100 Greatest Films of Australian Cinema
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- DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsBarry CrockerBarry HumphriesDick BentleyYoung Australian, Barry McKenzie, travels to England with his Aunt Edna after his father dies and a request is revealed in his will.
- DirectorStephan ElliottStarsHugo WeavingGuy PearceTerence StampTwo drag performers and a transgender woman travel across the desert to perform their unique style of cabaret.
- DirectorTim BurstallStarsGraeme BlundellAbigailLynette CurranWaterbed salesman Alvin consults a psychiatrist about his irresistibilty to women.
- DirectorMichael RymerStarsJohn LynchJacqueline McKenzieColin FrielsTwo schizophrenics meet during therapy and fall passionately in love. Ahead of them lies the inevitable road to disaster - one they share to the end.
- DirectorGil BrealeyStarsAngela Punch McGregorDrew ForsytheLiddy ClarkDue to an ignorant misdiagnosis, a three-year-old disabled girl was institutionalized and subsequently spent her entire childhood in a hospital for the severely retarded. A caring therapist helped her to prove her intellectual capability.
- DirectorPaul GoldmanStarsNathan PhillipsLuke CarrollLisa FlanaganIn Prospect Bay, a remote outpost on the South Australian coast, two communities, the Goonyas and the Nungas, come together on the one field they have in common, the football field. But the underlying racism and class warfare threatens to make the team's greatest victories irrelevant. This holds particularly true for Blacky, a white teen who is more interested in books than sport, and his best friend, Dumby, the Aboriginal star of the team.
- DirectorChris NoonanStarsJames CromwellMagda SzubanskiChristine CavanaughGentle farmer Arthur Hoggett wins a piglet Babe at a county fair. Narrowly escaping his fate as Christmas dinner, Babe bonds with motherly border collie Fly and discovers that he too can herd sheep. But will the other animals accept him?
- DirectorJohn HeyerStarsTom KruseWilliam Henry ButlerJack the DoggerA documentary film which follows a mailman as he travels along the Birdsville Track in the Outback.
- DirectorPhillip NoyceStarsBill HunterGary FoleyZac MartinA black and white lowlife duo drives around Australia's Outback in a stolen vehicle and finds trouble after trouble.
- DirectorRolf de HeerStarsNicholas HopeClaire BenitoRalph CotterillBubby has spent thirty years trapped in the same small room, tricked by his mother. One day, he manages to escape and, deranged and naive in equal measures, his adventure into a modern and nihilistic life begins.
- DirectorIvan SenStarsDannielle HallDamian PittJenna Lee ConnorsLena is the daughter of an Aboriginal mother and Irish father and Vaughn is a Murri boy doing time in a minimum security prison in North West NSW. Dramatic events throw them together on a journey with no money and no transport.
- DirectorNadia TassStarsBen MendelsohnClaudia KarvanMarshall NapierTo impress a girl a shy teenaged boy buys a used Jaguar.
- DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsLothaire BluteauAden YoungSandrine HoltIn the 17th century, a Jesuit missionary nicknamed Black Robe by the natives and his small party of companions try reaching the Huron tribe in Canada all while facing mistrust, Iroquois warring parties and harsh winter conditions.
- DirectorRay LawrenceStarsBarry OttoLynette CurranHelen JonesAfter a near-death experience, a man wonders if he actually did die and is now in Hell.
- DirectorRowan WoodsStarsDavid WenhamToni ColletteLynette CurranBrett Sprague is a violent and psychopathic man, who is released on parole after serving a sentence for assault. As he returns to his family house and we watch him and his brothers, Stevie and Glenn, for the next 24 hours, it becomes clear this day will not end well.
- DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsEdward WoodwardJack ThompsonJohn WatersThree Australian lieutenants are court martialed for executing prisoners as a way of deflecting attention from war crimes committed by their superior officers.
- DirectorDonald CrombieStarsHelen MorseTakis EmmanuelJack ThompsonSydney, Australia in the mid-1920's. Proud and classy Caddie Marsh is forced to get a job as a barmaid and raise two children on her own after her rich cad husband walks out on her. Despite numerous hardships such as the Great Depression, Caddie still manages to catch the eye of smooth dandy Ted and strikes up a romantic relationship with dashing Greek gentleman Peter.
- DirectorCarl SchultzStarsWendy HughesRobyn NevinNicholas GledhillHis mother dead, PS lives in Sydney with working-class Aunt Lila and Uncle George. When he's six or eight, his posh Aunt Vanessa descends from England. Named a co-guardian by PS's feckless, absent father, she asserts her rights and convinces Lila to have PS live with her weekdays. PS is happy at Lila's, playing with children, running about, speaking up. At Vanessa's, there's a regimen of private school, round vowels, piano and riding lessons, and lonely indoor play with fancy toys. He's miserable and when he objects, she sues for complete custody. Will anyone listen to him? And will he take on Vanessa's challenges to find out who he is and to love someone?
- DirectorPeter WeirStarsTerry CamilleriJohn MeillonKevin MilesThe small town of Paris, Australia deliberately causes car accidents, then sells/salvages all valuables from the wrecks as a means of economy.
- DirectorRob SitchStarsMichael CatonAnne TenneyStephen CurryA working-class family from Melbourne, Australia fights city hall after being told they must vacate their beloved family home to allow for infrastructural expansion.
- DirectorFred SchepisiStarsTommy LewisFreddy ReynoldsAngela Punch McGregorAfter suffering racist abuse throughout his life - which intensifies following his marriage to a white woman - a half-Aboriginal farmhand finds himself driven to murder.
- DirectorAndrew DominikStarsEric BanaSimon LyndonVince ColosimoChopper tells the intense story of Mark "Chopper" Read, a legendary criminal who wrote his autobiography while serving a jail sentence in prison. His book, "From the Inside", upon which the film is based, was a best-seller.
- DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsJack ThompsonGraham KennedyFrank WilsonBoardroom and dressing-room intrigues spill on to the field at the Australian Rules football club.
- DirectorPeter FaimanStarsPaul HoganLinda KozlowskiJohn MeillonAn American reporter goes to the Australian outback to meet an eccentric crocodile poacher and invites him to New York City.
- DirectorDennis O'RourkeCunnamulla, 800 kilometres west of Brisbane, is the end of the railway line. In the months leading up to a scorching Christmas in the bush, there's a lot more going on than the annual lizard race. Here, Aboriginal and white Australians live together but apart. Creativity struggles against indifference, eccentricity against conformity.
- DirectorPhillip NoyceStarsNicole KidmanSam NeillBilly ZaneAfter a tragedy, John Ingram and his wife Rae are spending some time isolated at sea, when they come across a stranger who has abandoned a sinking ship.
- DirectorNick ParsonsStarsBryan BrownErnie DingoAngie MillikenA no holds barred look into the gaping divisions which exist within an Aboriginal settlement in outback Australia. These separations split the inhabitants, straining relationships until something has to give.
- DirectorJohn RuaneStarsSam NeillZoe CaridesJohn ClarkeCarl Fitzgerald is down-on-his-luck until he meets Sophie, a beautiful Greek girl. He gets a job as a cook, but accidentally kills a fellow worker. He turns to his unscrupulous best friend for help and they attempt to dispose of the body.
- DirectorFred SchepisiStarsCharles McCallumJohn FrawleyArthur DignamFred Schepisi's first feature is this lushly photographed period drama detailing a young boy's coming-of-age in a strict Catholic seminary in 1950s Australia.
- DirectorRichard LowensteinStarsMichael HutchenceSaskia PostNique NeedlesTwo man are the key members of a band called 'Dogs in Space' and share a house in a Melbourne suburb with a variety of young music fans and social misfits, including a college student and a transient and apparently nameless teenage girl.
- DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsJohn HargreavesPat BishopGraham KennedyOn the night of the 1969 Australian election, Don holds a party in his suburban Sydney house, where his raucous, rude, embarrassing, extrovert friends discuss sex, politics, and their lives, and seduce each others wives.
- DirectorAlan WhiteStarsMarty DennissHugh JackmanAndrew WholleyBarky, 25, lost soul, left home two years ago to escape his abusive father leaving behind everything in the world that was important to him; now that his father's dead, he thinks it's safe to come home.
- StarsBryan BrownBill HunterCarol BurnsA miniseries on the Eureka Rebellion in Australia back in 1854
- DirectorFred SchepisiStarsMeryl StreepSam NeillDale ReevesA mother whose child was killed in a dingo attack in the Australian Outback fights to prove her innocence when she is accused of murder.
- DirectorMichael ThornhillStarsPaul CouzensEva DickinsonCarl SteverBankstown, NSW, Australia, 1970s. Kevin and his mate Bob spend their time drinking and cruising around the western suburbs of Sydney in Kevin's yellow FJ Holden, looking for girls. One day Kevin meets Anne. Anne works in a large shopping center. Anne and Kevin spend some time together until one day Kevin gets drunk and tries to make love to Anne with Bob watching. Anne throws them out of her house. When Anne later refuses to be pacified, Kevin becomes aggressive and causes a scene at a party. The police are called. Kevin escapes but later returns home to find the police waiting there for him.
- DirectorNorman DawnStarsGeorge FisherEva NovakDunstan WebbA convict, wrongfully accused and sent a harsh prison colony, attempts to escape.
- DirectorCharles ChauvelStarsGrant TaylorBetty BryantChips RaffertyThree young Australians join the army at the beginning of World War I and are assigned to the Australian Light Horse cavalry, which is serving in Palestine. The three eventually take part in the attack during the Battle of Beersheba, which was the last cavalry charge in modern warfare.
- DirectorPeter WeirStarsMel GibsonMark LeeBill KerrTwo Australian sprinters face the brutal realities of war when they are sent to fight in the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey during World War I.
- DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsSusannah FowleDorothy BradleyPatricia KennedyOscar-nominated director Bruce Beresford (Driving Miss Daisy, Tender Mercies) crafts a tender coming-of-age tale that introduces one of Australian literature's most beloved characters to the screen, Laura Tweedle Rambotham (Susannah Fowle).
- DirectorCarl SchultzStarsRay BarrettRobyn NevinGuy DolemanOn Queensland's Gold Coast in the early 1980s, when a disgraced former cop, Michael Stacey writes a book exposing police corruption, does an investigation resulting in 2 murders, exposes a religious cult and watches the army begin a military coup.
- DirectorAna KokkinosStarsAlex DimitriadesElle MandalisDamien FotiouA 19 year old Greek Australian youth struggles with his sexual identity and has one clumsy heterosexual and several homosexual encounters.
- DirectorCraig MonahanStarsHugo WeavingTony MartinAaron JefferyA duel between a suspected murderer and a detective pressed by people who want results. But whose skin is really wanted.
- DirectorSue BrooksStarsToni ColletteGotaro TsunashimaLynette CurranAgainst the background of an Australian desert, Sandy, a geologist, and Hiromitsu, a Japanese businessman, play out a story of human inconsequence in the face of the blistering universe. The end of the journey leaves no one capable of going back to where they started from.
- DirectorCharles ChauvelStarsRosalie Kunoth-MonksRobert TudawaliBetty SuttorSet against the harsh natural surrounds of outback Northern Territory, Jedda captures a rare and honest glimpse into the heart and history of indigenous Australia. Young Jedda is caught between two cultures forbidden from learning about her indigenous heritage and never fully accepted by the other.
- DirectorRay LawrenceStarsAnthony LaPagliaGeoffrey RushRachael BlakeThe relationships of four couples unravel after the discovery of a young woman's body in Lantana bush in suburban Sydney.
- DirectorPeter WeirStarsRichard ChamberlainOlivia HamnettDavid GulpililA Sydney lawyer defends five Aboriginal Persons in a ritualized taboo murder and in the process learns disturbing things about himself and premonitions.
- DirectorClara LawStarsMalcolm FraserA documentary of one Australian family's attempt at gaining custody of an immigrant refugee held in a detainee center.
- DirectorSimon WincerStarsPeter PhelpsNick WatersJohn LarkingIn 1917 when the British forces are bogged down in front of the Turkish and German lines in Palestine they rely on the Australian light horse regiment to break the deadlock.
- DirectorRowan WoodsStarsCate BlanchettSam NeillHugo WeavingA woman trying to escape her past becomes embroiled in a drug deal.
- DirectorColin EgglestonStarsJohn HargreavesBriony BehetsMike McEwenWhen a suburban couple go camping for the weekend at a remote beach, they discover that nature isn't in an accommodating mood.
- DirectorKate WoodsStarsGreta ScacchiAnthony LaPagliaElena CottaAt seventeen Josie Alibrandi is about to enter her final year as a scholarship student at an exclusive Catholic College. It's the year her life is turned upside down and changed forever.
- DirectorShirley BarrettStarsMiranda OttoRebecca FrithGeorge ShevtsovIn Sunray, a backwater town on Australia's Murray River, there's little to do but fish or listen to the local radio station. D.J. Ken Sherry arrives from the hustle of Brisbane to run the station; he's mid-40s, detached, thrice divorced, hatchet faced. But both sisters next door find him attractive: awkward Dimity, only 20, who works in a Chinese restaurant with few patrons, and perky Vicki-Ann, a hairdresser with a hope chest who invents a happy future with Sherry based on little but his arrival. First Dimity then Vicki-Ann spend the night with Ken, one concluding he's her boy friend, the other her fiance. Then Dimity begins to smell something fishy.
- DirectorGeorge MillerStarsMel GibsonJoanne SamuelHugh Keays-ByrneIn a self-destructing world, a vengeful Australian policeman sets out to stop a violent motorcycle gang.
- DirectorGeorge MillerStarsMel GibsonBruce SpenceMichael PrestonIn the post-apocalyptic Australian wasteland, a cynical drifter agrees to help a small, gasoline-rich community get rid of a horde of bandits.
- DirectorNadia TassStarsColin FrielsJohn HargreavesLindy DaviesA socially awkward and mechanically gifted man becomes involved in a quirky and unconventional crime.
- DirectorBrian Trenchard-SmithJimmy Wang YuStarsJimmy Wang YuGeorge LazenbyHugh Keays-ByrneWhile on dispatch in Australia to extradite a drug courier, a tough Hong Kong cop wages a one-man war against Sydney's most powerful kingpin.
- DirectorGeorge MillerStarsKirk DouglasTom BurlinsonTerence DonovanIn 1880s Australia, after young Jim Craig's father dies, he takes a job at the Harrison cattle ranch, where he is forced to become a man.
- DirectorPaul CoxStarsNorman KayeAlyson BestChris HaywoodAn eccentric elderly man tries to enjoy the three things in life that he considers real beauty: collecting art, collecting flowers, and watching pretty women undress.
- DirectorKen CameronStarsNoni HazlehurstColin FrielsAlice GarnerA frank portrayal of a year in the life of a divorced mother living in Melbourne, trying to cope with her daughter and her own relationship with a drug addict while trying to get into the music business.
- DirectorP.J. HoganStarsToni ColletteRachel GriffithsBill HunterA young social outcast in Australia steals money from her parents to finance a vacation where she hopes to find happiness, and perhaps love.
- DirectorGillian ArmstrongStarsJudy DavisSam NeillWendy HughesA proud young woman in early 20th century Australia must choose between marriage and independence.
- DirectorPhillip NoyceStarsBill HunterGerard KennedyWendy HughesIn post-war Australia the men and women of Cinetone struggle to produce the weekly news reels for the movie-going public.
- DirectorTom JeffreyStarsGraham KennedyJohn HargreavesJohn JarrattIn between drinking cans of Fosters beer, Australian soldiers tread on a few landmines, and generally experience the war in Vietnam.
- DirectorKen G. HallStarsBert BaileyFred MacDonaldAlfreda BevanA tale of the ups and downs of the Rudd family who live on a ranch in Southwest Queensland.
- DirectorHarry WattStarsChips RaffertyJohn Nugent HaywardDaphne CampbellIt's the start of WWII in Northern Australia. The Japanese are getting close. People are evacuating and burning everything in a "scorched earth" policy. Rather than kill all their cattle, a disparate group decides to drive them overland half way across the continent.
- DirectorRichard FranklinStarsSusan PenhaligonRobert HelpmannRod MullinarA young nurse who's just started working at a public clinic begins to suspect that a comatose young man may possess the powers of psychokinesis.
- DirectorSimon WincerStarsTom BurlinsonJudy MorrisMartin VaughanThe true story of a New Zealand racehorse that became a champion, with the help of a local stable-boy.
- DirectorJane CampionStarsHolly HunterHarvey KeitelSam NeillIn the mid-19th century a mute woman is sent to New Zealand along with her young daughter and prized piano for an arranged marriage to a farmer, but is soon lusted after by a farm worker.
- DirectorPeter WeirStarsRachel RobertsAnne-Louise LambertVivean GrayDuring a rural summer picnic, a few students and a teacher from an Australian girls' school vanish without a trace. Their absence frustrates and haunts the people left behind.
- DirectorJohn CurranStarsPeter FentonSacha HorlerMarta DusseldorpAn unfocused twentysomething (Peter Fenton) moves in with a former co-worker (Sacha Holder), who is suffering from low self-esteem because of her weight, looks, and a case of eczema. Their relationship is based on unending drink, drugs, and sex. Curiously, though the two are presented in a tender and humorous light that lets the viewer get involved in concerned about their direction.
- DirectorJocelyn MoorhouseStarsHugo WeavingGeneviève PicotRussell CroweThe life of a blind photographer who is looked after by a housekeeper is disrupted by the arrival of an agreeable restaurant worker.
- DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsNell SchofieldJad CapeljaJeffrey RhoeThe mating rituals of two teenage surf chicks from the southern suburbs of Sydney.
- DirectorBert DelingStarsSally McNeeDoc SmithRussell KirbyA group of Australian heroin addicts go out and try to score a hit after a friend overdoses.
- DirectorPhillip NoyceStarsEverlyn SampiTianna SansburyKenneth BranaghIn 1931, three half-white, half-Aboriginal girls escape after being plucked from their houses to be trained as domestic staff, and set off on a journey across the Outback.
- DirectorRachel PerkinsStarsDeborah MailmanTrisha Morton-ThomasRachael MazaThree sisters reunite after some years apart, for their mother's funeral. Cressy (Maza), the eldest of the three, is a diva - an opera singer who is reluctant to visit the past and definitely doesn't want to share it with her sisters. Mae (Morton-Thomas), has stayed behind looking after mum, and believes that Cressy hasn't shared enough. Nona (Mailman), the youngest and the party girl, just wants them to all be one happy family.
- DirectorRay ArgallStarsDennis CoardFrankie J. HoldenBen MendelsohnA man and his wife are partners in a small business, a service station, that is stuggling to survive financially. They are visited by his brother, a divorced middle-aged man, who has taken a break from his stressful career in a big business corporation.
- DirectorRichard FranklinStarsStacy KeachJamie Lee CurtisMarion EdwardA laid-back American truck driver in south Australia suspects that the driver of a green van is killing young women along his route, and plays a game of cat-and-mouse to catch him.
- DirectorGeoffrey WrightStarsRussell CroweDaniel PollockJacqueline McKenzieA group of skinheads become alarmed at the way their neighbourhood is changing.
- DirectorRaymond LongfordStarsArthur TauchertLottie LyellGilbert EmeryA down-at-heal ex-convict undergoes an epiphany as he experiences the love of a good woman for the first time.
- DirectorScott HicksStarsGeoffrey RushArmin Mueller-StahlJustin BrainePianist David Helfgott, driven by his father and teachers, has a breakdown. Years later he returns to the piano, to popular if not critical acclaim.
- DirectorLeslie NormanStarsPeter FinchDana WilsonElizabeth SellarsAfter Jim Macauley finds his wife with another man, he takes their young daughter and they hit the road. With a young child as his responsibility, he finds he can't be quite the fancy-free wanderer that he had been.
- DirectorCate ShortlandStarsAbbie CornishSam WorthingtonLynette CurranA young girl flees her hometown and arrives in the Australian Alps, where new experiences help her learn the differences between sex and love.
- DirectorMark JoffeStarsAnthony HopkinsBen MendelsohnAlwyn KurtsAn expert on productivity shows wacky workers in 1966 Australia how to run their moccasin factory like clockwork, despite laying off more than half the workforce.
- DirectorSandy HarbuttStarsDeryck BarnesSandy HarbuttHugh Keays-ByrneAfter one of its members witnesses a political assassination, a motorbike gang becomes the target of a string of murders, prompting a cop to join their ranks to determine who is responsible.
- DirectorHenri SafranIan GoddardStarsGreg RowePeter CumminsDavid GulpililMike is a lonely Australian boy living in a coastal wilderness with his reclusive father. In search of friendship he encounters an Aboriginal native loner and the two form a bond in the care of orphaned pelicans.
- DirectorCharles TaitStarsElizabeth TaitJohn TaitNicholas BrierleyOriginally 70 minutes in running time, only 17 minutes of the world's first full-length narrative feature film survived in stills and other fragments and tell the story of Ned Kelly, an infamous 19th-century Australian outlaw.
- DirectorBaz LuhrmannStarsPaul MercurioTara MoriceBill HunterA maverick dancer risks his career by performing an unusual routine and sets out to succeed with a new partner.
- DirectorKen HannamStarsJack ThompsonMax CullenRobert BruningA hard-drinking but hard-working gun shearer leads a group of Outback sheep herders into striking after wealthy landowners attempt to drive them from their territory.
- DirectorFred ZinnemannStarsDeborah KerrRobert MitchumPeter UstinovIn Australia's Outback during the early twentieth century, the impoverished Carmody family lives a nomadic life out of their wagon, but the mom and son want to settle, while the dad is against it.
- DirectorJane CampionStarsGeneviève LemonKaren ColstonTom LycosAn introspective young woman's life is upturned by the arrival of her maladjusted sister.
- DirectorMichael PowellStarsWalter ChiariClaire DunneChips RaffertyAn Italian sports journalist arrives in Australia but finds no work. The only employment he can find is as a builder's labourer. At first, he cannot comprehend the culture, but eventually he finds mateship and romance.
- DirectorRolf de HeerStarsDavid GulpililGary SweetDamon GameauFanatic is a government trooper who is heading an expedition to find an Aboriginal man accused of murdering a white woman. Others in the expedition are the Follower, a greenhorn trooper, the Veteran, and the Tracker.
- DirectorCarl SchultzStarsLeo McKernJulia BlakeHenri SzepsAfter their late-life marriage, a middle-aged Australian couple move to the countryside. Their life and tempestuous marriage is detailed.
- DirectorGregor JordanStarsHeath LedgerBryan BrownDavid FieldA 19 year old finds himself in debt to a local gangster when some gang loot disappears and sets him on the run from thugs. Meanwhile two street kids start a shopping spree when they find the missing money.
- DirectorTed KotcheffStarsDonald PleasenceGary BondChips RaffertyAfter a bad gambling bet, a schoolteacher is marooned in a town full of crazy, drunk, violent men who threaten to make him just as crazy, drunk, and violent.
- DirectorNicolas RoegStarsJenny AgutterDavid GulpililLuc RoegTwo city-bred siblings are stranded in the Australian Outback, where they learn to survive with the aid of an Aboriginal boy on his "walkabout": a ritual separation from his tribe.
- DirectorIgor AuzinsStarsAngela Punch McGregorArthur DignamMartin VaughanJeannie Gunn faced being the only civilised woman in an uncivilised land. A story of personal triumph about one woman who reached out in a hard, hostile, prejudiced world and managed to find love.
- DirectorGreg McLeanStarsNathan PhillipsCassandra MagrathKestie MorassiThree backpackers stranded in the Australian outback are plunged inside a hellish nightmare of insufferable torture by a sadistic psychopathic local.
- DirectorJohn DuiganStarsNoah TaylorLoene CarmenBen MendelsohnIn rural 1960s Australia, a boy watches helplessly as his best friend falls in love with a small-time criminal, setting off a violent chain of events.
- DirectorPeter WeirStarsMel GibsonSigourney WeaverLinda HuntA young Australian reporter tries to navigate the political turmoil of Indonesia during the rule of President Sukarno with the help of a diminutive photographer.