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Film Studies (3/4)
NICE COLOURED GIRLS
1987 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: M) 17 min
NOW DIGITALLY RE-MASTERED! This stylistically daring film audaciously explores the history of exploitation between white men and Aboriginal women, juxtaposing the 'first encounter' between colonisers and native women with the attempts of modern urban Aboriginal women to reverse their fortunes. more
NIGHT THE PROWLER, THE
1978/2021 (M) 85 min
A wickedly funny and subversive collaboration between Nobel Prize-winning author Patrick White and one of Australia's most adventurous film directors, Jim Sharman (director of The Rocky Horror Picture Show). more
![ON A FULL MOON [from HAND-DRAWN HISTORIES]](/images/small/8541.jpg)
ON A FULL MOON [from HAND-DRAWN HISTORIES]
1997 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 17 min
Contemplative memories of childhood and family by animator Lee Whitmore, lovingly animated frame by frame by pencil and pastel on paper. more
ONCE MY MOTHER
2013 (PG) 75 min
Australian filmmaker Sophia Turkiewicz investigates the reasons why her Polish mother abandoned her in an orphanage as a child and uncovers the truth behind her mother's wartime escape from a Siberian gulag, leaving Sophia to confront her own capacity for forgiveness. more
OVER THE EDGE
2015 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 56 min
Teenagers in the series ON THE EDGE reunite 5 years later as young adults facing a turbulent world. This film explores how their choices have determined their present circumstances. Some are working, some in jail, and three are parents. Every one of them is living an extraordinary life and coming to terms with their world. more
REVENIR (To Return)
2018 (PG) 77 min
For years, stories of West African migrants and refugees have been told through the lenses of foreign journalists. Revenir is a story from the inside: a bold new documentary by Australian filmmaker David Fedele in collaboration with Kumut Imesh, a refugee from the Ivory Coast now living in Paris. more
RIVER OF NO RETURN
2008 (PG) 52 min
The story of Frances Daingangan, one of the stars of TEN CANOES, and her journey from traditional tribal life to the international red carpet. A film written and directed by Darlene Johnson, one of Australia's leading Indigenous documentary filmmakers, acclaimed for GULPILIL – ONE RED BLOOD and STOLEN GENERATIONS. more
![ROSALIE'S JOURNEY [from the CAAMA Collection]](/images/small/6497.jpg)
ROSALIE'S JOURNEY [from the CAAMA Collection]
2003 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 22 min
The story of Rosalie Kunoth-Monks who (as Ngarla Kunoth) gained fame in the leading role of Charles Chauvel's legendary feature film, JEDDA (1955). more
![SAFE HOUSE, THE [from HAND-DRAWN HISTORIES]](/images/small/8542.jpg)
SAFE HOUSE, THE [from HAND-DRAWN HISTORIES]
2006 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 26 min
Lee Whitmore's careful, loving recreation of a quiet suburban street in Sydney in the 1950s and the moment when larger issues intruded in the form of the Petrovs, ASIO and the newspapers. more
![SATELLITE DREAMING [from the CAAMA Collection]](/images/small/10777.jpg)
SATELLITE DREAMING [from the CAAMA Collection]
1991 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 52 min
A film of considerable historic importance, this documentary narrates the emergence of Indigenous media in Australia, and discusses its role in preserving Indigenous languages and culture. more
SCOTT HICKS: sculpting the movie - the experience of directing SHINE
2016 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 28 min
In this documentary, made for the 20th anniversary of the release of SHINE, director Scott Hicks recalls the long development of the project and the complexities of shooting the film in Australia on a limited budget, contrasting with his subsequent experiences working in Hollywood on major studio productions. more
SEARCHING FOR INGMAR BERGMAN
2018 (M) 99 min
In this beautifully crafted and moving memoir, Margarethe von Trotta recalls the inspiration she found in the work of Ingmar Bergman: his films triggered her decision to become a director and guided many of her creative decisions over her long career. more
SHADOW PANIC
1989/2020 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 25 min
The feminist classic from 1989, now restored from original 16mm film materials. An innovative film by Margot Nash (director of VACANT POSSESSION and THE SILENCES) based on "the idea of structuring a film via the female gaze". more
SHINE
1996 (PG) 107 min
The 1996 multi-award winning Australian film based on the life of pianist David Helfgott, who suffered a mental breakdown and spent years in institutions. Starring Geoffrey Rush, Lynn Redgrave, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Noah Taylor, John Gielgud, Googie Withers, Justin Braine, Sonia Todd, Chris Haywood and Alex Rafalowicz. more
SILENCES, THE
2015 (M) 73 min
A film about family secrets and the ties of love, loss and kinship between a mother and daughter. more
SKIN OF OTHERS, THE
2020 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 91 min
A story of modern Australia told through the extraordinary life of Aboriginal WW1 soldier Douglas Grant (c.1885-1951), an intellectual, a journalist, a soldier and a bagpipe player with a fine Scottish accent. Featuring the acclaimed Indigenous actor Balang Tom E. Lewis in his final performance (as Douglas Grant) and guest... more
SMUT HOUNDS - Censorship in the Sixties
2015 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: M) 9 min
Seventy-seven seconds of celluloid that scandalised a government and transformed Australian cinema. more
STILL OUR COUNTRY
2015 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 88 min
A poetic celebration of country and culture, Still Our Country documents the swiftly changing lives of the Yolngu people of Ramingining in the Northern Territory. This evocative carnival of images and sounds makes a bold declaration of identity and offers a hopeful promise of a future. more
TAKING PICTURES
1996 (G) 56 min
Taking Pictures focuses on several Australian film makers and the internationally renowned documentaries they made in Papua New Guinea in the 1970s-90s. Juxtaposing clips of the films with interviews of the filmmakers, it reflects upon the Western tradition of inquiring into and recording other people's lives, raising questions... more
TERRA NULLIUS
1992/2021 (G) 21 min
RE-RELEASE OF AN ACCLAIMED FILM FROM 1992, RE-MASTERED FROM THE ORIGINAL FILM NEGATIVES. "In evoking what an Aboriginal child goes through when disconnected from family and taken into foster-care, this film is ahead of its time in its treatment." - Margo Neale, Senior Indigenous Curator and historian. more
UNDERCURRENTS: meditations on power
2023 (M) 19 min
A poetic essay documentary by Margot Nash, about the undercurrents of history playing out in the present: a 'song' for the dark times about repression and resistance. more
UNDER THE PALACE WALL
2014 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 53 min
An observational film by David MacDougall. A 16th century palace overlooks the Indian village of Delwara. It is now a luxury hotel, remote from the world of the villagers. more
![WAITING FOR HARRY [from the AIATSIS Collection]](/images/small/10159.jpg)
WAITING FOR HARRY [from the AIATSIS Collection]
1980 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 56 min
Tensions behind the scenes of a ritual event in central Arnhem Land, Northern Territory. more
![WILLABERTA JACK [from the CAAMA Collection]](/images/small/3327.jpg)
WILLABERTA JACK [from the CAAMA Collection]
2007 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 26 min
He survived an attempted killing. He survived an unjust legal system. But can he survive white "payback"? A true story from the Northern Territory, 1929, which inspired the feature film, SWEET COUNTRY. more
WOMAN WITH AN EDITING BENCH
2016 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 15 min
Inspired by the woman who edited Man with a Movie Camera (1929), Woman With An editing bench reveals the personal impact of Stalin's censorship of cinema on a woman navigating politics, bureaucracy and the impetuous outbursts of collaborators to create something beautiful despite the odds. more