Worth: $18.00
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Cast:
Phillip Noyce, Gillian Armstrong, Albie Thoms, Jan Chapman
Intro:
...a film lover’s delight.
For most, the existence of an Australian film industry is an afterthought…it’s something that’s just there, and has been for many, many years. Taken for granted and often cruelly under-appreciated, it’s just assumed that our local industry will always continue to chug away, backed by government support and primed by the occasional homegrown hit. But back in the late 1960s and into the 1970s, there was no real local film industry to speak of, and Senses Of Cinema – the new doco from Aussie cinematic figureheads John Hughes (After Mabo, What I Have Written) and Tom Zubrycki (Molly & Mobarek) – winningly takes the viewer back to that heady time, which was awash in activism, experimentalism and creative exploration.
Stepping in to fill the cultural cinematic vacuum were a number of underground, independent film movements, most hopped up on the political upheaval of the time and excited by the celluloid experiments making their way out of Europe and, in particular, France. The Sydney Filmmakers Co-op and Ubu Films, The Melbourne Co-Op, The Sydney Women’s Film Group and the LGBT-focused One in Seven Collective were loose groups of like-minded young filmmakers largely opposed to ideas of authority and artistic traditionalism, and keen to explore cinema as an experimental art-form. As well as creating their own ersatz cinemas (most famously above Bob Gould’s radical bookshop in Sydney’s Newtown) and distributing works around the country, these film collectives were also fertile breeding grounds for Aussie talent, with the likes of Phillip Noyce, Gillian Armstrong, Stephen Wallace, Albie Thoms and Jan Chapman also taking their first steps into the industry there.
Running off a collection of great talking head interviews (Albie Thoms is MVP here) and packed-to-bursting with archival footage and the films of the various Co-ops, Senses Of Cinema is a lively cinematic time capsule of a truly tumultuous era. Its authenticity is never in question, with directors John Hughes and Tom Zubrycki both intimately involved with the co-ops, and fully versed in the ways of their interview subjects, who they obviously know how to get the most out of. Nostalgic but always with a sense of bite, Senses Of Cinema is a film lover’s delight.
Senses Of Cinema will screen at The Inner West Film Festival on Sunday April 2 at Palace Cinemas Norton Street, 5:45pm. The filmmakers will be in attendance for a very special Q&A session after the film. For further information and ticket sales, click here.
