'A new book, Shining a Light: 50 Years of the Australian Film Institute, traces the progress of the film and television industries in Australia - as well as screen culture within Australia over the past half century - through the lens of one key organisation, the Australian Film Institute (AFI).
Since its establishment in 1958, the AFI has played a central role in nurturing and supporting both screen culture and production, from the Australian film industry's small beginnings to its development into an internationally recognised billion dollar industry. Shining a Light maps out the history of the AFI and the wider industry over the past fifty years and explores the relationship of screen culture to a successful production industry.
The book is a timely and significant contribution to scholarship on Australian cinema, being published at a critical time in Australian film history. The authors have interviewed key players on the local scene, and sifted through volumes of documentary evidence in chronicling the history of the AFI, its successes and role in Australian screen culture past, present and future.
The writers' collective experience spans filmmaking, academic research and teaching, film journalism, employment and service in key screen culture organisations as well as an abiding passion for Australian cinema - bringing to the book both the filmmaker or industry perspective, and academic schlorship.' (Publisher's blurb)
