AustLit

Based on real life events that occurred in 1931, Rabbit-Proof Fence is the story of three mixed-race Aboriginal children who are forcibly abducted from their mothers by the Western Australian government. Molly (aged fourteen), her sister Daisy (aged eight), and their cousin Gracie (aged ten) are taken from their homes at Jigalong, situated in the Pilbara region of Western Australia, at the orders of the Protector of Aborigines, A.O. Neville, and sent to an institution at Moore River to be educated and trained as domestic servants. After a few days, Molly leads the other two girls in an escape. What ensues is an epic journey that tests the girls' will to survive and their hope of finding the rabbit-proof fence to guide them home.

Although they are pursued by the institution's Aboriginal tracker and the police, Molly knows enough about bush craft to help them hide their tracks. They head east in search of the world's longest fence - built to keep rabbits out - because Molly knows that this will lead them back to Jigalong. Over the course of nine weeks, the girls walk almost 2,400 kilometres before Gracie is captured attempting to catch a train. Molly and Daisy avoid capture but eventually collapse from exhaustion on the saltpans not far from Jigalong. When they wake, they see the spirit bird, an eagle, flying overhead. Its significance gives the girls the extra energy they need and they are able to make it back to their home.

Based on the 1963 novel of the same name by American author Charles Williams, the narrative concerns an Australian husband and wife who take a yacht cruise after the death of their child. They rescue a man who is the only survivor aboard a schooner drifting in the ocean. Unknown to them, the man has murdered his crew mates.

A love story between a Balinese dancer and a woman hurt by her husband's infidelity.

Mini-series dramatising the breakout of Japanese prisoners of war from a camp in the New South Wales town of Cowra, which led to the deaths of 231 Japanese prisoners. Moran notes, in his Guide to Australian TV Series, that it 'became a Bridge on the River Kwai in reverse, with the strategy of the mini-series being to stress heroism, as well as stupidity and cowardice, both on the Japanese and the Australian side.'

Moran notes that this mini-series employed the same approach as previous Kennedy Miller productions (including 'intensive workshops for actors, directors and parts of the crew'), but was 'the least dramatically successful of the Kennedy Miller series'. Nevertheless, it was sold to both Great Britain and Japan.

Dramatisation of the political events leading up to the dismissal of the Whitlam government on November 11th 1975.

A suspense thriller set in the building industry, Heatwave is about a woman who cares too much about people, their lives, and their homes and a man who has a job evicting squatters from their homes and won't be swayed by emotions.

Beginning in Australia in the late 1940s, when movie theatres were the only source of audiovisual news coverage, the narrative follows the exploits of Len Maguire and his young sidekick Chris as they cover the big news stories for the Cinetone newsreel company. Len is a doggedly dependable and ever-cautious senior cameraman, trapped in a world of changing values. Len always knows the right thing to do, but becomes troubled as his marriage falters, his job becomes threatened by the arrival of television, and Cinetone is taken over and its work marginalised. Len's loyalties to the Catholic Church, the Labor Party, and his family are juxtaposed against both his brother/rival cameraman Frank--who sells out his values, abandons his responsibilities, and heads off to success in the USA--and his cocky young assistant, Chris.

The first feature film for Phillip Noyce, Newsfront also depicts the increasing changes to the Australian cultural and political landscape, tracing social shifts from the first waves of European post-war immigration through to the 1956 Olympic Games in Melbourne.

A vivid journey into the remote corners of white responsibility for black despair in Australia, Backroads was the first feature film to which Aboriginal people made a major creative contribution.

'Backroads tells the story of an aimless white drifter Bill who has a chance encounter with Aboriginal man Gary. They steal a car and petrol and supplies as they need it.'

'As they travel they pick up another Aboriginal man on the run from an unsuccessful marriage and the bored white wife of a service station owner. A French backpacker joins them for a short while.'

'Always on the run from police, boredom and guns turn into a deadly combination.' (Source: Shareourpride website)

Amy is a 16-year-old Indigenous Australian girl from the country now living in Sydney. She faces many problems at school, in getting a job, and in the community because of her colour.