Martha Ansara

Last updated

Martha Ansara
Born
United States
Citizenship Australian
Alma mater Australian Film, Television and Radio School, University of Technology, Sydney
Occupation(s)Documentary filmmaker, cinematographer, screenwriter
Years active1969–present
EmployerBallad Films

Martha Ansara is a US-born Australian documentary filmmaker, writer, oral historian, and educator. Ansara was one of the first women in Australia to work as a cinematographer, and a founding member and/or convenor of the Sydney Women's Film Group in the early 1970s, the Film and Broadcast Industries Oral History Group, the Archive Forum (which lobbied for the establishment of the National Film and Sound Archive as a statutory body), and of Ozdox, the Australian Documentary Forum.

Contents

Early life and education

Martha Ansara was born in the United States, [1] where her father was a leading figure in the Syrian-Lebanese community and her mother an educator specialising in dyslexia. [2]

She migrated to Australia in 1969, [3] becoming involved in the Sydney Filmmakers Co-operative. [2] She started making films with other young filmmakers through the co-operative, but at that time professional cinematography was dominated by men and it was difficult to get work. However, in 1975 she was admitted as a student in the first three-year full-time course of the Australian Film and Television School (now AFTRS), [3] [4] [5] graduating in 1978. [6]

Later, in 1994, she gained a master's degree in Applied History from the University of Technology Sydney. [7] [5] [8]

Career

Ansara was one of the first women in Australia to work as a cinematographer, and is known for her social documentaries. [8] [6]

1970s–1990s

After graduating, Ansara gained experience as a camera assistant. [3]

She also began writing reviews and articles on film for Filmnews , the monthly newspaper of the Sydney Filmmakers Co-operative, and then for a range of publications. [3] Ansara admired Dutch documentary filmmaker Joris Ivens, whom she met in 1996, and wrote about in Filmnews'. [9]

She also worked extensively as an assessor of projects for government film bodies and was involved in promoting the development of women's filmmaking through the Sydney Women's Film Group (SWFG), [10] established in 1973, along with Jeni Thornley and Margot Nash. [11] Ansara was also involved in the Women's Film Fund of the Australian Film Commission. [7]

In the 1970s, Ansara formed many of the relationships with filmmakers and activists which she was to sustain in the following decades. She was involved in the anti-Vietnam War movement and joined the Association for International Disarmament and Co-operation, which became People for Nuclear Disarmament (PND). [3] [12] [13] With the support of that organisation, she later made one of the first documentaries to be shot by Westerners in Vietnam, Changing the Needle. [14] (1982) with peace activist Mavis Robertson and filmmaker Dasha Ross. [15] She subsequently worked with PND as an organizer of the Pacific Peacemaker project [16] [17] [3]

In 1973, A Film for Discussion, long in the making after being shot in 1970, was released by the Sydney Women's Film Group. The title reflects the group's wish "to distinguish it from films where the audience members were merely passive consumers of entertainment". [18] [14]

During this period, Ansara was an active member of the Australian Theatrical and Amusement Employees' Association, becoming the convener of its motion picture sub-committee. [19] She was a foundation member of the Rank and File Movement within the union which came to power briefly in the late 1980s.

In 1976 Ansara was introduced to the realities of Aboriginal Australians through community activist and singer Essie Coffey. She subsequently photographed Coffey's film My Survival as an Aboriginal (1979), which she co-produced with Coffey [20] [11] Coffey and Ansara later collaborated again to make a sequel, My Life As I Live It (1993). [20] [21] and others. My Survival as an Aboriginal was later selected for restoration by Australia's National Film and Sound Archive. [22]

In 1978, Ansara made Secret Storm, about a young woman who questions her role as mother. [11] In the same year, she appeared in the feature film Third Person Plural , directed by James Ricketson and also starring Bryan Brown. [23]

In 1983, Ansara photographed Lousy Little Sixpence , [24] a documentary about the Stolen Generations made by Alec Morgan, Aboriginal media pioneer Lester Bostock and his brother, Gerry Bostock. [25] She also worked in Western Australia with Aboriginal activist Robert Bropho to photograph Munda Nyuringu [26] [ failed verification ] and Always Was, Always Will Be (1989), a documentary on the Swan Brewery Dispute, which she and Bropho made together. [14] [3] In 1989, Ansara, with assistance from Bropho and others involved in the protest, researched and wrote a history of the dispute as a book of the same title [27] with support from a Creative Arts Fellowship at the Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University. [28] [ failed verification ]

In 1988 she produced the anti-nuclear feature film The Pursuit of Happiness (1987) which she directed, [3] based on the book of the same name by Karen Throssell [29] The finance for this film was raised largely from private sources, including the proceeds of the sale of the Victoria Cross won at Gallipoli by Hugo Throssell and donated to the project by his son, diplomat and writer Ric Throssell, the father of Karen Throssell. [30] [31] Jeni Thornley, interviewing Ansara about the film in February 1988, described it as "about so much: motherhood, war, capitalism, change, values, how to live one's life, and it's also about women's economic independence from men. There you've got the metaphor of marriage, the US-Australia alliance..." [32]

Ansara was a founding convenor of the Film and Broadcast Industries Oral History Group [6] (as of 2025 Australian Media Oral History Group [33] ), which was founded in April 1991 "as an independent body in response to the growing concerns of oral historians and Australian filmmakers that the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA) was no longer doing enough to encourage the recording and dissemination of the oral histories of film and broadcast industry veterans". The members of this group included film historian Graham Shirley. [34] The group was associated with the NFSA. [33]

Ansara gained a master's degree in Applied History from the University of Technology Sydney in 1994. [7]

She was also involved with the Balmain Resident Action group. [35]

In this period Ansara gradually stopped working as a cinematographer and increasingly began teaching film, including as a lecturer at the University of Technology Sydney.[ citation needed ]

In 1999, she attended the Créteil International Women's Film Festival, where her films were screened in a tribute to Australian Women's Cinema. [11]

2000s

In 2002, Ansara produced the documentary Ordinary People, directed by Jennifer Rutherford and narrated by Tara Morice, which follows One Nation candidate Colene Hughes over two years and two elections. [36] [8] [6] [14]

In 2003, Ansara joined other documentary-makers, including Jeni Thornley, Pat Fiske, and Mitzi Goldman, in forming Ozdox, the Australian Documentary Forum. [37] [38]

Also around 2003, she was a founding member of the Archive Forum, [6] [39] which lobbied for the establishment of the Archive as a statutory body, a goal finally accomplished in 2008. [40]

In 2005 Ansara, as a member of the Australian Cinematographers Society, was asked to work with the ACS on a photographic history of cinematography in Australia. This project, significantly relying on oral history, became the book, The Shadowcatchers: A history of cinematography in Australia . [41] Upon its launch, Ansara wrote "For me, The Shadowcatchers is, among other things, a tribute to the importance of the NFSA to our national heritage – to our understanding of the past". [42]

Also in 2005, she produced the documentary I Remember 1948, [43] [44] [8] [6]

In 2009 she directed and co-produced the silent short comedy drama film The Ballad of Betty and Joe, [44] [8] with the assistance of some grassroots activists. [45]

Ansara retired from filmmaking, [5] but continues to distribute a small number of her DVDs via Ballad Films. [8]

Memberships and other roles

Ansara is a full member of the Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS). [3]

She is a life member of the Australian Directors Guild [46] [5] and a founding member of Ozdox, the Australian Documentary Forum. [47] [5] [a]

Ansara is also a member of the Society of Australian Cinema Pioneers. [6]

She has been involved in many industry organisations and campaigns, including Motion Picture Subcommittee AT&AEA as well as various women's groups and initiatives. She has been appointed as a selector and juror for film awards and festivals; has acted as a project assessor for film funding; and has been a film valuer for the Cultural Gifts Program. [5]

She has also worked as a film lecturer in Australian film history and Aboriginal history, and as an oral historian. [5] She has written about film, and been active in the trade union, women's, and peace movements.[ citation needed ]

Recognition and awards

Ansara's documentary films have been screened in Australia, the UK, Europe, and North America and some have won international prizes. [6]

In 1987, Ansara was awarded the Australian Film Institute's Byron Kennedy Award This award is given "for outstanding creative enterprise within the film and television industries... to an individual or organization whose work embodies the qualities of [producer] Byron Kennedy: innovation, vision and the relentless pursuit of excellence". [48] [5]

She received the Women's Electoral Lobby's Edna Ryan Award [6] for Media/Communication in 2001. [49]

Ansara was inducted into the ACS Hall of Fame in 2015. [3]

In November 2017, she was the subject of "Salute" presented by OzDox and the Australian Cinematographers Society. [50] [51]

Personal life

Ansara is the mother of Australian actor Alice Ansara. [52]

Selected filmography

Selected publications

Footnotes

  1. ↑ Ozdox appears to have folded sometime after September 2021. Upcoming event: Disinformation – 11th March, 2020. Making factual stories in the age of fake news, disinformation and misinformation. (last archived screen); "Bandwidth exceeded". However the OzDox Community Noticeboard is still very active on Facebook.

References

  1. ↑ Ansara, Martha; Lowenstein, Wendy (1993). "Martha Ansara interviewed by Wendy Lowenstein for the Communists and the Left in the arts and community oral history project". Communists and the Left in the Arts and Community Oral History Project.
  2. 1 2 Blonski, Annette; Creed, Barbara; Freiberg, Freda (1987). Don't Shoot Darling!: Women's Independent Filmmaking in Australia. Spinifex Press. p. 180. ISBN   978-0-86436-058-8.
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 "Martha Ansara". Australian Cinematographers Society (ACS). 13 March 2024. Retrieved 14 February 2025.
  4. 1 2 Frizell, Helen (11 October 1977). "World of conveyer(sic) belt women". news.google.com. The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 30 September 2022. ...Martha Ansara, still a student of cinematography there...
  5. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "Martha Ansara". Australian Media Oral History Group. 30 August 2017. Retrieved 14 February 2025.
  6. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "About Martha Ansara". Ballad Films. | access-date=14 February 2025}}
  7. 1 2 3 "Martha Ansara". Ronin Films . Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  8. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 "Martha Ansara". Ozdox: The Australian Documentary Forum. Archived from the original on 16 July 2020.
  9. ↑ "Martha Ansara on: Remembering the Master". Filmnews . New South Wales, Australia. 1 December 1993. p. 10. Retrieved 15 February 2025– via National Library of Australia.
  10. ↑ Collins, Felicity (29 May 1998). "The experimental practice of history in the filmwork of Jeni Thornley". La Trobe University . Archived from the original on 20 April 2002. since her first venture into filmmaking resulted in the collective production of A film for discussion (a three year project initiated by Martha Ansara in collaboration with Jeni Thornley and other members of the Sydney Women's Film Group).
  11. 1 2 3 4 "Créteil Films de Femmes, Largest Ongoing Women's Film Festival in the World 1999 Live Report from Créteil: 19 March 1999". 19 March 1999. Interesting to note was a chronicle of the very productive and remarkable. Sydney Women's Film Group that began in 1976-- with three members present at the festival. Retrospectives of this work brought to the screen an important part of women's cinema: Jennie Thornley, Margot Nash and Martha Ansara
  12. ↑ "Home". People For Nuclear Disarmament (PND). Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  13. ↑ "People for Nuclear Disarmament (N.S.W.) - campaigns and projects, 1976-1991". Old Catalogue: Manuscripts, oral history and pictures catalogue. State Library of New South Wales . Retrieved 14 February 2025. ...including correspondence concerning H. V. H. Throssell VC Peace and Disarmament Memorial Trust, and correspondence with, and progress reports by, Martha Ansara (Jequerity Pty Ltd)
  14. 1 2 3 4 "Back catalogue". Ballad Films.
  15. ↑ Melbourne International Film Festival archive database [ dead link ]
  16. ↑ "Pacific Peacemaker Project photographs, ca. 1981-1982 / photographers chiefly unidentified". Old Catalogue: Manuscripts, oral history and pictures catalogue. State Library of New South Wales . Retrieved 14 February 2025.
  17. ↑ "The Sydney Morning Herald - Google News Archive Search". news.google.com. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  18. 1 2 Fiske, Pat. "A Film for Discussion: Mother and daughter". National Film and Sound Archive of Australia . Retrieved 15 February 2025.
  19. ↑ The 13th International Woman's Film Festival in Seoul [ dead link ]
  20. 1 2 Land, Clare (14 February 2019). "Coffey, Essie". The Australian Women's Register . Retrieved 14 February 2025.
  21. ↑ Aerts, Hollie (1 December 2017). "My Life As I live It - The Australian Women's Register". The Australian Women's Register . Retrieved 14 February 2025.
  22. ↑ "My Survival as an Aboriginal: Lessons on Survival – NFSA Digital Restoration". National Film and Sound Archive of Australia. Retrieved 14 February 2025.
  23. ↑ "Principal credits Third Person Plural (1978) on ASO". Australia's audio and visual heritage online. Retrieved 15 February 2025.
  24. ↑ "Video Overview Lousy Little Sixpence (1983)". Australian Screen Online . Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  25. ↑ "Lester Bostock Oral History". Australian Film Commission Archive. April 2007. Archived from the original on 5 April 2019. Retrieved 14 February 2025.
  26. ↑ Petty, Bruce; Bropho, Robert (1983). Munda Nyuringu cartoons. OCLC   1137298914.
  27. ↑ "Always was, always will be : the sacred grounds of the Waugal, Kings Park, Perth W.A. : the Old Swan Brewery dispute / Martha Ansara" (catalogue entry). Trove. National Library of Australia . Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  28. ↑ Turner, Caroline; Barclay, Glen St John. Humanities Research Centre. ANU Press. ISBN   978-0-9751229-8-3.
  29. ↑ Throssell, Karen (1988), The pursuit of happiness : Australia, "the empire', ANZUS, nuclear disarmament and neutrality / Karen Throssell (catalogue entry), Hyland House, ISBN   094706219X , retrieved 15 February 2025– via National Library of Australia
  30. ↑ Hobby, Nathan (12 September 2023). "Ric Prichard Throssell". Australian Dictionary of Biography . Retrieved 15 February 2025.
  31. ↑ Welborn, Suzanne (1990). "Hugo Vivian Hope Throssell". Australian Dictionary of Biography . Retrieved 15 February 2025.
  32. ↑ Ansara, Martha (1 February 1988). "Jeni Thornley interviews Martha Ansara: The Price of Happinesss". Filmnews (Interview). Vol. 18, no. 1. Interviewed by Thornley, Jeni. New South Wales, Australia. p. 8. Retrieved 15 February 2025– via National Library of Australia.
  33. 1 2 "Our history". Australian Media Oral History Group. 29 August 2017. Retrieved 14 February 2025.
  34. ↑ "Who we are". Australian Media Oral History Group. 29 August 2017. Retrieved 14 February 2025.
  35. ↑ "Martha Ansara aggregated collection of papers (1990-2003)". Adlib Internet Server 5. Retrieved 16 February 2025.
  36. 1 2 "Ordinary People". Ballad Films. 20 September 2020. Retrieved 15 February 2025.
  37. ↑ "Pat Fiske – Producer". When the Camera Stopped Rolling. 19 March 2021. Retrieved 15 February 2025.
  38. ↑ "About Us". Documentary Australia. 6 June 2018. Retrieved 15 February 2025.
  39. ↑ "[Edmondson, Ray : Documentation][Archive Forum : Assorted papers, 2000-2004]". NFSA . Retrieved 15 February 2025.
  40. ↑ "National Film and Sound Archive of Australia". Department of Communication and the Arts. Australian Government. Archived from the original on 17 August 2016. The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSAA) commenced operations as a stand alone statutory authority on 1 July 2008.
  41. ↑ "The Shadow Catchers". Australian Cinematographers Society. 1 July 2021. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  42. ↑ Ansara, Martha (22 May 2012). "New book The Shadowcatchers produced with support of the NFSA". National Film and Sound Archive of Australia. Retrieved 15 February 2025.
  43. 1 2 Low, Lenny Ann (13 May 2008). "I Remember 1948". The Age. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  44. 1 2 3 4 5 "Home". Ballad Films. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  45. ↑ "About Ballad Films". Ballad Films. Retrieved 14 February 2025.
  46. ↑ "Women dominate at Australian Directors Guild Awards". The Australian . Archived from the original on 6 May 2013.
  47. ↑ "Committee Members". OzDox: The Australian Documentary Forum. Archived from the original on 20 August 2017.
  48. ↑ "Byron Kennedy Awards (List of winners from 1984 to 2016)" (PDF). AFI / AACTA . Retrieved 14 February 2025.
  49. ↑ "Past Recipients 1998". Edna Ryan Awards. 12 November 2010. Retrieved 14 February 2025.
  50. ↑ "Upcoming events: A Salute to Martha Ansara – November 8th, 2017". Ozdox: The Australian Documentary Forum. Archived from the original on 6 November 2017. Retrieved 14 February 2025.
  51. ↑ A Salute to Martha Ansara – OzDox Nov 2017 on YouTube. (2'20") 12 December 2017.
  52. ↑ "An actress like Alice". Urban Cinefile. 27 September 2001. Archived from the original on 4 July 2002. Retrieved 28 April 2014.
  53. ↑ "Video Overview Letters From Poland (1978) on ASO - Australia's audio and visual heritage online". aso.gov.au. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  54. ↑ "Video Overview My Survival as an Aboriginal (1978) on ASO - Australia's audio and visual heritage online". aso.gov.au. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  55. ↑ "Video Overview Age Before Beauty (1980) on ASO - Australia's audio and visual heritage online". aso.gov.au. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  56. ↑ "Video Overview Flamingo Park (1980) on ASO - Australia's audio and visual heritage online". aso.gov.au. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  57. ↑ "Video Overview Rocking the Foundations (1985) on ASO - Australia's audio and visual heritage online". aso.gov.au. Retrieved 30 September 2022.
  58. ↑ Kuhn, Annette; Radstone, Susannah (1994). The Women's Companion to International Film. University of California Press. p. 30. ISBN   978-0-520-08879-5.
  59. ↑ "Video Overview My Life as I Live It (1993)". Australian Screen Online .
  60. ↑ "About". Women of Steel. Retrieved 3 March 2021.
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