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Film Details - Kavanagh Productions , 1971
Producers:
Brian Kavanagh
Production Companies:
Kavanagh Productions
Finance Organisations:
Australian Council of the Arts - Experimental Film and Televsion Fund
Australian Film Development Corporation
Director of Photography:
Bruce McNaughton
Editors:
Brian Kavanagh
Production Designers:
Trevor Ling
Composer:
Peter Pinne
Cast:
Incl. Monica Maughan (Woman), Sean Scully (Man), Moira Carleton (Mother), Vivean Gray (First Neighbour), Marguerite Lofthouse (Second Neighbour), Beverley Heath (Shopgirl), Michael Howley (Doctor), Roger Scales (Man on Beach), Donna Drake (Girl on Beach), Mary Marshall (Woman on Train), Jo Larner (First Girl).
Release Dates:
1. Exhibited at the London, Edinburgh, and Chicago film festivals in 1971 (prior to commercial release in 1972). It also screened at the 1972 Sydney Film Festival. Australian premiere, 23 March 1972 (Melbourne Town Hall).
2. Released on videocassette format in 1972 by Kavanaugh Productions.
Location:
- Filmed on location in Melbourne. Interior scenes shot in a studio at Cambridge Films (Melbourne).
Awards:
- Australian Film Institute Award (1971) Bronze Award for Feature Film (winner)
- Australian Film Institute Award (1971) Hoyts Prize for Best Performance; Best Actress - Monica Maughan (winner)
Notes:
1. Although A City's Child won two AFI awards in 1971 (prior to being released in Australia), commercial distribution was not initially forthcoming. The film's Melbourne premiere season (one week) was one of the few screenings until B.E.F. exhibited it at Sydney's suburban Roseville Cinema from 23 May 1974. However, as Pike and Cooper (1980) note, the two-week season was not successful and few other screenings followed: 'Distribution was not helped by the refusal of the New South Wales government to register the film as an Australian production under the quality clause of the quota act' (p. 338).
2. Further reference: Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper. Australian Film 1900-1977, A Guide to Feature Film Production (1980, q.v.), p. 338.
