Rolf De Heer Rolf De Heer i(A2122 works by)
Born: Established: 1951
c
Netherlands,
c
Western Europe, Europe,
;
Gender: Male
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

Works By

Preview all
1 From Screenplay to Film Rolf De Heer , single work column
1 3 form y separately published work icon The Survival of Kindness Rolf De Heer , ( dir. Rolf De Heer ) Australia : Triptych Pictures Vertigo Productions , 2022 23639313 2022 single work film/TV

'In a cage on a trailer in the middle of the desert, BlackWoman (Mwajemi Hussein) is abandoned, left to die. But BlackWoman seems not ready. She escapes, journeying through pestilence and persecution, from desert to mountain and finally to city, on a quest for an unknown beginning. But the city is more uncertain even than the desert, and recaptured, BlackWoman must find another escape. Or does she?'

Source: Adelaide Film Festival.

1 11 form y separately published work icon Another Country David Gulpilil , Rolf De Heer , Molly Reynolds , Australia : Vertigo Productions , 2015 8808085 2015 single work film/TV biography

'According to the great Australian Aboriginal actor David Gulpilil, Another Country is what happened when his way of life was interrupted by ours. This documentary film speaks to the havoc caused by superimposing a new culture over an old culture and the consequent clashes about all manner of things, such as time, money, garbage and errant kangaroos.' (Source: Screen Australia website)

1 David’s Country Rolf De Heer , 2015 single work column
— Appears in: The Age , 18 July 2015; (p. 31)
1 56 form y separately published work icon Charlie's Country Rolf De Heer , ( dir. Rolf De Heer ) Australia : Vertigo Productions , 2013 5993547 2013 single work film/TV

Rolf de Heer and David Gulpilil collaborate to create a tragi-comic portrait of Charlie's struggle to understand how he should define himself as an Aboriginal in modern Australia.

1 7 form y separately published work icon The King is Dead! Rolf De Heer , ( dir. Rolf De Heer ) Australia : Vertigo Productions , 2012 Z1872480 2012 single work film/TV crime humour 'Max and Therese are happy together and with the world. They move into a new neighbourhood, a nice family on one side and, well, 'interesting' on the other side. But interesting becomes loud, and loud becomes intolerable - and when the intolerable becomes violent and the police are powerless, Max and Therese attempt to solve the problem themselves. A comedy about neighbours, amphetamines and large men with baseball bats.' (Source: Screen Australia)
1 Personal Reflections on Whiteness and Three Film Projects Rolf De Heer , 2007 single work prose
— Appears in: Australian Humanities Review , August no. 42 2007;
1 A Toxic Mix Rolf De Heer , Molly Reynolds , 2007 single work biography
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian Magazine , 5-6 May 2007; (p. 14-17) Griffith Review , Winter no. 16 2007; (p. 59-66)
1 6 form y separately published work icon Dr Plonk Rolf De Heer , ( dir. Rolf De Heer ) Australia : Vertigo Productions , 2007 Z1276068 2007 single work film/TV humour science fiction

In 1907, scientist Dr Plonk discovers that the world will end in 101 years, but no one from his own time will believe him. Together with his put-upon assistant Paulus, he builds a time machine to attempt to gather definitive proof of the end of the world.

A silent, black-and-white film, Dr Plonk is consciously of the Buster Keaton/Charlie Chaplin school of film-making.

1 3 form y separately published work icon The Balanda and the Bark Canoes 18 Canoes; The Making of 'Ten Canoes' Molly Reynolds , Rolf De Heer , Tania Nehme , ( dir. Molly Reynolds et. al. )agent Australia : Fandango Australia , 2006 Z1667220 2006 single work film/TV

The Balanda and the Bark Canoes is a 52 minute documentary that is concerned not only with the day to day production issues, including the practicalities of working with non-professional actors in crocodile infested Arnhem Land, but also the complex consultations with the Aboriginal cast and community members (many who speak little or no English) and who put forth views on the path Ten Canoes ought to follow. The film similarly explores the cross-cultural issues tackled by directors Rolf de Heer and Peter Djigirr and their Aboriginal collaborators, while illustrating storytelling methodology on both sides of the cultural divide.

1 82 form y separately published work icon Ten Canoes Rolf De Heer , ( dir. Rolf De Heer ) Australia : Fandango Australia Vertigo Productions , 2006 Z1262398 2006 single work film/TV (taught in 11 units)

A story within a story and overlaid with narration, Ten Canoes takes place in two periods in the past. The first story, filmed in black-and-white as a reference to the 1930s ethnographic photography of Donald Thompson, concerns a young man called Dayindi who takes part in his first hunt for goose eggs. During the course of several trips to hunt, gather and build a bark canoe, his older brother Minygululu tells him a story about their ancestors and the old laws. The story is also about a young man who had no wife but who coveted one of his brother's wives, and also of the stranger who disrupted the harmony of their lives. It is cautionary tale because Minygululu is aware that Dayinidi desires his young and pretty third wife.

The second story (shot in colour) is set much further back in time. Yeeralparil is a young man who desires the third wife of his older brother Ridjimiraril. When Ridjimiraril's second wife disappears, he suspects a man from another tribe has been seen near the camp. After he spears the stranger he discovers that he was wrong. Knowing that he must face the man's relatives he chooses Yeeralparil to accompany him during the ritual payback. When Ridjimiraril dies from his wounds the tribe's traditions decree that Yeeralparil must inherit his brother's wives. The burden of these responsibilities, however, is more than the young man expects.

2 3 form y separately published work icon Alexandra's Project Rolf De Heer , ( dir. Rolf De Heer ) Australia : Wild Bunch Vertigo Productions , 2003 Z1805780 2003 single work film/TV thriller

A regular suburban family man comes home 'from work on his birthday to find a deserted house and a videotape waiting to be played... '

Source: Screen Australia.

1 31 form y separately published work icon The Tracker Rolf De Heer , ( dir. Rolf De Heer ) Australia : Vertigo Productions , 2002 Z1036534 2002 single work film/TV (taught in 4 units)

'A set of mountain ranges in the outback, 1922 ... horseback country, and the Fanatic leads the two other white men, the Follower and the Philosopher, and the Tracker, in the pursuit of the Fugitive. Through massacre and murder the hunt continues, until the clear-cut notions of truth and justice are subverted and the questions become not will the Fugitive be caught, but what is black and what is white and who is leading whom?'

Source: Screen Australia.

1 form y separately published work icon The Old Man Who Read Love Stories Rolf De Heer , ( dir. Rolf De Heer ) Australia : Fildebroc Cyan Films Vertigo Productions Magnetic Hall France 2 Cinema , 2001 24873189 2001 single work film/TV

"A man is forced to confront a dangerous female jaguar and his own past through the sacrificial killing of the beast he has grown to love."

Source: South Australian Made Showcase.

1 form y separately published work icon Dance Me to My Song Heather Rose , Frederick Stahl , Rolf De Heer , ( dir. Rolf De Heer ) Australia : Vertigo Productions Smile Production , 1998 7893530 1998 single work film/TV

'Julia (Heather Rose) has severe cerebral palsy and lives by herself in suburbia. Since she can’t speak, get out of bed, walk or bathe by herself, she’s heavily dependent on her carer, Madelaine (Joey Kennedy). Her most significant freedom is the ability to speak using a portable voice computer that she types on from her wheelchair. Madelaine is too self-absorbed and self-pitying to be an effective carer. She resents the demands Julia places upon her and treats her rudely. Julia chafes at this mistreatment. One day she asks a passer-by, Eddie (John Brumpton), for help. He starts to drop by and they develop a friendship. Madelaine, who’s been having boyfriend troubles, finds Eddie attractive. But so does Julia. The stage is set for a showdown…'

Source: Australian Screen.

1 form y separately published work icon Almost Alien Epsilon; Alien Visitor Rolf De Heer , ( dir. Rolf De Heer ) Australia : Fandango Australia , 1997 Z1870240 1997 single work film/TV science fiction

A woman from Epsilon, known only as She, lands accidentally on Earth, where she meets The Man, trekking through the Australian outback. Devastated to find herself on a planet renowned throughout the universe for its filthy environment and the unconcern of its people, She takes The Man on a journey across the planet to try and force him to see what humanity is doing to its planet. As they travel, they also grow closer and closer to one another.

1 12 form y separately published work icon The Quiet Room Rolf De Heer , ( dir. Rolf De Heer ) 1996 Sydney : Fandango Australia , Z177571 1996 single work film/TV A seven-year-old girl's perception of adulthood is portrayed through the marriage breakdown of her parents. Withdrawing into silence as a protest and protection against her parents' constant fighting, the girl reveals her thoughts through an internal monologue which mixes childishness and vulnerability with emotional sophistication and strength. Her only refuge is her blue-walled room, an exaggerated fantasyland of goldfish, Barbie dolls and toys, where she can remember happier days.
1 form Bad Boy Bubby Rolf De Heer , 1995 extract film/TV (Bad Boy Bubby)
— Appears in: The Actor's Audition Manual 1998; (p. 189-190)
2 30 form y separately published work icon Bad Boy Bubby Rolf De Heer , ( dir. Rolf De Heer ) Sydney : Bubby Productions Fandango Australia , 1995 Z182997 1995 single work film/TV

For thirty-five years, Bubby's entire knowledge of the universe has stopped at the walls of an inner-city, two-room slum. He knows only the existence of himself and his mother and spends each day playing with cockroaches and a feral cat all the while believing (as his mother has told him) that Jesus is watching his every move. Then one day his father comes home, starting a sequence of events that leads Bubby to kill his cat, his father, and his mother. Bubby then ventures outside, and suddenly life becomes very complicated.

2 5 form y separately published work icon Dingo Marc Rosenberg , ( dir. Rolf De Heer ) 1991 Australia Paris : Gevest Productions AO Productions , 1991 Z171883 1991 single work film/TV John 'Dingo' Anderson is a 'dogger' (dingo trapper) by day and trumpet player in a local band by night. His fascination with the instrument comes from a chance encounter as a child with Billy Cross, a legendary American jazz trumpeter: Cross played an impromptu concert on the tarmac of Poona Flat airport after his plane was forced to make an unscheduled stop. The young Anderson decides on the spot to become a trumpet player. Twenty years later, he has developed a unique style based on the sounds of the Australian bush, particularly the dingo, but he's still in Poona Flat. He dreams, however, of going to Paris to play with Cross. He has kept in touch with his idol, sending letters and tapes of his music. As he approaches his 30th birthday, John flies to Paris without telling his wife Jane. He wants to know if he's good enough. Billy Cross is now an ailing recluse, but he and his French wife take John in. John makes his solo debut at a famous club, and Billy comes out of retirement to join him on stage. John then returns to Poona Flat, in time for his 'surprise' birthday party.

[Source: Australian Screen]
X