This topic will encourage students to develop an awareness of the issues involved in an Australian national cinema. We will begin by trying to define that term and discussing the analytical frameworks within which national cinema has been discussed. We will then turn our attention to analysing the products of this cinema, taking a historical and thematic perspective which ranges silent cinema to contemporary filmmaking in Australia. This will involve looking at fiction film, experimental cinema and documentary. We will also look at Australian cinema as a set of institutions which reflect changing policy aims. What the factors which have inhibited or encouraged certain types of filmmaking in Australia? What are the current debates about the role and future of Australian cinema? The topic will also pose questions about the place of Australian cinema in the broader context of Australian society and about the relation of Australian audiences to the concept of a national cinema.
