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Australian New Wave
The Australian New Wave (also known as the Australian Film Revival, Australian Film Renaissance, or New Australian Cinema) was an era of resurgence in worldwide popularity of Australian cinema, particularly in the United States. It began in the early 1970s and lasted until the mid-late 1980s. The era also marked the emergence of Ozploitation, a film genre characterised by the exploitation of colloquial Australian culture. Background The Australian film industry declined after World War II, coming to a virtual stop by the early 1960s. The Gorton (1968–71) and Whitlam Governments (1972–75) intervened and rescued the industry from its expected oblivion. The federal and several state governments established bodies to assist with the funding of film production and the training of film makers through the Australian Film, Television and Radio School, which fostered a new generation of Australian filmmakers who were able to bring their visions to the screen. The 1970s saw a huge rena ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Australian Cinema
The cinema of Australia had its beginnings with the 1906 production of ''The Story of the Kelly Gang'', arguably the world's first feature film. Since then, Australian crews have produced many films, a number of which have received international recognition. Many actors and filmmakers with international reputations started their careers in Australian films, and many of these have established lucrative careers in larger film-producing centres such as the United States. Commercially successful Australian films include: ''Crocodile Dundee'', George Miller's '' Mad Max: Fury Road'', Baz Luhrmann's ''Moulin Rouge!'', and Chris Noonan's ''Babe''. Award-winning productions include ''Picnic at Hanging Rock'', ''Gallipoli'', ''The Tracker'', ''Shine'' and '' Ten Canoes''. Australian actors of renown include Errol Flynn, Peter Finch, Rod Taylor, Paul Hogan, Jack Thompson, Bryan Brown, Judy Davis, Jacki Weaver, Geoffrey Rush, Hugo Weaving, Eric Bana, Guy Pearce, Hugh Jackman, Ca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Cars That Ate Paris
''The Cars That Ate Paris'' is a 1974 Australian horror comedy film, produced by twin brothers Hal and Jim McElroy and directed by Peter Weir. It was his first feature film, and was also based on an original story he had written. Shot mostly in the rural town of Sofala, New South Wales, the film is set in the fictional town of Paris in which most of the inhabitants appear to be directly, or indirectly, involved in profiting from the results of car accidents. Plot The film begins with an urban couple driving through the countryside in what looks like a cinema advertisement. The scene comes to a halt with a fatal accident. The rural Australian town of Paris arranges fatal accidents to visitors driving through. Townspeople collect items from the luggage of the deceased passengers whilst survivors are taken to the local hospital where they are given lobotomies with power tools and kept as "veggies" for medical experiments by the earnest town surgeon. The young men of the town salv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Last Wave
''The Last Wave'' (also released, in the US, as ''Black Rain'') is a 1977 Australian mystery drama film directed by Peter Weir.''Variety'' film review; 16 November 1977, p. 21. It is about a white solicitor in Sydney whose seemingly normal life is disrupted after he takes on a murder case and discovers that he shares a strange, mystical connection with the small group of local Aboriginal people accused of the crime. Plot The film opens with a montage of scenes of daily life in Australia in the 1970s: A rural school in the desert with children playing, the main street of an outback town, a traffic jam in the city, all being affected by unusually adverse weather conditions that suddenly appear. Heavy rainfall followed by unusually large chunks of hail breaking through the windows of the school injuring students, a frog infestation and other anomalies. Only the local Aboriginal people seem to recognize the cosmological significance of these weather phenomena. During one of these ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fantasm Comes Again
''Fantasm Comes Again'' is a 1977 Australian softcore pornographic film. It is the sequel to '' Fantasm'' (1976) and was the first feature directed by Colin Eggleston. Plot Journalist Libbie is taking over the "Dear Collette" sex advice column at her newspaper from veteran reporter Harry, who is retiring. Over the course of one night, Harry talks Libbie through a series of letters from their readers. They include: *rape in a drive in theatre *teacher-student sex in a gym *lesbian seduction in a barn *a suburban orgy *incest *sex in a pool *sex in a library *oral sex on the road *a threesome in an elevator *sex between monks and a nun. Cast *Angela Menzies-Wills as Libbie *Clive Hearne as Harry ;''Silence Please'' *Tom Thumb as Harold *Liz Wolfe as Rita *Rosemarie Bern as Cindy *Christine De Shaffer as First Reader *Pat Benco (Pat Manning) as Second Reader * Martin Margulies as Third Reader ;''Workout'' * Rick Cassidy as Mr Bates *Michael Barton as Miss Peabody ;''Double Featur ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Storm Boy (1976 Film)
''Storm Boy'' is a 1976 Australian drama film based on the 1964 book of the same name by Colin Thiele, about a lonely boy and his pet pelicans living in a coastal wilderness with his reclusive father. It was the third feature film made by the South Australian Film Corporation, and is a highlight of the New Wave of Australian Cinema from the 1970s. The film was financed by SAFC, Seven Network and the Australian Film Commission. Plot Mike ( Greg Rowe) is a lonely young boy wandering through the fierce deserted coast of South Australia's Coorong, near the mouth of the Murray River. He and his reclusive father 'Hide Away' Tom (Peter Cummins) live in the isolated sand dunes facing the Southern Ocean. In search of friendship, Mike encounters another recluse in the wilderness, Fingerbone Bill (David Gulpilil), an Aboriginal man estranged from his tribal people. Fingerbone names Mike "Storm Boy" and enlists the child's help caring for three orphaned pelican chicks. Eventually, Mike's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deathcheaters
''Deathcheaters'' is a 1976 Australian action adventure film directed by Brian Trenchard-Smith and starring John Hargreaves and Grant Page. Plot Steve and Rodney are two ex-Vietnam commandos who do stunt work for television. They are hired by the government to raid the island stronghold of a Filipino racketeer and secure papers from his safe. The two men make the raid and escape using a hang-glider. Cast * John Hargreaves as Steve Hall *Grant Page as Rodney Cann *Margaret Trenchard-Smith (as Margaret Gerard) as Julia Hall *Noel Ferrier as Mr Culpepper *Judith Woodroffe as Gloria *Ralph Cotterill as uncivil servant *John Krumme as Anticore director *Drew Forsythe as battle director *Brian Trenchard-Smith as hit and run director *Michael Aitkens as police driver *Roger Ward as police sergeant *Wallas Eaton as police sergeant *Dale Aspin as lady car driver *Peter Collingwood as Mr Langham *Chris Haywood as butcher *Ann Semler as Lina *Max Aspin as bank robber *David Bracks as bank ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fantasm
''Fantasm'' is a 1976 Australian softcore pornographic film, directed by Richard Franklin under a pseudonym. It was followed by a sequel, ''Fantasm Comes Again'', the following year, directed by a pseudonymous Colin Eggleston. Plot German psychiatrist Professor Jungenot A. Freud takes the audience through a series of female sexual fantasies including: *sex in a beauty salon *fruit fetishism *lesbianism in a sauna *teacher student seduction *rape in a gym *transvestism *reverse Oedipus complex (Electra complex) Cast *John Bluthal as Professor Jungenot A. Freud *Ronnie Scholes as Self-Pleasuring Woman ;''Beauty Parlour'' *Dee Dee Levitt as Abby *Stan Stratton as Hairdresser *John Green as Manicurist *Sam Compton as Barber ''Card Game'' *Maria Arnold as Barbara *Bill Margold as Host *Kirby Hall as Husband *Robert Savage as Other Man *Helen O'Connell as First Girl *Wendy Cavanaugh as Second Girl ;''Wearing the Pants'' *Gretchen Gayle (Gretchen Rudolph) as Gabrielle *Con Covert ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don's Party
''Don's Party'' is a 1971 play by David Williamson set during the 1969 Australian federal election. The play opened on 11 August 1971 at The Pram Factory theatre in Carlton. Plot Don Henderson is a schoolteacher living with his wife Kath and baby son in the Melbourne suburb of Lower Plenty. On the night of the 1969 federal election Don invites a small group of friends to celebrate a predicted Australian Labor Party (ALP) election victory, much to the dismay of his wife. To the party come Mal, Don's university mentor, and his bitter wife Jenny, sex-obsessed Cooley and his latest girlfriend, nineteen-year-old Susan, Evan, a dentist, and his beautiful artist wife Kerry. Somehow, two Liberal supporters, Simon and Jody also come. As the party wears on it becomes clear that the Labor party, which is supported by Don and most of the guests, is not winning. As a result, alcohol consumption increases, and the sniping between Don and his male friends about their failed aspirations gets u ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Devil's Playground (1976 Film)
''The Devil's Playground'' is a 1976 Australian drama film written, produced and directed by Fred Schepisi. It is a semi-autobiographical film which tells the story of a boy growing up and going to school in a Catholic juniorate administered by De La Salle Brothers. Its focus is on the trials of the flesh and the tensions that arise, for both Brothers and students, from the religious injunction to control one's sexuality. Premise In August 1953, the 13-year-old Tom Allen attends a Catholic juniorate in Melbourne, Australia. Students and Brothers face individual challenges of faith and self-restraint. Cast * Arthur Dignam as Brother Francine * Nick Tate as Brother Victor * Simon Burke as Tom Allen * Charles McCallum as Brother Sebastian * John Frawley as Brother Celian * Jonathan Hardy as Brother Arnold * Gerry Duggan as Father Hanrahan * Peter Cox as Brother James * Thomas Keneally as Father Marshall * Sheila Florance as Mrs Sullivan * John Diedrich as Fitz * Alan Cinis a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Caddie (film)
''Caddie'' is an Australian film biopic directed by Donald Crombie and produced by Anthony Buckley. Released on 1 April 1976, it is representative of the Australian film renaissance which occurred during that decade. Set mainly in Sydney during the 1920s and 1930s, including the Great Depression, it portrays the life of a young middle class woman struggling to raise two children after her marriage breaks up. Based on '' Caddie, the Story of a Barmaid'', a partly fictitious autobiography of Catherine Beatrice "Caddie" Edmonds, it made Helen Morse a local star and earned Jacki Weaver and Melissa Jaffer each an Australian Film Institute Award. Plot In 1925 Sydney, Caddie leaves her adulterous and brutish husband and takes her two children, Ann and Terry, with her. Forced to work as a barmaid in a pub she struggles to survive. A brief affair with Ted (Jack Thompson) ends badly when his involvement with another woman comes to light, but she falls in love with a Greek immigrant, Peter ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mad Dog Morgan
''Mad Dog Morgan'' is a 1976 Australian bushranger film directed by Philippe Mora and starring Dennis Hopper, Jack Thompson and David Gulpilil. It is based upon the life of Dan Morgan. Plot Dan Morgan witnesses the (fictitious) bloody massacre of Chinese on the goldfields and turns into a robber. He is arrested and sent to prison for six years where he is tormented and raped. He is let out on parole and becomes a bushranger, befriending an Aboriginal man, Billy. Morgan fights against the vicious Superintendent Cobham and is eventually killed. Cast * Dennis Hopper as Dan Morgan * Jack Thompson as Detective Manwaring *David Gulpilil as Billy *Frank Thring as Superintendent Cobham *Michael Pate as Superintendent Winch * Wallas Eaton as Macpherson * Bill Hunter as Sergeant Smith * John Hargreaves as Baylis *Martin Harris as Wendlan * Robin Ramsay as Roget *Graeme Blundell as Italian Jack *Gregory Apps as Arthur *Liza Lee-Atkinson as Barmaid *Elaine Baillie as Farm Girl *Don Bar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sunday Too Far Away
''Sunday Too Far Away'' is a 1975 Australian drama film directed by Ken Hannam. It belongs to the Australian Film Renaissance or the "Australian New Wave", which occurred during that decade. The film is set on a sheep station in the Australian outback in 1955 and its action concentrates on the shearers' reactions to a threat to their bonuses and the arrival of non-union labour. Acclaimed for its understated realism of the work, camaraderie and general life of the shearer, Jack Thompson plays the knock-about Foley, a heavy drinking gun shearer (talented professional sheep shearer), and while he makes a play for the station owner's daughter Sheila (Lisa Peers), the film is a presentation of various aspects of Australian male culture and not a romance; the film's title itself is reputedly the lament of an Australian shearer's wife: "Friday night e'stoo tired; Saturday night too drunk; Sunday, too far away". ''Sunday Too Far Away'' won three 1975 Australian Film Institute awards: B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
