Anthony Buckley

A feature length documentary about Australian popular entertainment across 150 years; of Skating and Dancing, Vaudeville and Moving Pictures.

A feature length documentary about Australian popular entertainment across 150 years; of Skating and Dancing, Vaudeville and Moving Pictures.

A love story about a young man who runs away up an isolated Australian river and gets a job with eighth generation oyster famers.

The Bergman sisters could not be more different. Jessica is a feisty tomboy who loves to help her father work their farmland. Her beautiful sister Meg is eagerly being groomed by her mother Hester (Lisa Harrow) to be the perfect wife, so that she can marry her way out of poverty. However, when the man, Jack Thomas, who Meg has set her sights on falls in love with Jessica and gets her pregnant, Hester schemes to wrench the couple apart to claim Jessica's son, Joey for Meg. Later she commits Jessica to a mental asylum. It is here that Jessica receives news of her lover's death and almost loses hope, but after enlisting the help of Mr. Runche, a down and out lawyer battling alcoholism, she is eventually released. Years later, it is the reformed Runche who gives Jessica the courage to fight for the return of her child. Eventually Meg and Hester call an uneasy truce with Jessica, and allow her to play a role in Joey's life as his aunt.

The story of Stuart Diver, the only person to survive the 1997 Thredbo tragedy that came about when a landslide engulfed a ski lodge situated in Australia's Snowy Mountains.

Based on the true story of an Australian woman that was murdered in bed next to her husband.

Based on a true story, The Heroes follows one of the most extraordinary and heroic exploits of World War II. After months of rigorous training in the north of Australia, a team of 14 men, most barely out of their teens, set sail from Cairns on board a leaky old fishing boat called 'The Krait'. Their mission, code-named Operation Jaywick, became a tense voyage through thousands of kilometres of Japanese held territory to launch a daring attack on Singapore Harbour. The raid is a success but within sight of safety they encounter a Japanese destroyer, and all prepare to die rather than be taken prisoner.

We first meet The Darcys, a poor, working class family of tough Irish stock through whose eyes we hear their story. A story that centres on the bittersweet first and last loves of Roie, who becomes a woman too quickly living among the tenement houses, razor gangs, brothels and sly-grog shops of inner city Sydney.

Notorious Australian flop set in the Roaring 20s Sydney follows Kitty O'Rourke who, after her thug husband ends up in jail, becomes a tough gangster on her own, befriends a crooked cop called The Bagman and takes on the competition.

Jessica Simmonds returns from overseas to find her retired professor father in a bitter public fight to save the historic Sydney waterfront houses on Angel Street. After her father's mysterious death, she joins forces with local residents and a union leader against corrupt forces. Based on the real life mysterious disappearance of Juanita Nielsen.

Part 3 of the History of Australian Cinema series. The story of the Australian film industry in the 1930s, from the pioneering days of talkies through to the decline of the industry with the coming of WWII.

Felicity Bannister is a young woman living in the shadow of her overpowering mother. Her oppression is her worst enemy until the day she is attacked by an intruder who breaks into her bedroom and forces Felicity into action. The tables are suddenly turned and Felicity transforms from the helpless victim into a ruthless renegade in search of trouble, driven by the anarchic thrill of malevolence.

Paddy Doolan is a man who refuses to accept change. In a new century where the motor car is changing the way things are done, the stubborn Irishman, the last of the draught-horse teamsters, continues to haul timber the old way.

A disturbing drama about a young mother who physically abuses her baby. Feeling overwhelmed and aware that she's not coping after the birth of her third child, she sends desperate cries for help. But her mother, husband, neighbour and clinic sister do not recognise the seriousness of the situation until the baby ends up in hospital with a fractured skull. A heart-wrenching film that illustrates the experiences of many women who suffer from post-natal depression.

Max Foster (Carl Betz), an American newspaper reporter, is in Hong Kong to assist a defecting Russian diplomat. In return for arranging an escape, the diplomat must turn over to Foster a diary revealing the true events taking place in China. While making his escape, the defector is killed ant the diary vanishes. The reporter sets off on a search for it, from Hong Kong to Australia. The chase ends in an action-filled climax, with the journalist finally meeting up with "That Lady from Peking" (Nancy Kwan) - the diplomat's daughter.

An adaptation of David Williamson's play; John Hargreaves and Peter Cummins star as a good and bad cop who assist a battered wife as she tries to escape her belligerent husband.

Generally regarded as Australia's finest railway film and winner of many awards the world over, A Steam Train Passes is a nostalgic, imaginative essay on one of the majestic but now retired C38 class steam locomotives.

When their car breaks down on the way to Queensland, a family is forced to take up residence at a caravan park while the father tries to earn enough money to get the car repaired.

Narrated by Leo McKern (Rumpole of the Bailey), this is a compelling biography of pioneer cameraman, war photographer, explorer, film director, writer, lecturer and broadcaster, Frank Hurley, one of the world's finest still photographers. From outback Australia to the deserts of the Middle East to Antarctica this program shows his extraordinary skills and achievements. Featured are compelling images from historic pioneering expeditions, including Sir Ernest Shackleton's legendary Antarctic Expedition aborad the Endurance. Also seen is Hurley's footage of his expedition to New Guinea, his coverage of WW I and WW II, and an excerpt from his foray into feature films with The Jungle Woman in 1926.

This short film documents Australian composer Richard Meale’s homage to the young French poet, Arthur Rimbaud. Meale composed a music piece for woodwind, percussion and strings which he titled “Incredible Floridas”.

Wake in Fright is the story of John Grant, a bonded teacher who arrives in the rough outback mining town of Bundanyabba planning to stay overnight before catching the plane to Sydney, but as one night stretches into several he plunges headlong into his own destruction.

An elderly artist thinks he has become too stale and is past his prime. His friend (and agent) persuades him to go to an offshore island to try once more. On the island he re-discovers his muse in the form of a young girl.

While flying to the first stop on their latest tour, the four members of the Australian music group The Seekers recall in flashback the origins of the group and their rise to success.