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History - World (2/6)
Historical events world-wide including stories of war and peace especially in China and other Asian countries, from British colonial ventures to the Tiananmen Square massacre in Beijing.
DIFFICULT PLEASURE - a film about Brett Whitely
1990 (M) 51 min
Difficult Pleasure is a revealing portrait of one of Australia's finest painters - the only full-length documentary made about Brett Whiteley. Filmed in 1989, the film explores Whiteley's art and life and is richly illustrated with some of his finest paintings. more
DOGS OF DEMOCRACY
2016 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 58 min
WINNER! Spirit of Activism Award, Nevada Women's Film Festival, March 2017. WINNER! Best Documentary Feature, 2017 Imagine This: Women's International Film Festival, Brooklyn, New York! A documentary about the stray dogs of Athens and the people who take care of them. In the on-going financial crises of the 2010s,... more
DVORAK AND AMERICA
1999 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 56 min
On 26 September 1892 when the Czech composer, Antonin Dvorak, arrived in New York to direct the National Conservatory of Music of America, he was given the daunting task of creating a school of music for a young nation boundlessly confident in its resources, but still looking to Europe for a sense of identity. more
EDITOR'S ANTHOLOGY, AN
2016-2020 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 32 min
An anthology of three short films by Karen Pearlman ASE, about women and cinema: Woman with an editing bench, After the facts and I want to make a film about women. more
ESCHER: JOURNEY INTO INFINITY
2018 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 80 min
A portrait of one of the most influential and inspiring artists of the 20th century, M.C. Escher. Narrated by Stephen Fry, in Escher's own words. A superb film by highly regarded Dutch filmmaker, Robin Lutz. more
FIERCE GREEN FIRE, A
2012 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 101 min
A FIERCE GREEN FIRE explores the history of the international environmental movement – grassroots and global activism spanning fifty years from conservation to climate change. Narrated by Robert Redford, Ashley Judd, Van Jones, Isabel Allende and Meryl Streep. more
FIFTY YEARS OF SILENCE
1994 (M) 57 min
50 YEARS OF SILENCE tells the story of Jan Ruff-O'Herne and her experience of enforced prostitution at the hands of the Japanese military during World War II. As the first European woman to go public on this issue Jan faced the difficult decision to reveal her secret to her family, her friends and her parish. more
FIRST FAGIN, THE
2012 (PG) 87 min
From New York to Hobart, and from the darkest jails and prison ships of England to the penal colony of Port Arthur, THE FIRST FAGIN brings to life the passionate love and dramatic adventures of Ikey Solomon, family man, fence, and Charles Dickens' inspiration for the character of Fagin in Oliver Twist. more
FLOWERS AND TROOPS (Hana to Heitai)
2009 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 106 min
Inspired by the documentaries of the great Imamura Shohei, under whom the filmmaker studied, this film explores the lives of Japanese soldiers who chose not to return to Japan when the war finished, but who stayed behind in south-east Asia to build new lives for themselves. 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
FROM UNDER THE RUBBLE
2018 (M) 76 min
The Samouni family story: a powerful civilian perspective on the violent clash between Palestinians and Israeli armed forces in Gaza. Australian filmmaker Anne Tsoulis has created an intimate and unflinching film about an appalling crisis. more
FUKUSHIMA - Memories of the Lost Landscape (Soma Kanka Daiichibu Ubawareta Tochino Kioku)
2011 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 109 min
In the wake of the devastating tsunami and the Fukushima disaster, a 20km exclusion zone was created around the afflicted power plant. This award-winning film looks at the effect of the disaster on the lives of the evacuees. more
GATE OF HEAVENLY PEACE, THE
1996 (G) 190 min
During the northern spring of 1989, nightly news accounts filmed in Tiananmen Square alternately enthralled and horrified millions of viewers around the globe. THE GATE OF HEAVENLY PEACE revisits these events and explores the complex political process that eventually led to the Beijing Massacre of June 4th. more
GOUGH WHITLAM: In His Own Words
2002 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 84 min
Australia's reformist and controversial former Prime Minister, Gough Whitlam, shares his views on 50 years of public life, in an in-depth conversation with Senator John Faulkner. more
GRACE - A Prayer for Peace
2025 (PG) 96 min
GRACE - A Prayer for Peace brings filmmaker Dame Gaylene Preston and artist Dame Robin White (Ngāti Awa) together in an extraordinary collaboration. What begins as conversation evolves into a cinematic path across Aotearoa, Kiribati, and Japan, drawing rich connections between people, place, and art. more
HOPE IN A SLINGSHOT
2010 (M) 61 min
HOPE IN A SLINGSHOT explores the day-to-day realities of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict and the effect on civilians on both sides. A journey through the underbelly of the occupation of Palestine by Israel. more
HORSES OF FUKUSHIMA (Matsuri no Uma)
2013 (PG) 74 min
A powerful and heart-breaking film of continuing relevance as new disclosures continue to emerge from the Fukushima disaster. After the tsunami, the nuclear meltdown, and many months of government inaction, the absurdity of human civilisation is reflected in their traumatised eyes of horses trapped for many weeks in a stud-farm... more