“Winged gothic” is how Yehudi Menuhin described Sydney's Opera House. He continued, “music and architecture are related in the sense that they both share structures… a great cathedral can be thought of as frozen music”. Joan Sutherland, Robert Helpmann, Cleo Laine, Janet Baker and young artists in early stages of their career perform and talk about the House. Filmed over a period of 10 months, As Frozen Music marries high performance with popular participation. (1984, 54 mins)
Peggy Glanville-Hicks: A MODERN ODYSSEY
The fiery journey of a courageous and passionate woman through many countries and many friendships, through great loves and tireless work brought her to a spectacular triumph. But at the height of her powers she was struck down like the victim of some tragic myth. The life and music of Peggy Glanville-Hicks (1912-1990). A television special. (1990–91, 57 mins)
American Film and Television Festival: Red Ribbon Award.
FIRST CITIZEN - ALBERT NAMATJIRA
Albert Namatjira was the first Aboriginal artist to be recognised by white Australians. He was torn between two worlds simply because he had the wisdom to recognise both. Two cultures, two laws, the feting and fawning of the city glitterati, ultimately led to his tragic decline and death. (1987, 54 mins)
BP award for script: Nadine Amadio
MEMORY TREE
Memory Tree reveals the thinking and working of a powerful and controversial artist born in 1924 into a family of famous artists, David Boyd. His parents were complex human beings who had a profound effect on David's imagery and remarkable skills. His unique language of symbols invoke potent imagery for his series The Explorers and The Tasmanians; Church and State (Spain) during his years in Europe; and his dramatic series The Trial which vividly illustrates his continuing fight against injustice. (2003, 52 mins)
THE QUEST OF JIMMY PIKE
Jimmy Pike lives an extraordinary and idyllic life hunting and painting in a harsh and primitive environment in the Great Sandy Desert with his English wife. He first learnt to paint whilst in prison serving a life sentence for murder. As a young boy, he had come out of the Great Sandy Desert and saw white men for the first time. Now he wants to return there, to find the lost waterholes and dreaming places of his youth. (1989, 54 mins)
BLACK ANGELS - A Widening Vision
Europeans did not see when they occupied Australia, the so called Terra Nullius, that for more than forty thousand years a sophisticated culture, rich in art and in language and profoundly rich in mythology and in spiritual life had existed among the Australian Aboriginals. Gordon Bennett, in his art, is helping make us aware of black history and of the suffering that is caused by limited perceptions. Black Angels follows Bennett's emotional and creative journey as he comes to terms with his Aboriginality and his recognition of Aboriginal history. It also follows his journey to Europe and to the sites of Aboriginal rock in Northern Territory. (1994, 54 mins)
Shanghai Television Festival: Finalist Best Documentary. AFI Australian Television Awards: Finalist Best Documentary. Festival International du Film sur L'Art, Montreal: Finalist.
PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS AN OLD MAN
At the age of 101 years, Desiderius Orban was still immersed in creativity and art. He forgot how to grow old. Forced to leave Hungary in 1939, Orban arrived in Australia and embarked on a new life at an age when most think of retiring. In the following 48 years, he reinstated himself as an artist and teacher of distinction. Orban's forthright views on art, his reminiscences of Hungary, his early career in Paris and his discovery of Zen at the age of 70, is delivered with remarkable lucidity. Filmed in Australia with dramatisations in Budapest and Paris, Portrait is a human interest story and a celebration of the life force that creativity can bring at any age. (1985, 54 mins)
TWO WORLDS OF SYDNEY DANCE COMPANY
The Sydney Dance Company are the beautiful people of Australia's arts world prepared to spend their brief dancer's life performing the risky and passionate choreography of one of Australia's great creative talents, Graeme Murphy. Two Worlds reveals Murphy and his dancers in their magnificent harbour studios on Sydney's wharf and on tour in Italy. At the invitation of Gian Carlo Menotti, the Company danced at Festival Dei Due Mondi in Spoleto and then brought their magic to towns of Southern Italy and Sicily where the film captures their impact on the townsfolk and leaves with their shadows dancing on ancient walls. (1986, 54 mins)
BEHIND THE SUN
John Coburn's brilliant tapestry 'Curtain of the Sun' for the Opera Theatre of the Sydney Opera House, serves as inspiration for this profile on the visual and performing arts in New South Wales. Contributors include Joan Sutherland, David Williamson, Robert Helpmann, Robert Klippel, Susan Norrie, Shelton Lea. A Bicentennial project commissioned by The Office of the Minister for Arts through the NSW Film Corporation. (1987, 54 mins)
"I HOPE THE WAR WILL BE OVER SOON"
A documentary about five people whose lives were changed radically as a result of the Vietnam War; two Australians, one Aboriginal Australian, one Kampuchean man and one Vietnamese woman. Their unique experiences and friendships bring a new view to the Asian conflict. Includes dramatisations, live and archival footage. (1988, 54 mins)
GIANTS OF TIME
"Humans, could their memories occupy space, they would stand like giants in the enormity of their time" Marcel Proust.
Who are the giants and what is their secret of longevity? The ‘cast' of this film stand with their feet in two centuries - and some will stand in a third. They are all extraordinary very old people who, in their nineties, are ablaze with vitality. They have, by some inner alchemy, transformed the pain of their life experiences into life-affirming joy and wisdom. It is impossible not to love, laugh, to be moved and inspired by these giants. With their very presence they change the sad modern image of old age. (1990, 57 mins)
American Film and Television Festival: Blue Ribbon Award. National Education Film & Video Festival: Bronze Apple Award Edinburgh Film Festival: Selected for screening . Sydney Film Festival: Finalist Dendy Awards
