A Letter from veteran Oz film supporter and enthusiast David Donaldson - NFSA RESTORES WEBINAR, CAPTAIN THUNDERBOLT, THREE TO GO

      Greetings to film friends who may be interested in Restoring old Australian films. 

NFSA WEBINAR

 The NFSA's Chief Curator Gayle Lake has long been concerned with Restoring at National Film and Sound Archive. Gayle will retire soon. The Friends of the Archive have secured a talk by Zoom on 14 April when Gayle will discuss the Archive's NFSA Restores Program, including how films are selected for the program, the research involved and the restoration process itself. There will be time for a Q&A at the end. Here is a chance to hear what goes on behind-the-scenes and ask the questions you've always wanted to ask.

 

            The webinar is free but you will need to book to receive the Zoom link.

            WHEN: Sunday 14 April, at 2pm AEST FREE BUT BOOKING ESSENTIAL

             https://www.trybooking.com/CLFHQ

For more information about this event, please check the Friends of the NFSA website, here. 

CAPTAIN THUNDERBOLT HAS BEEN FOUND

Back in the 1950s, I saw the New England and Sydney production of Captain Thunderbolt at its one-week city release and twice later.  At a session in 2010 at Art Gallery of NSW, the Archive named Captain Thunderbolt as first in its Most Wanted list, since the full release film had been considered lost.

Now, thanks to searching by independent archivist Michael Organ, a full-length print in 35mm was located in Prague. It is currently in Canberra and being examined as to restoration possibilities. 

Treating the film as a theatrical feature, much has been written over the years about some remarkable merits. The annual award of the Australian Directors Guild carries the name of the director, Cecil Holmes. The award of the Australian Cinematographers Society carries the name of Ross Wood. 

Not only, though, is the film significant as a creative outburst in Sydney in that meagre film time of 1951. It came out of essentially a Radio background and Associated Productions further had a pioneering place in Television. No wonder it was chosen as Most Wanted!

To my mind, a re-presentation could take place in the Sydney Film Festival in June 2025 (a 70-year anniversary). ....AND at Armidale where the Australian premiere was held..... AND perhaps at Cockatoo Island, the site of the thrilling escape sequence. Much work and thought will be needed before any of that can happen. Many people and authorities will have to contribute.

Several interesting links appear below. If you would like further information, please Reply to filmart@dodo.com.au with your current email address and your telephone number. I will send you the Fact Sheet by Graham Shirley and then construct a special list of such friends of the film.

         CINEMA REBORN PRESENTS THREE TO GO

Thinking of restorations, Cinema Reborn will return to Sydney and extend to Melbourne in May. There will be a restoration of Three To Go, Gil Brealey’s 1971 production that gave drama-directing opportunity to three young directors. 

Book In Melbourne if you click Cinema Reborn at the Lido

Book in Sydney Cinema Reborn at the Ritz  

 

Thanks for your interest and hoping you will Reply as a Thunderboltian.

David Donaldson 

08 8267 5069

filmart@dodo.com.au 

Discoverer Michael Organ’s comprehensive blog https://postersmo.blogspot.com/2023/09/captain-thunderbolt-1951.html

and reproducing many news pieces 

https://postersmo.blogspot.com/2023/11/captain-thunderbolt-historical.html

Graham Shirley’s 2010 article 

https://www.nfsa.gov.au/latest/captain-thunderbolt-and-the-search-for-lost-films

David Donaldson’s analysis of a key moment 

http://www.sensesofcinema.com/2014/key-moments-in-australian-cinema-issue-70-march-2014/looking-for-captain-thunderbolt-cecil-holmes-1953/

 

 

 

 

THE BIRTH OF THE NATIONAL FILM & SOUND ARCHIVE - Cabinet Documents published by the Friends of the NFSA

40 YEARS ON – CABINET DOCUMENTS CHART CONTROVERSIAL BIRTH OF THE NFSA

 

 

To commemorate the 40^th anniversary of the National Film and Sound Archive (NFSA), the Friends of the NFSA are publishing the original Cabinet documents recording the creation of the institution on 26 March 1984. Nine days later, on 5 April, Arts Minister Barry Cohen would announce this in Parliament.

 

The new NFSA took over the film and sound archiving responsibilities, collections and staff that had, until then, been part of the National Library of Australia. The film, television and sound communities had long advocated for separate institutional status and greater resources to protect the nation’s audiovisual heritage, matching the model more commonly followed overseas. Conversely, there were also strong voices favoring retention of the status quo. 

 

Ray Edmondson, then head of the Library’s Film Section, has never forgotten the fervid atmosphere of the time. “By mid-1983 the issue was looming large in the media and Parliament and moving towards a crisis point. I was among those who favoured creating a separate institution.” 

 

The new Hawke Government embraced the challenge and determined to establish the NFSA, despite dissenting arguments from the Departments of Prime Minister and Cabinet and Finance, the Public Service Board, the National Library and Australian Archives. These are all documented in the Cabinet submission, and make interesting reading today. 

 

Development of the submission over several months was led by the Prime Minister’s Senior Advisor, Bob Hogg, who recalled: “It was a rather instructive period for myself in observing at close hand the bureaucracy working to thwart the clear objective of the Government. Fortunately, in this case their efforts were not productive.” 

 

Forty years on, the NFSA’s global stature has amply vindicated that original vision.

 

 

 

The documents can be accessed on the Friends website:  http://www.archivefriends.org.au/images/stories/2024/Cabsub-March-1984.pdf

 

Further information: 

Contact Friends’ President,  Ray Edmondson  Phone  0413 486 849  Email ray@archival.au  

The 2023 Rod Wallace Lecture and THE SEARCH FOR THE PALACE LETTERS (Darryl Dellora, Australia, 2023)

Ray Edmondson, Chair of the Friends of National Film & Sound Archive writes: Professor Jenny Hocking (pictured above) delivered the 2nd Annual Rod Wallace Lecture on 28 November at the NFSA. The Lecture was titled: ‘Burnt files, lost files, and denials of public access: censoring Archives and the falsification of history’ and 

Both the text and the video recording are now available on the Friends website:

http://www.archivefriends.org.au/index.php/events-news/wallace-lectures

 

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Daryl Dellora’s film The Search for the Palace Letters will air on the ABC in the new year.  This film follows historian Professor Jenny Hocking as she fights a David and Goliath battle against the Australian Government and the British Royal Family in a landmark legal action. At stake is whether letters between former Governor General Sir John Kerr and HM Queen Elizabeth, written at the time of the constitutional crisis of 1975, are deemed private correspondence and therefore remain closed, or official documents that should be accessible to the Australian people. Running for more than four years, the Palace Letters Case was ultimately successful and opened the secret archives on the Palace's role in the unprecedented dismissal of the Whitlam Government. This documentary follows the personal struggle and immense legal battle faced by Hocking as she goes all the way to the High Court of Australia, the highest court in the land, in her bid to uncover the last piece of the extraordinary jigsaw that is the 1975 dismissal. She is motivated throughout by her determination that the Australian people have the right to know their own history.. 

Ray Edmondson issues an Invitation to a webinar about and screening of FUNNY THINGS HAPPENED DOWN UNDER (Joe McCormick, Australia/New Zealand, 1965)

Dear all,

 

This coming Sunday the Friends of the National Film & Sound Archive will be offering a free webinar led by film critic Peter Krausz, reflecting on the pre-renaissance years of 1965 to 1971 - now becoming forgotten, as the films of that era are rarely seen.  It is open to everyone - especially those who have their own memories of those adventurous years. The webinar will be recorded and added to the Friends website, where it will continue to be available.

 

Zoom webinar  - This Sunday 28 November at 2pm 

To join the webinar  BOOK FREE HERE

But before that watch Funny Things Happen Down Under (1965) -  free on Vimeo for one week: https://vimeo.com/648407032/0c587bca0d

(Download Not Allowed, Only People With The Link Can Access.)  Note: This is a .MKV file. You may need the free app VLC to watch it.

Funny Things Happen Down Under is a light hearted musical comedy, featuring Olivia Newton-John and set in the Australian countryside. It is still a breath of fresh air! It was actually made by a New Zealand-based company, Pacific Films, and prophetically it exudes an optimism for better days to come. The teenage singing star makes her first venture into the movies, and shares the limelight with the "Terrible Ten" and Maori singer Howard Morrison. Music is from the irrepressible Horrie Dargie Quintet, and a flock of multi-coloured sheep complete the dramatis personae. It is enough to get you intrigued!

Historically, the film came at a turning point for the Australian film industry.  It was made after the creation of the children's series The Terrific Adventures of the Terrible Ten, and the "gang" from the series provide the basic cast for the film, so there was already audience familiarity with the characters.  It pre-dated the release of They're a Weird Mob the following year, which fed on the same family audience, and presaged the re-establishment of regular feature film production in Australia. From this point on, a range of local feature films - such as You Can't See Around Corners, 2000 Weeks, The Naked Bunyip, Jack and Jill: a Postscript, Skippy and the Intruders  - start to appear with regularity. They are disparate, but deal with an emerging understanding of Australian culture and society. They lead us into the feature film "renaissance" of the 1970s and thereafter.

You're invited to view the film beforehand, and then join in the webinar, coordinated by film critic Peter Krausz, which will discuss the making of  Funny Things Happen Down Under, the audience it attracted and whether it led to more films for children as a prime audience. It will also look generally at the pre-renaissance years of 1965 to 1971 and the films which defined a re-emerging industry, finding its stride again after two decades of sporadic production.