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Film

Type - Film
A Nation is Built
Animal Kingdom
Assigned to His Wife
Babe: Pig in the City
Beneath Clouds
Bra Boys
Broken Melody
Caddie
Cupid Camouflaged
Don's Party
Emerald City
Emoh Ruo
FJ Holden
Finding Nemo
Finished People
Gallipoli
Heatwave
Hell Has Harbour Views
Idiot Box
It Isn't Done
Lantana
Little Fish
Mission Impossible 2
Mowing Places with Victa
Nice Coloured Girls
Not Only The Need 1957
On Our Selection
Passengers Alighting from Ferry 'Brighton' at Manly
Patineur Grotesque
Pensions for Veterans
Planned for Progress
1961 - 1965
Puberty Blues
Rats in the Ranks
Rocking the Foundations
Russian Doll
Share the Spirit
Siam Sunset
Smiley
Spirit of Gallipoli
Strictly Ballroom
Surry Hills: 902 Spring Roll
Sweetie
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert
The Breaking of the Drought
The Floating Brothel
The Golden Cage
The Hero of the Dardanelles
The Hungry Miles
The Kid Stakes
The Killing of Angel Street
The Last Wave
The Man From Hong Kong
The Matrix
The Rats of Tobruk
The Sentimental Bloke
1919
They're a Weird Mob
This is Australia
Two Hands
Wake in Fright
Within Our Gates

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Film

A Nation is Built

Film celebrating Australian achievements, made in 1938.

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Animal Kingdom

Crime drama filmed in Melbourne about an underworld crime family.

full record »

Assigned to His Wife

1911 film set in the early days of the colony.

full record »

Babe: Pig in the City

Movie set in a futuristic post-modern fantasy land that combines the Sydney skyline with global icons such as Red Square and the Golden Gate Bridge.

full record »

Beneath Clouds

Film made by Ivan Sen in 2002 in which two Indigenous teenagers travel to Sydney.

full record »

Bra Boys

Documentary film about the cultural evolution of the beachside suburb of Maroubra.

full record »

Broken Melody

Film made by Ken G Hall in 1937, featuring a composer struggling to write an opera.

full record »

Caddie

Film that charts the life of a woman struggling to make it on her own in the 1920s and through the Great Depression. Based on the book of the same name published anonymously in 1953.

full record »

Cupid Camouflaged

Film initiated by Eadith Walker and produced by Hugh Ward which was shown in 1918 to raise funds for the Red Cross.

full record »

Don's Party

Film based on a play written by David Williamson and set on the night of the 1969 federal election.

full record »

Emerald City

Film released in 1988 contrasting the cities of Melbourne and Sydney, based on the play by David Williamson.

full record »

Emoh Ruo

Comedy film directed by Denny Lawrence and released in 1985.

full record »

FJ Holden

Film directed by Michael Thornhill in 1977 about the cultural and spiritual emptiness of suburban life.

full record »

Finding Nemo

Animated film, largely set in Sydney Harbour, that was an international success, depicting the journey home and adventures of a young clown fish separated from his parent.

full record »

Finished People

Film made in 2003 by director Khoa Do about life on the streets in Cabramatta.

full record »

Gallipoli

Film portraying the lives of several country boys and their loss of innocence in the Gallipoli campaign of World war I.

full record »

Heatwave

Film directed by Phillip Noyce in 1982 starring Judy Davis.

full record »

Hell Has Harbour Views

Television mini-series of 2005 written and directed by Peter Duncan.

full record »

Idiot Box

Film directed and written by David Caesar in 1997.

full record »

It Isn't Done

Comedy film of 1937 about a simple Australian farmer who inherits a castle and title in England.

full record »

Lantana

Film directed by Ray Lawrence in 2001 and written by Andrew Bovell, starring Anthony LaPaglia, Geoffrey Rush and Rachael Blake.

full record »

Little Fish

Movie directed by Rowan Woods which was released in 2005 starring Cate Blanchett, Sam Neill and Hugo Weaving.

full record »

Mission Impossible 2

Blockbuster film, made on location in Sydney in 2000, starring Tom Cruise.

full record »

Mowing Places with Victa

A two-minute promotional film distributed to cinemas around the country.

full record »

Nice Coloured Girls

Short film which positions Aboriginal women as naïve and nice but which shows these are merely roles played by the women.

full record »

Not Only The Need 1957

Film made by the Waterside Workers Federation Film Unit for the Australian Council of Trade Unions in 1957 which proposed a Commonwealth solution to the housing problems facing families living in inner-city slums.

full record »

On Our Selection

Collection of stories by Steele Rudd, later made into a film.

full record »

Passengers Alighting from Ferry 'Brighton' at Manly

One of the first motion pictures filmed and shown in Australia. No surviving copy is known.

full record »

Patineur Grotesque

Thought to be Australia's earliest surviving film and the first comedy film, it shows a man rollerskating in Prince Alfred Park. It was first screened in France in 1897 and not screened in Australian until 2010.

full record »

Pensions for Veterans

Film depicting the hardships of workers and highlights some of the health and safety concerns raised in a 1945 report on the conditions of waterside workers and the need for adequate pensions.

full record »

Planned for Progress

full record »

Film commissioned by the Reserve Bank of Australia documenting the construction of the Reserve Bank Building at Martin Place between 1961 and 1965.  The film was produced by David Koffel Film Productions. It is held in the Reserve Bank of Australia Archives.

Puberty Blues

Book and film based on teenagers growing up in the surfing culture of the Sutherland Shire. The book was made into a film in 1981.

full record »

Rats in the Ranks

Documentary film about Leichhardt Council.

full record »

Rocking the Foundations

Documentary film about the history of the New South Wales Builders Labourers Federation.

full record »

Russian Doll

Movie directed by Stavros Kazantzidis in 2001.

full record »

Share the Spirit

Promotional video supporting Sydney's bid for the 2000 Olympic Games.

full record »

Siam Sunset

Comedy film directed by John Polson in 1999.

full record »

Smiley

Film made in 1956 set in Australia and based on the 1945 novel of the same name by Moore Raymond.

full record »

Spirit of Gallipoli

Film made in 1928 using footage shot for the silent film 'The Hero of the Dardanelles' in 1915 at Tamarama.

full record »

Strictly Ballroom

Romantic comedy that tells the story of Scott, a Sydney ballroom dancer, who finds love and authenticity dancing with Fran, a local girl of Spanish descent.

full record »

Surry Hills: 902 Spring Roll

Short film directed by John Polson and screened at the Tropicana Caffe in 1993, an event which was to be the birth of the Tropfest short film festival.

full record »

Sweetie

Film by Jane Campion

full record »

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

Film which follows the journey of three drag performers from Sydney to Alice Springs.

full record »

The Breaking of the Drought

1920 film by Franklyn Barrett contrasting the hardships of rural drought with the excitements of Sydney life.

full record »

The Floating Brothel

Dramatised documentary based on a book of the same name by Sian Rees which tells the story of the convict transport the Lady Juliana.

full record »

The Golden Cage

1975 film set in Sydney.

full record »

The Hero of the Dardanelles

Patriotic silent film of the landing at Gallipoli made in 1915 at Tamarama.

full record »

The Hungry Miles

The Hungry Miles is a documentary made by the Waterside Workers' Federation Film Unit. It documents industrial relations on the waterfront since the 1930s and includes dramatised scenes of working conditions during the Depression.

full record »

The Kid Stakes

Silent film made in Sydney in 1927, telling the story of rival children's gangs and their goat race.

full record »

The Killing of Angel Street

Thriller based on the disappearance of Juanita Nielsen, whose protagonist protests against overdevelopment and discovers organised crime and corruption.

full record »

The Last Wave

Film about a white lawyer in Sydney whose work leads him to realise that he has a mystical connection to his Aboriginal clients, and that only he is aware of the coming disaster that will destroy the city.

full record »

The Man From Hong Kong

Martial arts film from 1975 set in Sydney.

full record »

The Matrix

US film series produced in Sydney.

full record »

The Rats of Tobruk

Australian film made in 1944 that follows three drover friends who enlist during World War II and are amongst the Australian defenders during the siege of the Libyan city of Tobruk.

full record »

The Sentimental Bloke

Film made in 1919 by Raymond Longford which was based on CJ Dennis's 1915 book 'Songs of the Sentimental Bloke'.

full record »

They're a Weird Mob

Comic novel by John O'Grady under the pseudonym Nino Culotta written in 1957. It was made into a film in 1966.

full record »

This is Australia

Film produced in 1932 to propote Australia for tourism and immigration.

full record »

Two Hands

Australian comedy crime film about a strip club promoter in Kings Cross, Sydney who falls on the wrong side of a local crime lord.

full record »

Wake in Fright

1971 film by Ted Kotchieff, set in Sydney.

full record »

Within Our Gates

Film made in 1915 by JC Williamson's, directed by English actor and playwright Frank Harvey, with over 1,000 men storming ashore at Obelisk Bay in Sydney Harbour to re-enact the landing at Gallipoli.

full record »