Issue Details: First known date: 2020... 2020 A Cinema of Resistance : My Brilliant Career (Gillian Armstrong, 1979)
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AbstractHistoryArchive Description

'When looking back at the filmography of Australia’s national cinema, it’s almost impossible to overstate the significance of My Brilliant Career (Gillian Armstrong, 1979). Released at the height of the Australian New Wave, the film has been rightfully labelled the country’s first feminist feature film. Fittingly, then, it is also notable for launching the career of director Gillian Armstrong, who became the first Australian woman to helm a feature in a staggering 46 years. My Brilliant Career is emblematic of a cultural and institutional shift in the 1970s that saw the creation of the Australian Film Development Corporation (AFDC). Along with the development of a production fund and distribution network, the AFDC established the Australian Film and Television School. Armstrong was a member of the school’s inaugural graduating class along with fellow director Phillip Noyce; subsequent alumni would include key proponents of the New Australian Cinema like Peter Weir and Bruce Beresford. As feminism became a part of the Australian public consciousness, organisations like the Sydney Women’s Film Group (SWFG) agitated for female representation and content. Armstrong acknowledged that “the SWFG had a powerful effect that really did pay off.” Crucially for Armstrong, this climate opened up a space where the idea of a female Australian auteur could be imagined for the first time.' (Introduction)

Notes

  • Epigraph:

    Loneliness is a terrible price to pay for independence. Sybylla, don’t throw away reality for some impossible dream. – Aunt Gussie (Patricia Kennedy)

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

  • Appears in:
    y separately published work icon Senses of Cinema A World Without Cinema no. 94 April 2020 20903460 2020 periodical issue

    'In the face of mass death and economic devastation on a worldwide scale, matters of art and entertainment may seem trifling. But the COVID-19 pandemic has had a profound impact on the cinema. With theatres shuttered, festivals cancelled and film production schedules in disarray, the shutdown mandated across much of the planet has meant that, for the first time since 1895, we are now living in a world without cinema. It is hard, almost impossible, to comprehend.' (Editorial introduction)

    2020
Last amended 21 Dec 2020 09:40:35
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