning non-stop for over three millennia on the river bank. more

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DELINQUENT ANGEL

2001 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 48 min

A documentary about the famous Australian master painter, the late John Perceval. Tender and beautiful moments in the film reveal details about John's life, his loves and his relationships - with his minder/business manager, and other internationally renowned painters like Joy Hester, Sir Sidney Nolan and Arthur Boyd. more

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DEMON FAULT

2002 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 52 min

Miners, environmentalists, police, landowners and Aboriginal people come head to head in a deadly serious yet crazy battle over a gold mine, located in a sacred and ecologically sensitive region of Australia's fast-disappearing wilderness. more

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