'A genre mostly associated with quintessentially American landscapes and cultural tropes, the western has developed its own fascinating tradition in Australia - most notably, since the turn of the twenty-first century. Brian McFarlane surveys a range of films from the last two decades, dealing with subjects such as bushrangers, abuse and colonial dispossession, and finds both echoes of US antecedents and new visions that blaze their own distinctive trails.'
Source: Abstract.
'Depicting a ten-year-old Aboriginal boy's struggle to reconcile his cultural identity with the demands of a Western school system, Maya Newell's documentary raises timely questions about how to synthesise traditional culture and mainstream education - as well as framing its subject's story within the lingering history of Indigenous dispossession, as Suzie Gibson discusses.'
Source: Abstract.
'Fred Schepisi's 'The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith' (1978), an adaptation of Thomas Keneally's 1972 novel of the same name, is an incendiary film from the Australian New Wave that attempts to give voice to aspects of the nation's violent history. With its then-sizeable A$1.2 million budget, the film was a commercial failure despite playing at the Cannes Film Festival to critical acclaim, and has continued to court controversy.'
Source: Abstract.
