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.
David James Stratton is an English-Australian film critic. He has also worked as a journalist, interviewer, film historian, educator, television personality, and producer. His career as a film critic, writer, and educator in Australia spanned 57 years, until his retirement in December 2023. He co-presented film review shows on television with Margaret Pomeranz for 28 years, wrote film reviews for The Weekend Australian for 33 years, and lectured in film history for 35 years.
Alexandra's Project is a 2003 Australian drama thriller film written and directed by Rolf de Heer and starring Gary Sweet and Helen Buday.
Ten Canoes is a 2006 Australian drama film directed by Rolf de Heer and Peter Djigirr and starring Crusoe Kurddal. The title of the film arose from discussions between de Heer and David Gulpilil about a photograph of ten canoeists poling across the Arafura Swamp, taken by anthropologist Donald Thomson in 1936. It is the first ever movie entirely filmed in Australian Aboriginal languages. The film is partly in colour and partly in black and white, in docudrama style largely with a narrator explaining the story. The overall format is that of a moral tale.
Rolf de Heer is a Dutch Australian film director. De Heer was born in Heemskerk in the Netherlands but migrated to Sydney when he was eight years old. He attended the Australian Film, Television and Radio School in Sydney. His company is called Vertigo Productions and is based in Adelaide. De Heer primarily makes alternative or arthouse films. According to the jacket notes of the videotape, de Heer holds the honor of co-producing and directing the only motion picture, Dingo, in which the jazz legend Miles Davis appears as an actor. Miles Davis collaborated with Michel Legrand on the score.
The 15th Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards, 2006, honoured the best in film for 2006.
Dr. Plonk is a 2007 Australian silent sci-fi / comedy film written and directed by Rolf de Heer. It premiered in Australia at the 2007 Adelaide Film Festival and had live accompaniment by the Stiletto Sisters. The film was also screened at the launch of Australia's National Film and Sound Archive's new cinema, Arc, in August 2007. Its public cinema release was on 30 August 2007.
Samson and Delilah is a 2009 Australian drama film directed by Warwick Thornton and starring Rowan McNamara and Marissa Gibson, both young first-time actors. The film depicts two Indigenous Australian 14-year-olds living in a remote Aboriginal community who steal a car and escape their difficult lives by going to Alice Springs. It won many awards, including the Caméra d'Or at Cannes for best first feature.
Beautiful Kate is a 2009 Australian drama film directed by Rachel Ward and starring Ben Mendelsohn, Rachel Griffiths, Bryan Brown, Maeve Dermody and Sophie Lowe.
Lucky Country, released in the United States in 2013 as Dark Frontier, is a 2009 Australian psychological thriller film set in Australia in 1902, starring Aden Young and Toby Wallace. It was titled Home until just before its Australian release.
Charlie's Country is a 2013 Australian drama film directed by Rolf de Heer. It was selected to compete in the Un Certain Regard section at the 2014 Cannes Film Festival where David Gulpilil won the award for Best Actor. It was also screened in the Contemporary World Cinema section at the 2014 Toronto International Film Festival and awarded the Best Fiction Prize and the Youth Jury Prize at the 2015 International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH) in Geneva.
Lily Sullivan is an Australian actress. She played Coral in the 2012 film Mental, and Miranda in the 2018 television series Picnic at Hanging Rock. She plays leading roles in two 2023 feature films, Australian sci-fi thriller Monolith, and American horror film Evil Dead Rise.
The 3rd Adelaide Film Festival took place in Adelaide, South Australia, from 22 February to 4 March 2007. Katrina Sedgwick was again Festival Director. Rolf de Heer received the 2007 Don Dunstan Award for his contribution to the Australian film industry.
Tania Nehme is an Australian film editor. She has edited a number of films directed by Rolf de Heer and won and been nominated for many awards for her editing work, including an Australian Film Institute Award for Best Editing for the 2006 film Ten Canoes.
Graham Tardif is an Australian screen music composer. He is the composer on ten feature films directed and written by Rolf de Heer. Their most acclaimed collaboration, The Tracker (2002), resulted in an APRA-AGSC Screen Music Award for "Far Away Home" as Best Original Song Composed for a Feature Film, Telemovie, TV Series or Mini-Series in 2002. The Tracker also provided wins at Film Critics Circle of Australia Awards and IF Awards for the pair.
West of Sunshine is 2017 Australian drama film directed by Jason Raftopoulos and starring Damian Hill. Set in Melbourne, it depicts an eventful day in the life of Jimmy, an inveterate gambler, and his estranged son Alex.
My Name Is Gulpilil is a 2021 documentary film about the life of celebrated Australian actor David Gulpilil, at the time sick with stage four lung cancer.
The Antipodean Film Festival, variously referred to as Festival des Antipodes, Antipodes International Film Festival, Antipodes Film Festival Saint Tropez, Saint Tropez Film Festival and other variations, is a film festival showcasing New Zealand and Australian films, held annually in St Tropez in France since 1999.
The Drover's Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson, or simply The Drover's Wife, is a 2021 Australian revisionist Western film directed, written, and co-produced by Leah Purcell in her feature directorial debut. It is an adaptation of Purcell's 2016 play and a reimagining of Henry Lawson's 1892 short story. The film stars Purcell, Rob Collins, Sam Reid, and Jessica De Gouw. It tells the story of a woman and her stubborn determination to protect her family from the harshness of a life in 1893 in the Snowy Mountains.
The Survival of Kindness is a 2022 Australian drama film written, produced and directed by Rolf de Heer. It had its world premiere at Adelaide Film Festival on 23 October 2022, and its international premiere in competition at the 73rd Berlin International Film Festival on 17 February 2023, where it competed for Golden Bear and won the FIPRESCI Award for Best Film.
