Australian Studies Collection
Beamafilm
Explore the narrative of Australian culture, history, and society through this diverse collection of films. From iconic classics like "Puberty Blues", "Barry McKenzie and "Skippy" to documentaries about the Sydney Opera House and Indigenous screen legend David Gulpillil, these films open a window to Australia. Delve into Indigenous stories such as "Manganinnie" "Servant of Slave' and "Blackfellas," experience the struggles and triumphs of rural Australia in "A Fortunate Life" or the "Fields of Fire" series, or urban narratives in "Head On" or "Australian Rules". This collection spans over a century of stories and different genres including coming-of-age tales, historical dramas, and social commentaries, providing insights into Australia's multicultural landscape, environmental challenges, and artistic expressions. From the outback to city streets, these films capture the essence of Australian identity, its evolving social norms, and the nation's place in the global context.
The Australian Studies Collection is available for unlimited streaming to academic libraries with flexible licensing options:
• 1-year license: AUD$6190 | USD$3990
• 2-year license: AUD$10,876 | USD$6780
• 3-year license: AUD$14740 | USD$9180
Please call or email our marketing team for customised pricing or multi-library access options tailored to your institution’s needs:
Beamafilm Sales and Marketing Team | marketing@beamafilm.com |+612 9362 8731
On Australia Day 1988, the thoughts and attitudes of ordinary Aussies are revealed.
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Stringybark re-enacts the true story of a party of mounted police in colonial Victoria tasked with the arrest and apprehension of the notorious Ned Kelly.
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When politicians and property developers threatened to take over Waterloo, Sydney and force public housing battlers to the city fringe, they didn't expect locals to fight back the way they did.
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The rise of Punk in the conservative state of Queensland, Australia during the late Seventies with the band, THE SAINTS, leading the way and caught up in the thick of it.
Two teenage girls fight peer pressure in 1980's Australia. Having previously been in their own group, they desperately try to break into the "in" crowd before working to regain respect and equality again.
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A boy and his kangaroo uncover a smuggling ring. But when they are captured, it will take nerve, ingenuity and every trick in Skippy’s pouch to get them out of this tight bind.
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Ned Kelly - outlaw, freedom fighter, or common criminal?
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I'm Wanita is the story of a renegade country music singer from Tamworth, Australia, hell-bent on realizing her childhood dreams of stardom.
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Novelist Richard Somers and his wife abandon the emotional sterility of Europe in the early '20s for a new life in Australia.
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In colonial Australia, an Aboriginal woman takes a lost white child under her wing.
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In 1938, an Englishman emigrates to Australia and becomes a cane-cutter. Sisters Kate and Dusty fall for him.
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Continuing the dramatic Australian saga set in the North Queensland cane fields, Fields of Fire Series 2 picks up in 1947, a time of growth, prosperity and adjustment to post-war living.
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The final chapter of the scorching historical saga set in Australia's North Queensland cane fields, Fields of Fire Series 3 takes the story into the 1950s, where Gina and Paolo are successful cane growers.
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A Century after the last great cavalry charge in history, members of the Australian Light Horse Association embark on an epic journey across the Middle East.
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In Australia, during the era of the Stolen Generations, thousands of Aboriginal girls were taken from their families and pressed into domestic servitude by the Australian Government.
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An imaginative girl refuses the mould of Victorian society.
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This remarkable documentary tells the story of Professor Jenny Hocking, the historian who took on the Australian Government and HM Queen Elizabeth II in a landmark legal battle - and won.
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The story of a runaway who escapes to the river to work on a paddle-boat steamer and his friendship with an old salt captain played by Bill Kerr.
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In a forbidden valley 100 kilometres from Sydney runs a river where the wild horses run free...Can two very different men work together to save them?
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No law can operate that is not considered ‘constitutional’ by the High Court of Australia. For the first time cases have been filmed as they actually happen in the Court, showing first-hand the characters and drama of the High Court of Australia, the pinnacle of legal...
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Follow a rural postman along the Birdsville Track in the 50s.
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Young Australian, Barry McKenzie, travels to England with his Aunt Edna after his father dies and a request is revealed in his will. Directed by Bruce Beresford and starring Barry Humphries, the Adventures of Barry McKenzie is an Aussie classic.
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Contemporary stories of modern urban Australia and its artists. Extended interviews and extra material related to the award-winning feature documentary, Rash.
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Officially established by the government in 1942, the Australian Women’s Land Army was set up to help fill the shortage of manpower on farms. An engaging account of women and work against the backdrop of world war.
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Enigmatic bushranger Captain Starlight and his gang decide to change their lives and go straight after one last job. But their luck may be running out.
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In late 1830s colonial Australia, an unspeakable crime against First Nations people creates an upheaval between law and order.
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When filmmaker Janet Merewether could no longer ignore her loudly ticking biological clock, she chose to have a child on her own.
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Post WW2 Australia flung open its doors to anyone willing to come. One in six of these were Italians, who re-created all the things they missed from home in one particular street of a rundown Melbourne suburb.
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This short documentary tackles the critical issue of Koori and Police relations in Victoria. It also traces the history of Aboriginal Australia before the arrival of the white colonists.
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A bushranger and his accomplice terrorise the Australian countryside.
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The life of an Irish immigrant family in Australia in the second half of the 19th century.
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A tall girl with a tall story, 31 year old Jabe Babe measures six foot two inches (188cm), works as a dominatrix and has a life threatening genetic condition called Marfan Syndrome. This 52 minute hybrid documentary, merging fiction and non-fiction forms, inhabits the...
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A revealing documentary celebrating the legacy of the bold women of the Women's Liberation Movement who re-ignited the feminist revolution to Australia.
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Recreation of the landmark 1958 South Australian Court trial of young aboriginal Max Stuart.
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The personal and political story of Romaine Moreton, a Goenpul, Yagerabul, Minjungbal, Bundjalung, South Sea Islander poet, performance artist, and philosopher, who uses words to illustrate the plight and beauty of Indigenous survival.
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To escape her demanding, sick mother and her suburban loneliness, a middle-aged woman slides into a fantasy world in which there is incredible relief.
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4-part biopic about classic Australian author A.B. Facey (1894-1982). Born into a large impoverished family, uneducated and illiterate, he'd fended for himself since he was 8 and was later sent to Gallipoli as a WWI recruit.
It's Friday night and five friends on the cusp of adulthood gather at a house to celebrate the end of another school week.
Australian Rules is the story of 16-year-old Gary Black - average football player, budding wordsmith and reluctant hero. All he cares about is his football team - but racial tensions in his small town are about to boil over.
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Australian television series of loosely scheduled specials, featuring Ella Fitzgerald and Louis Armstrong.
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Australian Muslim boxer, Bianca 'Bam Bam' Elmir, aims to be the first Australian to win a World Amateur Boxing Championship.
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One woman’s life, with and without men, but always with dogs.
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A part-Aboriginal teenage ex-convict is led back into crime by his reckless cousin.
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A high seas coming-of-age yarn about set off Port Lincoln, SA.
There is a new generation of warriors on Palm Island.
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How the successful stage musical got made.
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'Breaking the News' gets behind the scenes of news and current affairs reportage in Timor-Leste to challenge those who think a free press automatically comes with independence.
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A disgraced sports star attempts to turn his life around.
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The dark and complex history of East Timor.
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Two children set out to foil the thieves who have stolen their horse.
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Calibrate follows patients with spinal injuries and serious pathologies from around the globe, as they attempt to recover by using a breakthrough treatment created by former Mr. Universe Ken Ware.
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An orphaned boy becomes a pawn in a bitter family feud
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An imaginative and somewhat disturbed young girl fantasizes about evil creatures and other oddities to mask her insecurities while growing up in rural Australia.
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A dramatic reinvestigation of Australia's most notorious unsolved crime - the massive bomb blast outside the Sydney Hilton Hotel in 1978.
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An insight into the wonderful world of Artist as Family: Meg, Patrick, and their youngest son, Woody. Living on an urban 1/4-acre section in a small Australian town, their property is designed using permaculture principles.
A short film and awareness project exploring victim blaming and gendered violence in society, following three women out on a Friday night in St Kilda, who's lives become entwined and affected by an act of violence.
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A Chinese-trained agent heads for Perth, Australia, on a mission to stop the drug lord responsible for the death of his partner.
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A special from the classic BP Super Show featuring Ella Fitzgerald.
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Ten-year old local larrikin Fatty Finn clashes with his rival Bruiser Murphy.
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When Riley finds out about his mother's terminal illness, he sets out on a path of self sabotage, abandoning his pursuit of a music career, only to re-discover his passion through a local musical theatre group.
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High school students Stella, Ed, Ingrid and Harry navigate life, exploring issues of sexuality, drug and alcohol use, identity, and consent.
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High school students Stella, Ed, Ingrid and Harry navigate life, exploring issues of sexuality, drug and alcohol use, identity, and consent.
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High school students Stella, Ed, Ingrid and Harry navigate life, exploring issues of sexuality, drug and alcohol use, identity, and consent.
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The women who pursue footballers... and why.
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After receiving a life-changing diagnosis, Fiona decides to host a New Year's Eve reunion with her closest friends. However, not everything goes to plan.
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When Gabriel's pet ant dies, he must confront mortality.
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At dawn on 25 April 1999, 5000 young Australian backpackers gathered with the Governor General of Australia, Sir William Deane, to commemorate ANZAC Day at Gallipoli.
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A documentary exploring an alternative to succumbing to the rising cost of living by reevaluating what many consider as the necessities of 'home'. What do friends, family and film colleagues think of Garth’s decision? What are the logistics? How is he going to...
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Ginger Meggs is the live-action adaption of a tale about an unruly, young mischief maker who is constantly getting himself in trouble in spite of his good intentions
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Out of boredom, a high society girl visits her father's outback cattle station. After several adventures involving a gang of ruthless cattle duffers, she falls in love with the manager of the station. Only part of this silent film survives today.
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The monster Grendel tries to figure out his purpose in life.
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Eager to forge his reputation in crime, Douglas Huffel manipulates a bottle shop robbery by planting his own money inside the store. Instead, the very aspects of crime he fervently avoided begin to catch up with him.
A documentary team investigates the hauntings of Australia and no method of communication is off-limits. The team uses all types of equipment from thermal and SLS cameras to Ouija boards often embarking on challenges such as solo missions to make...
A 19-year-old Greek Australian youth struggles with his identity.
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Follow the life experiences of the Morrison and Parry families as they establish themselves within a new and challenging colony in Sydney. Facing the many trials and tribulations of settlement life, their actions would go toward shaping the nation.
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US political bases in Australia at Pine Gap near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.
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Two Salvadoran refugees negotiate survivor's guilt.
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An insight into the complexities that faced modern China in its rise to become the great power of the twenty-first century.
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Three sisters are reunited at their seaside family home by the disappearance of their father. Based on the award-winning play by Hannie Rayson.
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An intimate portrait of comic genius Spike Milligan.
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An infamous and daring true tale of mutiny at sea.
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Indonesian artists fight against a corrupt system.
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Four observational portraits of inspiring Australian teachers.
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A poetic cine-essay about race and colonialism.
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The past is inside you everyday of your life.
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In 1982, a mine closure united a community. Kemira: Diary of a Strike is the first Australian film to document the organisation of an Australian strike.
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Pregnant at 15 in England and dispatched to an institution where she was hidden away and her child forcibly adopted, filmmaker Steve Thomas’ twin sister, Val, spent the next 25 years not knowing where her child was.
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The search for the perfect red. With an off beat sense of humour, "Lipstick" looks at the politics and glamour of lipstick and the dilemmas of the modern woman in a marketed world.
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Eccentric British developer Lord McAlpine has a dream - an urge to create a whole new civilisation in Australia's North based around the town of Broome in the remote north of Western Australia.
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A special from the Australian classic, BP Super Show, featuring Louis Armstrong.
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The inspiring, tragic and intimate life story of David McComb, cult Australian singer/songwriter and driving force behind one of the greatest Australian bands, The Triffids.
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James Joyce's provocative novel 'Ulysses' comes to life in a new immersive film, Love's Bitter Mystery. Set in the atmospheric post-gold-boom mansion at Villa Alba in Kew, this feature focuses on a critical year in the young author's life.
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Through one woman’s experience as an adopted person and also as a mother who relinquished her child in 1971, this documentary highlights the many complex issues associated with adoption.
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A poetic documentary on four generations of maternal family in Tasmania, using archival footage and excerpts from key early feminist films to trace significant changes in women’s place in the family and society.
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The career of High Court Justice Michael Kirby.
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The endearing friendship between a girl and a most remarkable dog.
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Mitch fell in with the wrong crowd and reveals how he battled and won the deadly fight against addiction.
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Nancy Wake tells the true story of Australasia's greatest war heroine - the woman the Gestapo dubbed the 'White Mouse'.
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What does it take to play for your country? That’s the dream of course. Can a group of young Aussie football players take on the best in Europe?
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At last, the long-lost film inspired by Australia's first rock festival - The Pilgrimage For Pop Festival - at Ourimbah, near Sydney in 1970.
A pilot episode for a proposed TV series starring Aussie pop sensations The Twilights. Inspired by The Monkeys, the series was planned to feature the group going through zany youthful antics, interspersed with musical numbers.
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It's hard to grow healthy orange trees. It's even harder to kill them. Mick followed his father into orange farming. Now he's forced to make decisions that would make his dad turn in his grave.
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Meet Robert (Bob) Fischer - and then wish you never had. This exposé follows an American (con) artist on his forest fire tour of Melbourne.
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Four paramedics in four very different parts of the world, unmasking the ‘heroes’ to show us who they really are. A rare and candid look at the secret lives of paramedics.
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A discontented Sydney teenager travels back in time to 1873, whilst watching an old fashioned children’s game.
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WWI, 1916: a small village in France was stormed and captured by Australians and became key to the success of the Battle for the Somme. But in less than seven weeks they suffered twenty three thousand casualties.
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'Rash' is a feature documentary telling a contemporary story of modern urban Australia and artists making it a living host for illegal artwork called street art.
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In 1983 Ricky T scored a minor top 20 hit on the international charts ...but just 5 years later Ricky had all but disappeared with only rare sightings, each one more outrageous and unbelievable than the last. But who was Ricky T? Many opinions are offered but most are...
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An Australian woman meets a musical truck driver and joins him and his buddy in crime.
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Against the backdrop of the first Gulf war, there was another war fought on the Northern Beaches of Sydney - between The Manly Daily newspaper and an upstart competitor, The Weekender.
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"Show Me The Magic" takes us on an enthralling journey into the life and work of legendary Australian cinematographer Don McAlpine.
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Beautiful from the outside in, ‘Smile’ explores the nature of individuality, cultural diversity and the positive joy for the photographer of seeing his subjects smile.
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This 1949 Charles Chauvel classic is the story of a pioneering family of five brothers & two sisters carving out a settlement on the virgin bush plateaus of northern New South Wales.
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This Australian crime drama chronicles the life of notorious, keen witted, acid tongued 1920s Melbourne gangster Squizzy Taylor.
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Twelve American and British tourists go on a ten day guided tour of Australia at the height of the Bicentennial celebrations. What they discover about Aboriginal Australians shocks them and perplexes them.
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Beth is a modern matriarch doing her best to raise her teenage daughter Annie whilst enjoying her marriage to JP. But when her sister Vicki comes back from abroad, everything collapses.
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A young woman in early 20th century small-town Australia must choose between marrying into wealth to save her family or following her heart to pursue a relationship with the town's new seamstress.
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This documentary follows one woman’s quest to get justice for her mother, who was violently raped and beaten in her Johannesburg, South Africa, home in 1988.
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A New Yorker his Hong Kong business partner join forces to take on China.
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The story of a country girl, Dell Ferris, drawn to the bright lights of the big city where her inheritance is soon frittered away through high society revelling. A wiser Dell returns to Moonbi Station where she is beset by the cattle rustler Jack Bronson. She finally finds...
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Three courageous men join the Australian Imperial Force at the beginning of WWII.
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Paul Lawrence is a working class man who dates Cara, sells shirts at a Sydney department store, and dreams of attending art school.
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A movie about how different types of bullying affects different types of people of different ages. People find themselves reflecting about their own current bullying experiences.
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"To The Other Shore" is a deeply personal study of motherhood as a ‘rite of passage’.
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Cricket prodigy, Rugby champion, co-creator of Australian Rules—as a sportsman, Tom Wills had it all.
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Ernie Dingo delivers an outstanding portrayal of Robert Tudawali, the first Aboriginal film star, whose lead role in Jedda is iconic in Australian cinema.
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A white authoress looking for a story in the outback is kidnapped by an Afghan slaver, betrothed to a white jungle man and menaced by a jealous rival, a hostile witch doctor, his crazed-killer son and opium smugglers.
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The historic account of the 1970’s battle by residents of this inner Sydney suburb to save the area from slum clearance and redevelopment by public housing authorities.
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"Welcome to Kandos" is a unique documentary about inaugural contemporary art festival Cementa13, which transforms the former cement producing town Kandos in central New South Wales with inspiring results.
A man obsessed with becoming the world's top windsurfer falls inlove with a rock star.
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"Without Consent" weaves a personal story about forced adoption in late 1960s Australia with a visually stunning journey through Australian landscapes.
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POLITICS - PROTEST - PROFANITY
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Cities by the sea are gateways to the world. They are intrinsically defined by their position by the sea, an openness to the world, and a spirit of discovery and adventure. With the curious eyes of a stranger, the series wanders through: Barcelona, Dakar, Copenhagen, Tel...
Australian Studies,21st Century,Film,Cultural Studies,Identity Studies,Indigenous,Social Commentary,Race & Class,History,Strong Female Lead,Strong Male Lead,Diversity,Nature & Environment,Youth,Social Justice