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History - World (3/6)
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.
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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IRAQ, MY COUNTRY
2005 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 52 min
A journey into Iraq after the American invasion, as told by an Iraqi refugee returning to his homeland after 10 years in Australia. A film of raw power and immediacy, capturing images of Iraq that we will never see on the nightly news. more
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I WANT TO MAKE A FILM ABOUT WOMEN
2020 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 12 min
A queer, speculative, documentary love letter to Russian constructivist women. It asks what the revolutionary women artists of the 1920s said, what they did, and what they might have created had it not been for Stalin's suppression. A film by Karen Pearlman ASE. 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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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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KORIAM'S LAW and the Dead Who Govern
2006 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 110 min
In Koriam's Law Australian anthropologist Andrew Lattas meets his match in philosopher-informant Peter Avarea of Matong village, Pomio, Papua New Guinea. Driven by their feisty dialogue and with access to sacred ceremonies, the film patiently goes about making sense of that mysterious Pacific phenomenon, the "cargo-cult". more
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LAND MINES - a love story
2005 (PG) 73 min
LAND MINES - a love story is a compelling anti-war film set in Afghanistan, a country that has become synonymous with conflict. It is also a story of romance and a celebration of life, hope and love. 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 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 WRIGHT, THE
2008 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 52 min
An award-winning film about the architect Frank Lloyd Wright and the story of the last hotel he designed. In Mason City, Iowa, Wright was commissioned to design a city block encompassing a bank and hotel facing the city park. Soon scandal and tragedy ruined his career but the Park Inn Hotel still stands as one of his... more
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LEMPAD OF BALI
1980 (G) 56 min
A re-release of an acclaimed documentary classic by John Darling - A film about the life and death of the 116-year-old Balinese Master-Artist. more
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LIFE IS A VERY STRANGE THING (English language version)
2018 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 80 min
Frédéric, a former high school rebel, ethnomusicologist, and multinational executive, returns from decades abroad, to a France that is both familiar and on edge. A quirky and moving portrait by outsiders, exploring what it is to be French in the 21st century. A delightful film by Les McLaren and Annie Stiven. more
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LIFE IS A VERY STRANGE THING (French language version)
2018 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 80 min
Frédéric, a former high school rebel, ethnomusicologist, and multinational executive, returns from decades abroad, to a France that is both familiar and on edge. A quirky and moving portrait by outsiders, exploring what it is to be French in the 21st century. more
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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
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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
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MAN ON THE RIM - DVD 1
1989 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 224 min
An 11 part film series which was first released in 1989 and represents one of the major achievements in the field of pre-history, archeology and anthropology. DVD 1 consists of 4 episodes: First Footsteps | Hunters & Gatherers | Into the Deep Freeze | Flaming Arrows. more
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MAN ON THE RIM - DVD 2
1989 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 224 min
An 11 part film series which was first released in 1989 and represents one of the major achievements in the field of pre-history, archeology and anthropology. DVD 2 consists of 4 episodes: Changing the Menu | The Cutting Edge | The Powerhouse | Pure & Simple. more
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MAN ON THE RIM - DVD 3
1989 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 168 min
An 11 part film series which was first released in 1989 and represents one of the major achievements in the field of pre-history, archeology and anthropology. DVD 3 consists of 3 episodes: Roads Without Wheels | The Feathered Serpent | The Last Horizon. 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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MEMORIES ON STONE
2014 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: M) 97 min
A remarkable award-winning Kurdish feature film from Iraq. With great visual and comedic flair, director Shawkat Amin Korki delivers a poignant portrait of contemporary Kurdish society haunted by its past. 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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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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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
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MUCH ADO ABOUT SOMETHING
2003 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 93 min
Was William Shakespeare truly the greatest English author, or does that honour really belong to Christopher Marlowe, a peer of the great bard who penned a number of popular plays during the late 1500s? This documentary plunges deep into the mystery surrounding the authorship of the plays and Marlowe's supposed murder. 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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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
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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
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NEON
2015 (PG) 84 min
Lawrence Johnston's NEON is a brightly coloured journey through the American dream, exploring how neon light became a beacon for the hopes of a country: a delightful spectacle of colour and light, music and history, design and cultural heritage. more
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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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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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PHOTO WALLAHS
1991 (G) 60 min
Renowned ethnographic filmmakers David and Judith MacDougall explore the many meanings of photography in this profound and penetrating documentary. The film focuses on the photographers of Mussoorie, a hill station in the Himalayan foothills of northern India whose fame has attracted tourists since the 19th century. 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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RAOUL WALLENBERG: Between The Lines
1985 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 86 min
Raoul Wallenberg was an unlikely hero. A Swedish diplomat, he risked his life to challenge the Nazi forces in Hungary and to save the lives of as many as 100,000 Jews in Budapest in 1944. more
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RED BOWMEN, THE
1978 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 58 min
The record of a ceremony called Ida which is performed every year by villagers of the Waina-Sowanda district of West Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea. A film by Chris Owen. more
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ROAD TO HOME, THE
2015 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 55 min
A portrait of the West Papuan Benny Wenda, now in exile in England, and his on-going fight for the right to self-determination for his people. more
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ROBERT FORTUNE - THE TEA THIEF
2002 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 52 min
Behind the story of a simple cup of tea is a tale of espionage and intrigue captured in a documentary by Melbourne filmmaker Diane Perelsztein. The cup that cheers has a complex, often dark history. The story of tea is a tale of politics, economics and spirituality, of espionage, art and the drug trade. more
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ROSIE'S SECRET
1994 (G) 11 min
ROSIE'S SECRET is a fictional portrait of a forgotten heroine, Rosie Foster. We discover the pivotal role Rosie played in the construction and celebration of Australia's national icon, the Sydney Harbour Bridge. more
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SENSO DAUGHTERS
1990 (PG) 55 min
During World War II, 140,000 Japanese troops died in Papua New Guinea. Considered the 'Forgotten War,' neither the war nor its veterans received public recognition in Japan. Another unacknowledged tragedy of that campaign was the army's mistreatment of New Guinean women and 'comfort girls'. Over 90,000 'comfort girls' were... more
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SHOCK ROOM
2016 (M) 72 min
In the early 1960s American psychologist Stanley Milgram ran a series of controversial experiments on obedience. An authority orders you to inflict painful shocks on another person. Most us will obey, claimed Milgram. But will we? more
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SIGNED, THEO SCHOON
2021 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 100 min
A superb portrait of the Dutch émigré artist, Theo Schoon (1915 – 1985), raised in the East, trained in the West, and replanted in the South. He rocked the New Zealand cultural world and built a strong liaison with Māori communities and the landscape. more
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SLEEP OF REASON, THE
1993 (PG) 50 min
A film about the end of the world: the myth that has been with us since the beginning of civilization, and the possibility made real at Hiroshima in 1945. The journey takes us from medieval paintings to 50s sci fi movies and leaves us better able to understand and deal with our destructive urges. 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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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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TENTMAKERS OF CAIRO, THE
2015 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 93 min
Spanning three turbulent years in Egyptian life, from the 2011 revolution to the 2014 election of Abdel Fatah Al Sisi, this intimate documentary observes these events through the eyes of artisan tentmakers in a back street in Cairo. more
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THOSE WHO SAID NO
2014 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 89 min
Crimes against humanity committed by the Iranian regime in the 1980s are revealed in the Iran Tribunal, an enquiry held under the auspices of the International Court of Justice in the Hague in 2012-3. A film by Iranian filmmaker, Nima Sarvestani, co-director of NO BURQAS BEHIND BARS. more
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TIME TO DRAW THE LINE
2016 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 52 min
East Timor was born as a new nation in 2002 after 25 years of turmoil and war. Australia's peace-keeping force, INTERFET, helped with the peaceful transition to nationhood. Now, a darker story of Australia's relationship with this new nation is emerging. more
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TOO MANY CAPTAIN COOKS
1988 (G) 18 min
In this film, Paddy Wainburranga of the Rembarrnga tribe from the centre of Arnhem Land in Northern Australia relates and paints the Rembarrnga history of Captain Cook. more
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TOTEM & ORE
2019 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 98 min
In Australia, British atomic bomb testing ran from 1953 to 1963 at Emu Field and Maralinga in South Australia. Indigenous communities had to live with the impact of these tests – testing that infected many with radioactive fallout. more
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TRAVELS ON MY DONKEY
2024 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 32 min
In this hand-drawn animated film by Lee Whitmore, the filmmaker travels back in time on her donkey to meet her great-great-uncle, John Reed Hill, in Egypt in 1837. She joins him on an expedition to explore the pyramids of Gizeh. For Lee the journey is the adventure of a lifetime. more
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TRIAL, THE
2009 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 52 min
In February 2008 twelve Muslim men went on trial in Melbourne on terrorism charges. The trial ran for nine months, heard hundreds of hours of secretly taped conversations and presented 66,000 pages of evidence. THE TRIAL takes us inside one of the biggest court cases in Australia's history. more
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TROBRIAND CRICKET
1979 (G) 52 min
"Trobriand cricket" refers to a unique version of the ball-and-bat sport cricket played by the Trobriand Islanders. They were first exposed to the game by Christian missionaries, who thought the game would discourage war among the natives. However, the game was quickly adapted to Trobriand culture by expanding the number... more
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TUPAIA'S ENDEAVOUR
2020 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 119 min
A first contact story, told from a Pacific point of view. Tupaia was a Polynesian high-priest, star-navigator, and artist who joined Cook's Endeavour expedition in Tahiti in 1769 as a navigator, and had a profound impact on Cook's journey and survival. This film cements Tupaia's role as a central figure in Pacific history. more
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TWO HOMELANDS
2024 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 52 min
Fifty years after the Turkish invasion of Cyprus, TWO HOMELANDS is both a commemoration of war and a celebration of community as six senior Australian Greek Cypriots - aged 70 to 102 - give emotional eyewitness accounts of the cost of war and their migration to Australia. more
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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
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UNFORGOTTEN ISLANDS (Chagos Ou la Memoire des Iles)
2011 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 83 min
In the 1970s, the people of the Chagos Islands in the Indian Ocean were evicted from their homes and forced to live in shanty towns in Mauritius and the Seychelles, so that a British and USA military base could be established on their homeland to support military operations in the Middle East. more
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WANDERING SOULS
2019 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 75 min
Wandering Souls follows the mounting of a new stage production, Bangsokol: A Requiem for Cambodia, to honour the nearly 2 million Cambodians who died during the Khmer Rouge regime from 1975 to 1979. more
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