Australian Social Realism
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- DirectorStephen JohnsonStarsJohn Sebastian PilakuiNathan DanielsSean MununggurrAn Indigenous teen and his friends embark on a challenging journey to Darwin from Arnhem Land to meet a tribal leader with the aim of creating a better future after troubles take them away from their dreams.
- DirectorJohn DuiganStarsJudy DavisBryan BrownCathy DownesWhen a womanizing bookshop owner hears about the suicide of his former girlfriend, he tries to find out more and meets her friend, a prostitute. They hook up, but when she finds her friends diary, she discovers she's repeating her mistakes.
- DirectorMargot NashStarsPamela RabeJohn StantonToni ScanlanFollowing the death of her mother Tessa (Pamela Rabe), a young woman, returns after many years to the weather-beaten family home on the shores of Sydney's Botany Bay. But the old family home begins to bring old wounds more and more to life. The story unfolds through flashbacks yet as it progresses the flashbacks merge into the present as it becomes apparent that the situation Tessa has returned to is very much the result of that which passed before. This is a film about memory - personal and collective. To quote the director: 'the story of a house, land and two families - one white, one Aboriginal - both living in the shadow of the past'. The deliberately ambiguous title could refer to the house itself, but also the history of White Australia (see Terra nullius).
- 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.
- 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.
- DirectorDavid FieldStarsGeorge BashaClare BowenFirass DiraniSet in the multi-racial suburbs of Sydney, Lebanese-Australian John is released from goal to find his younger brother Charlie caught in the very same world of crime that put him behind bars.
- 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.
- 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.
- DirectorAna KokkinosStarsTom LongGreta ScacchiColin FrielsAn erotic mystery about power and sex, the entanglement of victim and perpetrator, and a man's struggle to regain his lost self.
- DirectorElissa DownStarsRhys WakefieldLuke FordToni ColletteAll Thomas wants is a normal adolescence but his autistic brother, Charlie, thwarts his every opportunity. Will Thomas, with the help of his girlfriend, Jackie, accept his brother?
- DirectorJane CampionStarsGeneviève LemonKaren ColstonTom LycosAn introspective young woman's life is upturned by the arrival of her maladjusted sister.
- 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.
- DirectorWarwick ThorntonStarsRowan McNamaraMarissa GibsonMitjili Napanangka GibsonA glue-sniffing boy and his girlfriend escape the government-controlled no-hope Aboriginal community they live in and go to the city, Alice Springs, looking for a better life.
- DirectorGeoffrey WrightStarsRussell CroweDaniel PollockJacqueline McKenzieA group of skinheads become alarmed at the way their neighbourhood is changing.
- 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.
- DirectorSarah WattStarsPortia BradleyJonathan SegatSacha HorlerA tender story from Australia highlights the realistic ups and downs of an Australian family in the year following a parent's emergency medical procedure.
- DirectorNadia TassStarsColin FrielsJacqueline McKenzieKenneth RadleyAll Wally Mellish, an ex-convict in 1960s Australia, wants to do is live a quiet life with his girlfriend Beryl. Unfortunately when two police officers come around to disturb this, a misunderstanding quickly becomes out of control, resulting Wally, Beryl and her child being trapped in their house, surrounded by armed police under the impression that Wally is holding everyone hostage. Events quickly spiral into a media circus as, through the siege, Wally - inadvertently - manages to become a symbol for the anti-war movement.
- DirectorJohn DuiganStarsKim KrejusSonia PeatIan GilmourMouth to Mouth follows the lives of four young people, trying to improve their lives in a harsh and unforgiving city.
- DirectorVincent GiarrussoStarsKane McNayNell FeeneyBrett SwainThe world of 14 year old Shaun revolves around his broken family home, and a group of truant friends who inhabit Melbourne's northern suburb shopping centres. As he tries to make the transition into adulthood, the audience is forced to view the world through the eyes of one whom society is reluctant to accept.
- 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.
- DirectorDavid CaesarStarsBen MendelsohnJeremy SimsJohn PolsonLooking for the fast track out of suburban hell, two natural born losers scheme an impossible heist. Two undercover cops and a highly strung speed dealer are not far behind.
- DirectorLeo BerkeleyStarsCraig AdamsLuke ElliotAlex MengletTwo teenagers get entangled in a criminal coup enterprise but must raise $500 each in order to set sail for Africa.
- DirectorCathy RandallStarsDanielle CatanzaritiCassandra JinmanTalia MonaghanA coming-of-age story about a 13-year-old girl trying to fit into both a posh private school and an ordinary public school.
- 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.
- DirectorAmiel Courtin-WilsonStarsDaniel P. JonesLeanne LetchTony MarkulinFresh from a Melbourne jail, Dan is reunited with the love of his life, Leanne. A fierce, passionate and tender couple who have learnt to appreciate the simplest pleasures in life, Dan and Leanne celebrate, and when surrounded by friends he announces he has resolved to go straight.
- DirectorJohn HillcoatStarsDavid FieldMike BishopChris DeRosePrisoners and guards clash in a high-tech security jail where there are no rules.
- DirectorClara LawStarsAnnette Shun WahAnnie YipAnthony Brandon WongAn aging Hong Kong couple move to Australia with their two youngest sons. They stay with a daughter who has already begun a successful career. Meanwhile their eldest daughter lives in Germany and their eldest son remains in Hong Kong. The film explores the different ways the family members cope with isolation and alienation.
- DirectorGus Van SantStarsCasey AffleckMatt DamonA friendship between two young men is tested when they go for a hike in a desert and forget to bring any water or food with them.
- DirectorNeil ArmfieldStarsHeath LedgerAbbie CornishGeoffrey RushA poet falls in love with an art student who gravitates to his bohemian lifestyle -- and his love of heroin. Hooked as much on one another as they are on the drug, their relationship alternates between states of oblivion, self-destruction, and despair.
- 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.
- DirectorPhillip NoyceStarsBill HunterGary FoleyZac MartinA black and white lowlife duo drives around Australia's Outback in a stolen vehicle and finds trouble after trouble.
- 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.
- DirectorMonica PellizzariStarsDina PanozzoJohn LucantonioAnna VolskaMaria Lupi is a 16 year old teenager. She is the only daughter of conservative Catholic Italians. She clashes with her sexually repressed mother and violent, philandering father.
- DirectorGlenda HamblyStarsNoni HazlehurstAnnie ByronAlan FletcherA single mother, Fran (Noni Hazlehurst) is selflessly devoted to her children. But something is lacking in her life, and that something is the love of a man her own age. Her efforts to juggle a love life with her home life are largely unsuccessful.
- 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.
- DirectorAna KokkinosStarsFrances O'ConnorMiranda OttoDeborra-Lee FurnessSeven lost children wander the night streets while their mothers await their return home.
- DirectorMelanie ReadStarsSusie PorterLinda CropperPeter PhelpsIn Unit 16b at Platypus Rise Flats, two hard and damaged women living on a diet of soapies, sarcasm and frustration are about to reach breaking point. A bad day becomes worse by the hour and to top it off, the toilet won't flush.