'Eliza Scanlen’s film Mukbang (2020) has become a flashpoint in race relations in the Australian screen industry. Scanlen’s film is famous not for winning Best Director in the short film category at this year’s Sydney Film Festival, but for the controversy it has sparked.' (Introduction)

On 13 February 2008, the newly-installed Australian Prime Minister of the day, Kevin Rudd, made a now-landmark speech saying ‘Sorry’ to the Stolen Generations. Symbolically, the Apology was considered ‘a turning-point in the process of reconciliation’ (Kossew 171), a way of righting a historical wrong that would lead to a new chapter in the nation’s history. We can compare this speech to statements made by Rudd on his brief return to leadership prior to the September 2013 elections, when he introduced a strict refugee resettlement policy whereby all refugees arriving to Australia by boat were to be resettled in Papua New Guinea, and none would be allowed to settle in Australia, even after their claims for asylum had been processed. Despite widespread criticism from members of his own party, Rudd refused to back down over his hardline refugee policy. He repeatedly said that he made ‘no apology’ for the fact that he had to make some tough decisions (Uhlmann; Scarr and Jones). Ostensibly the policy was to stop people perishing on the treacherous journey from Indonesia to Australia in unseaworthy boats but it was also clearly a political manoeuvre in an effort to appeal to more conservative forces in a last-ditch attempt to win an unwinnable election. Since then, Rudd’s political opponents have made similar statements of being ‘unapologetic’ for their own asylum seeker policies (Borello; Whyte). It is this period of Australian cultural and political life that I refer to as ‘post-apology’ (Introduction)

'To date, there has been little sustained attention given to the historical cinema relations between Australia and Asia. This is a significant omission given Australia's geo-political position and the place Asia has held in the national imaginary, oscillating between threat and opportunity. Moreover, many accounts of Australian cinema begin with the 1970s film revival, placing 'Asian Australian cinema' within a post-revival schema of multicultural or diasporic cinema and ignoring Asian Australian connections prior to the revival. Transnational Australian Cinema charts a history of Asian Australian cinema, encompassing the work of diasporic Asian filmmakers, films featuring images of Asia and Asians, films produced by Australians working in Asia's film industries or addressed at Asian audiences, and Asian films that utilize Australian resources, including locations and personnel. Utilizing an interdisciplinary approach, the book considers diasporic Asian histories, the impact of government immigration and film policies on representation, and the new aesthetic styles and production regimes created by filmmakers who have forged links, both through roots and routes, with Asia. Our expanded history of Asian Australian cinema facilitated by the emphasis on transnational film practices allows for a renewed discussion of so called dormant periods in the nation's film history. In this respect, the mapping of an expanded history of cinema practices contributes to our broader aim to rethink the transnationalism of Australian cinema.' (Publication summary)

'One of Japan's major film production companies, the Toei Corporation, produced a little-known (to most Australians) film entitled The Drifting Avenger in 1968. The film is unique in being a western set in America but shot in Australia with a predominantly Australian cast and produced for Japanese audiences. This article examines both the Japanese and Australian contexts surrounding the film, characterizing The Drifting Avenger an Asian Australian film in order to consider its place within the broader fields of study on Australian cinema and transnational Asian cinemas. The film is also considered within a historical trend of ‘international’ Australian westerns.'

Source: Abstract.