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Family (3/7)
Family dynamics, family problems and personal development in the context of the family, in Australia, the Philippines and South America, including families from culturally diverse backgrounds in Australia, "blended" families, parents dealing with children and vice versa, family survival in extreme conditions, and stories of Indigenous Australian families, the Stolen Generations and family reunion.
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
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
HOPE ROAD
2017 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 103 min
Filmed over a 5-year period, HOPE ROAD is a film by Tom Zubrycki which follows an ambitious project undertaken by a Sudanese refugee in Australia, Zacharia Machiek, to build a much-needed school back in his home village, now part of the new nation of South Sudan. But life disrupts his best-laid plans ... more
![HOUSE-OPENING, THE [from the AIATSIS Collection]](/images/small/7835.jpg)
HOUSE-OPENING, THE [from the AIATSIS Collection]
1980 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 42 min
"House-opening" ceremonies in a contemporary Aboriginal community combine elements of Aboriginal, Torres Strait and European cultures in dealing with death. A film by Judith MacDougall. more
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
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
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
INNOCENCE BETRAYED
2014 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 52 min
In 1990 and 1991, three Aboriginal children were murdered in the rural town of Bowraville NSW - Colleen Craig, Evelyn Greenup and Clinton Speedy-Duroux. Despite two trials and a coroner's inquest, no-one was ever convicted of the murders. more
![IT'S A LONG ROAD BACK [from the AIATSIS Collection]](/images/small/7693.jpg)
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
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
KIM & HARLEY & THE KIDS (Family Foibles)
2001 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: M) 27 min
Kim and Harley and the Kids looks at how hard family life can be when resources are limited. Kim has four children including four-year-old twins. Her partner Harley is father to the youngest three kids and his heart is in the right place. They all live below the poverty line in a Ministry of Housing home in outer Melbourne. 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
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
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
LEAST SAID, SOONEST MENDED
1999 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 52 min
The story of the filmmaker's twin sister: despatched at the age of 15 to an institution where she was hidden away and arrangements made for the adoption of her baby. She then lived for the next 25 years without knowing where her child was or whether she was alive or dead. more
LILI (English version)
2019 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 85 min
LILI is a powerful exploration of inter-generational trauma; a mother, Lili, abandons her two-year-old daughter as she flees from Hungary in 1956 when the Soviets quash the Hungarian revolution. The trauma sparks a history of abandonment that spans four generations of Lili's family. more
LILI (Hungarian version)
2019 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 85 min
Egy anya, Lili, az '56-os forradalom közepén elmenekül Magyarországról, ezzel egy kontinenseken és generációkon átívelő elhagyás történet veszi kezdetét. more
![LINK-UP DIARY [from the AIATSIS Collection]](/images/small/7692.jpg)
LINK-UP DIARY [from the AIATSIS Collection]
1987 (G) 87 min
On the road with Link-up, an organisation that re-unites Aboriginal families more
LITTLE TOWNS, BIG VOICES
2016 (M) 28 min
Taking a stand on domestic violence in regional, rural and remote communities: in this powerful short film by Fran Dobbie, this often hidden subject is brought to light by people willing to speak out about abuse to help create social change. more
LONG GOODBYE, THE
2010 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 55 min
THE LONG GOODBYE follows the journeys of three families living with dementia as they struggle to maintain the identity and dignity of those they love. Filmed over a 3 year period, the documentary celebrates the capacity of the human spirit to search for meaning and hope when the end is known and inescapable. more
LONG SHADOWS: Stories From A Jewish Home
2002 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 56 min
Jewishcare (Montefiore Homes), is the largest Jewish aged care facility in Victoria, Australia. Most of its residents are survivors of the Holocaust. Stories of Montefiore residents rekindle horrific memories of a collective tragedy. more
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
LOYAL TO MY IMAGE
1992 (PG) 21 min
LOYAL TO MY IMAGE is a powerful documentary about adoption, mothering and personal identity. more
MAN OF STRINGS
1999 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 57 min
A portrait of the life and work of Czech-born violinist, Jan Sedivka, a charismatic musician who is one of the foremost violinists and string teachers in Australia. Now aged 80, Sedivka is still actively teaching and performing. more
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
MEN DON'T CRY
2015 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 26 min
A mother's concern for her son and his abuse of alcohol takes her on a journey of her own self-discovery. The film observes the pain and hardship of alcohol abuse on families, and the internal pain of a mother feeling 'useless' as she observes the self-destruction of her child as he tries to become 'a man'. more
MICK'S GIFT (Family Foibles)
2001 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 27 min
Mick Hudson was mythologised by his family but his films of the 1950s and the memories of loved ones leave contradictory images prompting a reassessment of the 'real' Mick. more
MIDWIVES, LULLABIES AND MOTHER EARTH
1993 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 53 min
Pioneer advocate of natural childbirth, Michel Odent is a French doctor who believes that separating the mother and baby at birth has a profound significance for them both and for society as a whole. Odent believes that "if we can transform the birth, we can transform the world". more
MOHAMED ALI'S HAPPY DAY FEAST
1998 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 55 min
Mohamed Ali and his wife, Halima Mubarak, are the owners of the Dhodaan Café, Flemington, a meeting place for the Somali refugee community in Melbourne. Having survived war in Ethiopia and Somalia, but suffered the loss of home and family, Mohamed and Halima arrive in Australia with a renewed optimism, and set about establishing... more
![MY COLOUR, YOUR KIND [from the CAAMA Collection]](/images/small/2298.jpg)
MY COLOUR, YOUR KIND [from the CAAMA Collection]
1998 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 11 min
An atmospheric short drama about Aboriginal identity. more
MY GRANDPARENTS
2012 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 26 min
A cross-generational documentary in which filmmaker Joshua Marks sets out to find out more about his grandparents. The film is, as Joshua describes it, "a journey of awareness in front of and behind the camera. Gradually, we ask who is the real subject of the film, and who is really in control?" more
MY LIFE WITHOUT STEVE
1987 (PG) 53 min
A film by Gillian Leahy. Through the story of one woman's year in a room with a view, the film catches its audience up in the collective memories of all those who have loved and lost. more
MY LONG NECK
2013 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 53 min
Maja is proud of the 16 coils of brass around her neck that distinguish her as a Long Neck Kayan woman from Burma. But after 20 years of living on display and constantly being photographed in a tourist village in northern Thailand, the rings are becoming more of a trap than a source of pride. more
MY MOTHER INDIA
2001 (PG) 52 min
Director Safina Uberoi traces her parents' history. Her Australian mother married a Sikh and moved to India. There they bought up their three children and survived the anti-Sikh riots of 1984. The autobiography features family photos, historical footage and interviews with the family particularly with Uberoi's mother,... more
MY MOTHER MY SON
2000 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 26 min
The story of an Aboriginal mother and daughter [Mona & Kymmy], both victims of the stolen generation, who embark on a journey to regain custody of Kymmy's young son Rowland. They are determined to shed the baggage from their past and take control of their own lives and by so doing break the cycle of dispossession, broken... more
MY MOTHER NANCY (Family Foibles)
2001 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 27 min
A cross-cultural, cross-generational tale of a mother reclaiming her identity to pursue her dream against the traditional conventions on which her family is built. more
MY REMBETIKA BLUES (English version)
2021 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 83 min
Rembetika music or the Greek blues is a music born of exile and the streets. The film traces the roots of this music in the mass migration of people in the early twentieth century and in particular the journey of the filmmaker's own forebears from Smyrna in Turkey to Sydney, Australia. A universal story about love, life... more
MY REMBETIKA BLUES (Greek version)
2021 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 83 min
Rembetika music or the Greek blues is a music born of exile and the streets. The film traces the roots of this music in the mass migration of people in the early twentieth century and in particular the journey of the filmmaker's own forebears from Smyrna in Turkey to Sydney, Australia. A universal story about love, life... more
MY UNCLE BLUEY
2009 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 16 min
A filmmaker's personal story about her estranged Uncle Bluey - a white man who found his home in a remote Aboriginal community. more
MY WORK, MY SORROW
2009 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 44 min
A universal story of labour in the industrial sector. The film is built from interviews (in French with English subtitles) with assembly-line workers in the factory system, discussing their work experiences and the ethics of their employers. more
NIGHT CRIES
1990 (G) 17 min
DIGITALLY REMASTERED! NIGHT CRIES – a story of a white woman and her adopted Aboriginal daughter, told with vibrantly coloured landscapes and a richly constructed soundscape. The film is in part a response by visual artist Tracey Moffatt to Charles Chauvel's celebrated feature film, JEDDA (1955). more
NO BURQAS BEHIND BARS
2012 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 77 min
Inside an Afghan women's prison. Women are normally faceless in Afghanistan: outside the home, burqas cover them from head to toe. But in prison, they sometimes have more freedom and safety than outside. more
NOT JUST NUMBERS
2019 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 53 min
Not Just Numbers is an inspiring documentary about the Tangentyere Women's Family Safety Group in Alice Springs. They believe in talking straight about the violence in their communities and are working on the front line in prevention. So often reduced to statistics, these heroes have banded together to fight for their... 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 A QUEEN
2005 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 50 min
A universal story of a rural community with big aspirations ... Grafton in the Northern Rivers area of New South Wales, and its inspired annual celebration of its rich history. 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
ON RICHARD'S SIDE
2016 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 90 min
Filmed over three decades, On Richard's Side charts the life-story of Richard, a young man with a complex disability since birth. The film provides intimate and poignant insights into his parents' determined quest to establish a quality life for their son and for themselves. 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
PANTHER WITHIN, THE
2016 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 54 min
Filmmaker Edoardo Crismani and his mother Barbara embark on a search to unravel the mystery surrounding Barbara's father, Joe Murray, an Indigenous boxing champion who danced and sang in vaudeville shows, and married a blue-eyed blonde white woman in 1930s Australia. more
PASSPORT TO PARENTHOOD
2004 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 56 min
When Melbourne couple Davor Dirlic and his wife Nina decide to adopt Petra, whilst visiting their homeland Croatia, they embark on an emotional rollercoaster that will uncover a tragic past. more
PATOU: in Black and White
2022 (M) 55 min
With a career that spans over four decades and across the globe, Jamaican singer Pat Powell ("Patou") is one of Australia's most accomplished yet hidden vocal talents. A award-winning film by Fiona Cochrane. more
PICTURING HOME
2021 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 52 min
After twenty years of homelessness one woman finds empowerment by sharing her journey through the lens of a camera. A powerful film by Annette Cohen, exploring links between mental health concerns and homelessness. more
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
PORTS OF DESTINY
1998 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 52 min
This documentary follows a 76 year-old man from Australia to Argentina to see his 96 year-old Aunt for the first time since they were separated by war 60 years ago. The film charts the experiences of aging, migration and memory when one is towards the end of their life. more
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
REMEMBERING COUNTRY
2000 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 26 min
An intimate autobiographical film that invites the audience into Harold Furber's vivid memories of being a desert kid stolen away to a tropical island. more
![RYDIN' TIME [from the CAAMA Collection]](/images/small/2888.jpg)
RYDIN' TIME [from the CAAMA Collection]
2005 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 22 min
Life on the rodeo circuit in Queensland for three teenagers who risk their lives to compete. 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