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AbstractHistoryArchive Description
Exposure, desperation, hunger - three motivations that drive the characters of Van Diemen's Land to perform acts of despicable horror. Set in 1822, the film retells the story of Alexander Pearce, the notorious Irish convict who cannibalised his fellow escapees while absconding in the wilds of Tasmania.
Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of
Works about this Work
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Tasmania Proving to Be Perfect Backdrop for Gothic Horror, with The Nightingale the Latest Addition
2019
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— Appears in: ABC News [Online] , August 2019;'Forget sunny skies and glistening beaches — bleak, austere and gloomy are the qualities of choice for Tasmanian film locations.'
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Tasmania and the Cinema
2012
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criticism
— Appears in: Senses of Cinema , December no. 65 2012; 'Tasmania's intermittent relationship with the cinema dates back before the first feature film made on its rugged West Coast in 1925, Louise Lovely and Wilton Welch's now lost Jewelled Nights. In many ways what we might call "Tasmanian cinema" reflects the sometimes harsh, depopulated landscape of the island itself. Since the 1920s only a small number of feature films - and a larger number of short documentaries largely made by various state and corporate bodies - have been made or shot in Tasmania, with only the children's film They Found a Cave (Andrew Steane, 1962) standing in for the vast period between Norman Dawn's For the Term of His Natural Life in 1927 and John Honey's remarkable Manganinnie in 1980. But Tasmania also has an interesting place in the global imagination of Hollywood during this period, including its status as the actual birthplace of Errol Flynn, the fabricated place of origin of Merle Oberon, and the largely fantastical landscape of the much-loved Warner Bros. cartoon character, The Tasmanian Devil. Warner Bros.' denial of Flynn's origins, MGM's fudging of Oberon's Anglo-Indian ancestry, and the geographic indistinctness and confusion of the original Tasmanian Devil cartoons, highlight a freer approach to what might be termed the "imagination of Tasmania". (Author's introduction)
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Rumblings from Australia's Deep South : Tasmanian Gothic On-Screen
2011
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criticism
— Appears in: Studies in Australasian Cinema , 6 April vol. 5 no. 1 2011; (p. 71-80) 'This article examines the current cinematic attention to Tasmania and its stories, with particular attention paid to the Gothic mode. 'Tasmanian Gothic' has become a by-word for the unsettling combination of Tasmania's colonial histories and its harsh landscapes in literature, but its cinematic counterpart has virtually been ignored. It is suggested that Tasmania is experiencing a renaissance on the big screen and it is the Gothic that appears to be the most dominant mode through which it is pictured. The article then charts a history of local Tasmanian Gothic cinematic production, a hybrid vision that tends towards a combination of stylistic, thematic, historical and geographic elements. Tasmanian Gothic cinema refers not simply to productions by Tasmanian film-makers, but to the broader on-screen representation of the island, its culture and histories by a range of local, interstate and international crews. As this article suggests, Gothic cinematic representations of Tasmania are yoked by a number of persistent concerns that act in dialogue with the unique cultural and geographic positioning of Australia's only island state.' (Author's abstract)
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Some of the Finest Films
2010
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criticism
— Appears in: Overland , Winter no. 199 2010; (p. 36-41) Thomas Caldwell defends Australian cinema. -
Nightmares & Wonders : The Necessity of Revelation : The 12th Revelation Perth International Film Festival
2009
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criticism
— Appears in: Senses of Cinema , no. 52 2009;
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Escape into a Different Hell
2009
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review
— Appears in: The Weekend Australian , 19-20 September 2009; (p. 17)
— Review of Van Diemen's Land 2009 single work film/TV -
Triple Treat for a Tasmanian Devil
2009
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review
— Appears in: The Australian , 23 September 2009; (p. 17)
— Review of Van Diemen's Land 2009 single work film/TV -
Hard to Swallow
2009
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review
— Appears in: The Sunday Mail , 20 September 2009; (p. 10)
— Review of Van Diemen's Land 2009 single work film/TV -
To Hell and Back
2009
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review
— Appears in: The Sunday Mail , 20 September 2009; (p. 14-15)
— Review of Van Diemen's Land 2009 single work film/TV -
New Release
2009
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review
— Appears in: The Sunday Age , 27 September 2009; (p. 23)
— Review of Van Diemen's Land 2009 single work film/TV -
The Cannibal Convict Was an Everyman at Heart
2009
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— Appears in: The Sydney Morning Herald , 24 September 2009; (p. 18) -
Cannibal Convicts Tour of Hell
2009
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criticism
— Appears in: Eureka Street , 25 September vol. 19 no. 18 2009; -
[Review] Samson and Delilah
2009
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— Appears in: The Australian , 16 September 2009; (p. 17) -
True Story with Quite a Bite
2009
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— Appears in: The Canberra Times , 29 October 2009; (p. 3) -
Reel Time
2009
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— Appears in: The Australian , 18 November 2009; (p. 17)
Last amended 29 Aug 2022 15:29:16
Settings:
- Tasmania,
- 1822
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