History - Australian (5/11)

HEPHZIBAH

1998 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 75 min

A biography of the acclaimed concert pianist and human rights worker, Hephzibah Menuhin (1920–1981), using home movies, still photographs, extracts from Hephzibah's letters, film of concert performances and interviews with family and friends. more

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HERE'S MY HAND: A testimony to an Aboriginal Memorial

1988 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 27 min

A film by Michael Edols. Available on DVD and Vimeo-on-Demand as part of the ASPECTS OF A LIFE collection. more

HERITAGE FIGHT

2013 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 104 min

Broome is a town in the Kimberley region, one of Australia's great wilderness areas. This is where the head of Western Australia, Colin Barnett, and Woodside, a multi billion-dollar company and Australia's largest liquid natural gas producers, decided to install the second largest liquified natural gas plant in the... more

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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

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HIRED ASSASSINS

2003 (PG) 58 min

An incisive documentary about Australia's leading editorial cartoonists who grapple daily with the double-edged sword of humour and seriousness to reveal the heart of politics in Australia. more

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HISTORY BITES BACK

2021 (MA) 55 min

After the bold and brilliant Occupation: Native, Aboriginal filmmaker Trisha Morton-Thomas teams up again with Comedy Director-Writer, Craig Anderson to launch a rocket into 250 years of taboos, prejudice and ignorance. History Bites Back uses devastating satire to unpack the negative social bias of the history shared... more

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HOMELAND STORY

2019 (M) 84 min

An intimate portrait of Donydji, an Indigenous Homeland community in north-east Arnhem Land. The film charts their struggle from the 1960s to the present day to overcome the corrosive effects of government policy and pressure from mining interests, and to remain on their land. more

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HOMEMADE HISTORY

2003 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 65 min

Every day in the homes, backyards and workplaces of ordinary people, hundreds of personal stories unfold. In Homemade History, 13 of these stories have been captured by amateur cinematographers on 8mm and 16mm cameras. These slices of everyday life span the 1930s to the 1980s and are a fascinating glimpse into a private... more

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HOPE

2008 (M) 104 min

In 2001, 400 asylum seekers set out on a boat known as the Siev X. Only 7 made it to Australia. Amal Basry was one of them ... more

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HOW THE WEST WAS LOST

1987 (G) 72 min

NOW RESTORED FROM ORIGINAL FILM NEGATIVES! The story of the 1946 Aboriginal Pastoral Workers' Strike that has never officially ended. An event more important than the Eureka Stockade but never recorded in written histories - the passive resistance by 800 Aboriginal station workers against the appalling living and working... more

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HYBRID LIFE - group 1 of 3

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

A series of programs which examine the lives of the children and the grandchildren of Australian migrants. This group from the series consists of 4 episodes: ISLANDS | FROM HERE TO ITHACA | MISSING VIETNAM | COSENZA VECCHIA. more

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HYBRID LIFE - group 2 of 3

2001 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 104 min

A series of programs which examine the lives of the children and the grandchildren of Australian migrants. This group consists of 4 episodes from the series: ALWAYS A VISITOR | THE LAST PECHENIUK | WEE JIMMY | PARRA. more

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HYBRID LIFE - group 3 of 3

2001 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 104 min

A series of programs which examine the lives of the children and the grandchildren of Australian migrants. This group from the series consists of 4 episodes: THE BRIDES OF KHAN | DEAR BERT | DELIVERY DAY | SPARKY D COMES TO TOWN. more

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IMAGINARY BORDER

2017 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 105 min

A challenging and compassionate reflection on race relations in Australia and the Torres Strait Islands. A film by Iranian-born Austrian filmmaker, Alireza Ghanie. more

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INTERVENTION 2 years on [from the CAAMA Collection]

2010 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 22 min

An Aboriginal perspective on the effect of the Australian Government's Intervention in Aboriginal lives in the Northern Territory. more

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IN THEIR NAME

2022 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 27 min

Decades after Latvian Jewish women and children were humiliated and killed by Nazi troops and their Latvian collaborators in 1941, their descendants continue to be haunted by the massacre. A film by Peter Hegedus. more

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INTO THE SHADOWS

2009 (M) 90 min

Looking from afar, the Australian film industry appears glitzy and glamorous, robust and invincible. Into the Shadows challenges this notion and journeys beyond the glamour to meet the filmmakers, distributors and exhibitors who bring Australian films to the screen. more

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ISLAND OF LIES

1991 (G) 56 min

When Eliza Fraser was shipwrecked on Fraser Island in 1836, there were up to 3000 Aboriginal people living there — by 1905, there were perhaps a dozen left. Filmmaker Gillian Coote follows the route of early settlers north out of Sydney to Fraser Island to uncover the lies and secrets of Australia's settlement. more

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IT'S A LONG ROAD BACK [from the AIATSIS Collection]

1981 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 13 min

The story of one woman's struggle to regain her Aboriginality. more

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JABIRU 0886: TRESPASS [from the CAAMA Collection]

2002 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 26 min

The story of Yvonne Margarula and the resistance of the Mirarr people to the loss of their land and their heritage because of mining operations in the Kakadu area. more

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JAPARTA - a Journey to the Gurindji Way

2025 (G) 99 min

The story of a Japanese scholar, Minoru Hokari, who, before his death in 2004 at the age of 32, achieved work which today commands an ever-widening audience. It is a story of cross-cultural understanding, how Gurindji Elders in the Northern Territory tasked Minoru to relay stories from their culture to a wider world. A... more

JOHN FARROW: HOLLYWOOD'S MAN IN THE SHADOWS

2021 (PG) 96 min

This award-winning documentary is the first ever made about one of Hollywood's most prolific yet forgotten filmmakers, John Villiers Farrow (1904-1963). Part mystery, part biography, part film noir, the documentary follows the stranger-than-fiction story of this Australian-born, Oscar-winning filmmaker. more

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JUDITH ANDERSON - AUSTRALIAN STAR, FIRST LADY OF THE AMERICAN THEATRE

2019 (G)

A book by Desley Deacon. Paperback, 461 pages plus chronology, filmography, bibliography and index. Kerr Publishing, Melbourne, 2019. This well-researched biography tells the story of Judith Anderson's life and the full range of her work on stage and screen. more

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JUPURRURLA - MAN OF MEDIA (from the CAAMA Collection)

2019 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 28 min

A portrait of Warlpiri Elder and Lawman, Francis Jupurrurla Kelly – a pioneer of Indigenous filmmaking in central Australia. more

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KARLU KARLU: Devil's Marbles [from the CAAMA Collection]

2009 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 21 min

Stories of Karlu Karlu and its handback by the government to the traditional owners. more

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KEEN AS MUSTARD

1989 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 46 min

Re-release of an important documentary that explores little known experiments in chemical warfare conducted in Australia from 1942 to 1945. more

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KEEPER

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

Growing up in a small town divided by mining disputes isn't easy, but for Aboriginal teenager Jacinta Haseldine it's a stark contrast to her grandmother's life at the same age growing up on a mission. more

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KEEPERS OF THE STORY - Jandamarra [from the CAAMA Collection]

2010 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 24 min

The story of the Bunuba people's efforts to keep alive the story of Jandamarra and his war against white settlers in the 1880s in the Kimberleys, as a source of inspiration for Aboriginal people and all Australians. more

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KINDRED

2023 (M) 91 min

A journey into the emotional landscape of family, love and loss experienced by two close friends, both Aboriginal, who were adopted by white families and have connected back with their bloodline families. more

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KULKA: The Life and Times of Gordon Briscoe

2010 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 52 min

The inspirational story of Dr. Gordon Briscoe's life - from his work with legendary eye doctor Fred Hollows, to his days as an activist travelling Australia and telling traditional land owners about their land rights, and everything in between. more

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LAKE OF SCARS, THE

2022 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 95 min

A documentary exploring the beautiful, mysterious scarred trees, middens and stone scatters at Lake Boort and surrounds in Victoria, and the story of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people, who are working against the clock to preserve and promote what they can. A film presented by the late, great Uncle Jack Charles, more

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LALAI DREAMTIME

1972 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 60 min

LALAI DREAMTIME takes the viewer into pre-colonial Australia to tell a story depicting the spiritual tradition of the people. A film by Michael Edols, from the story told by Sam Woolagoodja. more

LAND OF THE LITTLE KINGS

2000 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 78 min

LAND OF THE LITTLE KINGS is a feature-length documentary which provides personal accounts of the forcible removal of Indigenous children from their families. Through these stories of survivors of the stolen generations, musician and performer Archie Roach reconstructs his own story. more

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LANGUAGE OF LIGHT, THE

2023 (M) 171 min

Intimate portraits of seven ground-breaking Australian photographers, each with a significant body of work and each with a different photographic style. more

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LAST OF THE NOMADS, THE

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

THE LAST OF THE NOMADS tells the moving story of Warri and Yatungka, the last of the Mandildjara people to be living a traditional nomadic lifestyle in the remote Gibson Desert of central Australia. more

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LAST STAND AT NYMBOIDA

2010 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 56 min

The remarkable story of a worker rebellion that made international history. Bonus 35 minute extra feature includes interviews with ANDREW VICKERS, General Secretary, CFMEU Mining & Energy Chairman, Mineworkers Trust, and ALAN MURRAY, mining historian and author. more

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LAST TASMANIAN, THE

1978 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 105 min

The controversial 1978 documentary by Tom Haydon and archaeologist Rhys Jones. The story of the swiftest and most destructive genocide on record. more

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LAST VIOLIN, THE

2023 (PG) 75 min

Master violin maker, Charalambos Vatiliotis, known as Harry, is 85 and has retired. When Romano, a violinist and friend of 48 years, persuades him to make one final violin, a heart-warming story unfolds. more

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LEGEND OF FRED PATERSON, THE

1996 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 58 min

The story of Fred Paterson, the only member of the Communist Party ever elected to an Australian Parliament. Idealist, divinity student, champion athlete, Rhodes scholar, war veteran and barrister, Paterson haunted the establishment until he was brought down by a police baton in 1948. more

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LIGHT YEARS

1991 (G) 47 min

NOW SUPERBLY RE-MASTERED FROM ORIGINAL FILM MATERIALS! A unique record of the life and work of eminent Australian photographer, Olive Cotton. more

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LIONEL

2008 (M) 83 min

In 1968, a young Aboriginal boxer named Lionel Rose punched his way to history in Japan when he became the undisputed bantamweight champion of the world. This is his story, before and after he became a legend. more

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LOCKOUT

2007 (PG) 56 min

In 1929, 10,000 miners found themselves locked out of their Hunter Valley coal mines in a bitter industrial dispute over pay rates. What began as an undeclared war on industrial labour ended up overpowering a government, crippling an industry and besieging a community. more

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LOUSY LITTLE SIXPENCE

1983 (G) 54 min

DIGITALLY RESTORED! In NSW, in 1909, the Aborigines Protection Board planned to break up Aboriginal communities by forcibly removing their children and hiring them out as servants to white employers. The title of this powerful documentary comes from the wages that were to be paid to the children. Many never saw that lousy... more

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LURUJARRI DREAMING

2013 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 28 min

An animated exploration of Goolarabooloo history and culture, focusing on a nine-day Lurujarri Heritage Trail walk led by Elders from the community, north from Broome along the Dampier Peninsula in north-western Australia. more

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MACDOUGALL TAPES, THE

2017 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 261 min

Extended conversations with David and Judith MacDougall about their years with the Film Unit of the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies, Canberra, 1975-1987. During this time, the MacDougalls made a series of eleven documentary films that were acknowledged world-wide as landmark achievements in ethnographic cinema. more

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MAKE IT RIGHT! [from the AIATSIS Collection]

1988 (G) 21 min

MAKE IT RIGHT! is a unique record of the landmark 1988 Barunga Festival of Aboriginal Sport and Culture at which Prime Minister Bob Hawke made commitments (unfulfilled) to negotiate a treaty with Aboriginal people. more

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MAN WITHOUT PIGS

1990 (G) 59 min

MAN WITHOUT PIGS offers a rare insight into the dynamics of village life in Papua New Guinea. The film explores the antagonism aroused when conflict between traditional custom and Western values occurs in an isolated community. more

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MARN GROOK [from the CAAMA Collection]

1996 (G) 45 min

Marn Grook is a celebration of Australian Rules and the great contribution Aboriginal players have made to the game. more

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MARY

1994 (G) 75 min

Excommunication in the 19th century, sainthood in the 20th. Mary MacKillop is one of Australia's unsung heroes. Despite excommunication and exile, Mary remained determined to bring education to the poor and underprivileged. In January 1995 Mary was beatified by Pope John Paul II as Australia's first saint. This is Mary's... more

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MESSAGE FROM MUNGO

2014 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 70 min

WINNER! UNITED NATIONS ASSOCIATION OF VICTORIA MEDIA AWARDS in the Category of "Promotion of Indigenous Recognition". The story of the interaction between Scientists and the Custodians of Indigenous Heritage at Lake Mungo, one of the world's richest archaeological sites. more

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MICROBES TO MACROBES: The Story of Frank Fenner

2011 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 63 min

Frank Fenner was one of Australia's greatest scientists. He helped save Australia's troops from malaria in World War II; charted the course of myxomatosis as it decimated Australia's feral rabbit population; was one of the leading figures in the global campaign which eliminated smallpox; and was a pioneering environmentalist. more

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MILLI MILLI

1994 (G) 53 min

MILLI MILLI tells the story of the Kimberley people from their point of view. Using the Kimberley people's traditions of storytelling, painting, dancing and taking into account Aboriginal law and culture, the film records a cultural revival from within. more

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MILLION ACRES A YEAR, A

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

The devastating story of an ecological disaster: the epic history of post-war agricultural development in Western Australia and the personal journeys of a rural vanguard who came to acknowledge that current forms of agriculture were not sustainable. The re-release of a remarkable documentary from 2002, still powerfully... more

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MISSING PRESUMED DEAD

2008 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 55 min

The mysteries of a World War One German soldier's wallet found in Adelaide, South Australia and a British airman missing in France lead to a deeply personal investigation with unexpected results. more

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MPARNTWE - Sacred Sites [from the CAAMA Collection]

2004 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 24 min

The continuous struggle by Central Australia's Arrernte people to maintain their sacred sites in the face of property development in the Mparntwe (Alice Springs) area. more

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MR STREHLOW'S FILMS

2001 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 52 min

The life and work of one of Australia's most eminent and controversial anthropologists, T.G.H. (Ted) Strehlow. more

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MURIEL MATTERS

2013 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 27 min

Adelaide-born actress and elocutionist Muriel Matters has been neglected by mainstream history, but in the early 1900s was a pivotal figure in the fight for women's rights in Britain and was renowned for her daring escapades to draw attention to the cause. more

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MUSLIMS IN AUSTRALIA

2007 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 76 min

Take a journey and discover how deep Muslim history runs in Australia. Discover the earliest contact that dates back to the 1600s, their connection with the indigenous population and the rich contribution they made. more

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MY HOME THE BLOCK

2007 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 52 min

An intimate view of "The Block", situated in Sydney's Redfern district as seen through the eyes of Aboriginal Elder Joyce Ingram. more

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MY NAME IS GULPILIL

2021 (M) 101 min

"I'm an actor, I'm a dancer, I'm a singer and also, a painter. This film is about me. This is my story of my story." - David Gulpilil Ridjimiraril Dalaithngu more

NED WETHERED [from HAND-DRAWN HISTORIES]

1984 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 11 min

The first of Lee Whitmore's personal animations, recording her memory of her childhood and a visitor who often called on her family. more

NIGHT PARROT STORIES

2016 (G) 89 min

A cinematic ode to a bird lost in the darkness: a wonderfully inventive and engaging exploration by filmmaker Rob Nugent of the science, mythology and rumours surrounding the elusive nocturnal bird, the Night Parrot, that supposedly disappeared In Australia at the end of the 19th Century. more

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NORTH OF CAPRICORN

2014 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 54 min

"Northern Australia is a profoundly important part of Australia. It's a third of Australia that's in the tropics. It the part of Australia least developed, it's very rich in resources, and its the part of Australia closest to our neighbours," Professor Henry Reynolds. more

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NYIRR-MARIE [from the CAAMA Collection]

2010 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 24 min

Evelyn Hall (Nyirr-Marie), a leader of her community in the campaign for land rights, returns to her country to say goodbye for the last time. more

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OCCUPATION: NATIVE

2017 (PG) 52 min

The Aboriginal story is often buried deep beneath the accepted 247-year Australian historical narrative. It's not that the Australian story is wrong, it's just that it's a wee bit one-sided. Aboriginal filmmaker Trisha Morton-Thomas, bites back at Australian history in this inspired satire. more

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OLD MAN AND THE INLAND SEA, THE [from the CAAMA Collection]

2005 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 20 min

Norman Hayes Jagamarra gives us a unique Aboriginal perspective on greed, alcohol and the importance of maintaining your pride and self-sufficiency through a working life. more

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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

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OPHIR

2020 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 97 min

Voiced entirely by the Indigenous people of the Autonomous Region of Bougainville in Papua New Guinea, Ophir observes the colonisation of the land and its people, who at the end of the 1980s were left with no choice but to revolt for their right to exist. more

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ORIGINAL MERMAID, THE

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

From crippled child to the star of the biggest theatres in the world, the story of Annette Kellerman is truly without peer. Along the way she changed the face of swimming, fashion and dance and helped forge a new identity for women. more

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OUR BOTANICAL BIOSPHERE

1990 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 240 min

This pioneering series of short documentaries, first released as UNDER SOUTHERN SKIES in 1990, is even more relevant today: there is now an ever-increasing urgency for us all to be informed about science, to liberate us from a dependence on politicians and corporations. more

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PAINTING THE TOWN

1986 (G) 59 min

PAINTING THE TOWN is a film about art and artists, culture and politics. Through the story of Yosl Bergner, the film reveals a community of Australian painters who sought to create an art that would reflect the great social upheavals of the 1930s and 1940s. more

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PARRA

2000 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 26 min

IT'S NOT WHERE YOU'RE FROM, IT'S WHERE YOUR AT. Set in Parramatta, Western Sydney, this film illustrates the life of one of the largest shopping centres in the southern hemisphere. more

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PEACE PILGRIMS

2021 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 28 min

In September 2015, five peace activists penetrated the 'Joint Facility' Pine Gap, just outside Alice Springs to protest and lament victims of American drone strikes. They were arrested and faced 7 years jail. A documentary by John Hughes, based on Peace Crimes, Kieran Finnane (UQP 2020) more

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PIONEERS OF LOVE

2005 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 110 min

An epic story of Immigrant and Indigenous experiences in far north Queensland spanning across the 20th century. more

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PITJIRI: The Snake That Will Not Sink

1986 (G) 48 min

In 1936 on a remote outpost in the Northern Territory, nine Aboriginal Elders appeared before Ruth Heathcock, who they believed was a member of their tribe before the Dreaming. Fifty years later, Sister Ruth returns and describes the psychic phenomena that she experienced and how this changed her perception of the human... more

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POLES APART: The Blue Poles Controversy

2001 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 52 min

POLES APART places the acquisition by the Whitlam government of Jackson Pollock's 'Blue Poles' in all the turbulence of its social and political context. more

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POZIERES

2000 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: M) 52 min

Between July and August, 1916, the small village of Pozieres in northern France became the centre of one of the bloodiest battles of the Great War. By the end of August the village had been destroyed. The battles to reclaim the territory for the French nation were to become legendary. more

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PUTUPARRI and the Rainmakers

2015 (M) 97 min

Against the backdrop of Australia's tangled colonial and Indigenous history, Putuparri and the Rainmakers explores one man's struggle to fulfill his destiny. more

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QUEST OF JIMMY PIKE, THE

1989 (G) 51 min

Jimmy Pike lives an extraordinary and idyllic life hunting and painting in a harsh and primitive environment in the Great Sandy Desert. He first learnt to paint whilst in prison serving a life sentence for murder. As a young boy, he had come out of the Great Sandy Desert and saw white men for the first time. Now he wants... more

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REDFERN STORY, THE

2014 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 57 min

In Redfern, in inner Sydney, a group of determined visionaries pioneered the National Black Theatre at a turbulent time for Indigenous politics in the 1970s. The Theatre left a lasting legacy on national politics, social welfare and the Australian arts scene. more

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RED MATILDAS

1984 (G) 50 min

Through the lives of three women, RED MATILDAS explores the social and political conditions in Australia during the Great Depression - conditions of massive unemployment, widespread malnutrition and growing militarism at home and abroad - that provoked many people to political activity. more

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RIDDLE OF THE BRADSHAWS, THE

2002 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 53 min

This story of the Bradshaw rock paintings or Gwion Gwion as they are known to the Aboriginal traditional owners, unfolds in the vast and beautiful Kimberley region of Australia's far north west. more

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RINGBALIN - BREAKING THE DROUGHT

2014 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 32 min

A powerful documentary about the healing of Australia's greatest river and its diverse peoples through ancient ceremony of culture and spirit. more

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ROBERT McFARLANE

2017 (PG) 27 min

See THE STILL POINT - PHOTOGRAPHY OF ROBERT McFARLANE more

ROCKING THE FOUNDATIONS

1985 (PG) 92 min

DIGITALLY RESTORED! A riveting documentary about the New South Wales Builders Labourers Federation (BLF). Filmmaker Pat Fiske, herself one of the first women members of the BLF, develops a portrait of this once-powerful union through interviews with former union members and officials, archival film, and television news... more

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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

SAMMY BUTCHER: Out of the Shadows [from the CAAMA Collection]

2004 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 24 min

A portrait of Sammy Butcher [Warumpi Band], one of the leading figures in the contemporary Indigenous music scene. more

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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

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SAVE OUR SONS (S.O.S.)

1996 (PG) 54 min

A film about the Save Our Sons Movement of Victoria - a group of women formed in the sixties to protest against the Vietnam War. Energetic and informative, an extraordinary episode in the anti-conscription and anti-Vietnam War struggles of the 1960s. more

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SCRIBE, THE

2018 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 71 min

From deep within the engine room of politics comes this superb documentary on the "Donald Bradman" of speech-writers - Graham Freudenberg: a powerful journey into one of the great minds of politics who has written speeches for Labor leaders over many decades, including Gough Whitlam and Bob Hawke. more

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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

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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

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SNAKES AND LADDERS

1988 (PG) 59 min

Drawing on interviews and a striking selection of archival footage, this film reveals the expectations and achievements of women who have struggled to gain a tertiary education - and the reality of discrimination. The film employs the unusual device of a whimsical investigator, Sophia Whist, who pieces together the elements... more

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SOMETHING OF THE TIMES [from the AIATSIS Collection]

1985 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 41 min

The story of Aboriginal and white buffalo hunters in the remote wetlands of the Northern Territory in the 1930s. more

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STILL POINT, THE - Photography of Robert McFarlane

2017 (PG) 27 min

The Still Point explores the life's work of one of Australia's most respected and pioneering documentary photographers: for five decades, Robert McFarlane has put a mirror up to the changing face of Australia. more

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STOLEN GENERATIONS

2000 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 52 min

The removal of Aboriginal children in Australia was a deliberate government policy and forms part of the history of dispossession of the country's original inhabitants. Every Aboriginal family in Australia has directly or indirectly been affected and the effects have lasted over generations. Many have called this genocide. more

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SYDNEY AT WAR

2005 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 52 min

At midnight on Sun May 31, 1942, three Japanese midget submarines broke through Sydney Harbour's defences and launched a surprise attack on an ill-prepared city. During that night of confusion and violence, 21 Australian and 6 Japanese service personnel lost their lives. Sydney At War recounts the events of that fateful... more

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TAKEOVER [from the AIATSIS Collection]

1979 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 87 min

The story of an Aboriginal community under threat from a distant bureaucracy. A film by David and Judith MacDougall. DIGITALLY RE-MASTERED FROM ORIGINAL FILM MATERIALS! more

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TALKING BROKEN

1991 (G) 76 min

'Broken' is the creole spoken by the Torres Strait Islanders in far north Australia. Although they appear to keep up with 'the system', the hidden language of the authorities will always remain a mystery. With humour and intelligence, various Islanders talk openly about subjects as wide-ranging as independence, culture,... more

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