Special Events at the NFSA
Wednesday 18 June - Sound Day at the NFSA
From Aeroplane Jelly to A Pub with No Beer, Arts Minister Peter Garrett announced the top 10 entries for the 2008 Sounds of Australia (National Registry of Recorded Sound) initiative at NFSA headquarters in Canberra on 18 June.
Friday 11 July - Waltzing Matilda
We all know the tune and the words, but do we know the background of Waltzing Matilda?
On Friday 11 July at 7pm, the National Film and Sound Archive offered a light-hearted investigation of the iconic song which may yet become Australia’s national anthem. It was followed at 7:30pm by a program called Waltzing Matilda: Songs of Oz presented by The Song Company which contains at least four different versions of Matilda.
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Tuesday 1 July - World Premiere - 12 Canoes
Celebrating the creation of the National Film & Sound Archive of Australia as a statutory authority.
The National Film & Sound Archive of Australia presented the world premiere of a unique adaptation of 12 Canoes, a new website showcasing the stories, art and environment of north-central Arnhem Land to celebrate the creation of the NFSA as a statutory authority on 1 July 2008.
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Inaugural Thomas Rome Lecture
The first of an annual lecture series to be delivered by leading figures in the Australian recorded sound industry.
Sono-Perception
The first Canberra appearance of JOLT, a dynamic new music group of sonic art composers & percussionists from Melbourne.
Friday 9 - Sunday 18 May 2008
CeLL: On the NFSA Lawns
An interactive mechanised music factory in a 6 metre shipping container.
Friday 9 May 2008
With Felix: The Cabaret
Felix the Cat in naughty cabaret mode with new music by Elena Kats-Chernin, keyboards, Clarity clarinet quartet, David Pereira, feline cello, and mystery guests.
The Sentimental Bloke
As part of the National Folk Festival, the Bloke returned to Canberra on (Good) Friday 21 March, with live music and actor John Derum re-creating the role of C.J. Dennis
Memory of the World
The National Film and Sound Archive welcomed the Third International
Conference on the Memory of the World, Tuesday, 19 February to Friday 22
February, 2008, Canberra. Go to the conference website.
The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906) is inscribed on the UNESCO International
Memory of the World Register.
22 February 2008
The Tears of Timor: Martin Wesley-Smith, Music & Politics
With Ros Dunlop, clarinets, and Julia Ryder, cello.
Improbably, for over 30 years, the music of Martin
Wesley-Smith (pictured left) has been inspired by twin passions,
the word games of Lewis Carroll and the political
struggles of East Timor. With slides and sounds,
he weaves an intense and at times heart-wrenching
plea for the tortured humanity so close to us.
The strains of freedom songs, hymns, Indonesian military music, radio broadcasts and Timorese village life teem through music which documents the 30-year-long struggles of the Indigenous peoples of Timor and West Papua.
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18 January 2008
Score: Young composers respond to silent film.
Directed by Joby Talbot (pictured at left) and introduced by Marshall McGuire, National Music Camp (NMC) Director
NMC is a program of the Australian Youth Orchestra (AYO) and an institution in Australia. In 2008, the AYO returned to Canberra to present the 60th National Music Camp. In an NMC first, the 2008 Compostion Program explored the rich world of composition for film, led by one of the UK's leading your composers Joby Talbot (pictured).
7 December 2007
Saltwater Music of the Torres Strait was a unique musical presentation featuring renowned Torres Strait elder and performer, Henry Gibson (Seaman) Dan. Music, archival photos, film, song and stories.
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30 November 2007
Laughing ’Til It Hurts showcased four very different and extremely funny slapstick comedies made between 1907 and 1929.
The films that screened were: The Man-Bull Fight (1907), Should Men Walk Home? (Leo McCarey, 1927), There It Is (Charley Bowers and Harold L Muller, 1928) and Pass the Gravy (Fred Guiol, 1929).
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27 October
Liyarn Ngarn - special Canberra screening
Liyarn Ngarn, in the language of the Yawuru people of the West Kimberly region around Broome, means "Coming Together of the Spirit" or spiritual bonding.
This compelling documentary was screened in late October. Its aim is to change peoples' perception and attitude to Indigenous people and to assist with the process of reconciliation. It epitomises the 30 year long mission of Indigenous leader and Yawuru man Patrick Dodson, to bring about a lasting and true Reconciliation between the original owners of this country and the later settlers and immigrants.
More information
17 September to 12 October
Ned Kelly Rides with Floriade at NFSA
As part of this year's Floriade festival with its theme of Aussie Icons, Myths and Legends, the National Film and Sound Archive presented special screenings of the restored The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906).
Arguably the first feature film ever made, The Story of the Kelly Gang was shot on location outside Melbourne and traces the life of the legendary Australian bushranger Ned Kelly.
The film screened every Monday through Friday at 12pm and 2pm from 17 September to 12 October.
Screenings were held in Arc, the NFSA's new state-of-the-art cinema. A unique pre-show program creates a special ambience with video art, soundscapes and lighting before every screening.
More information
Friday 20 July
The New Landscape: Inside iOrpheus
The NFSA presented an evening with media artist Nora Farrell and composer William Duckworth as they outlined their iOrpheus project, a two-year unfurling of podcasts, live stage performances and public art, performed on iPods, mobile phones, laptops and instruments, conventional and bizarre.
The NFSA presentation included a demonstration of the PitchWeb, a multi-user musical instrument that can be programmed into your phone to make you part of the performance. Guests were encouraged to participate by bringing their phone.
New York-based Farrell and Duckworth were in Australia to work on iOrpheus,their public opera based on the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. iOrpheus is an international art project which drew thousands of participants and online visitors from around the world when it was unveiled in Brisbane on 31 August 2007.
Thursday 12 October
Showcasing Crawfords: An Illustrated Talk
The NFSA's Oral History Manager, Ken Berryman, presented an illustrated talk on the role of Crawfords in the development of Australian television. During its heyday, Crawfords produced a huge number of popular Australian shows, including: Homicide, Division 4, Matlock Police, The Sullivans, The Box, Cop Shop, Flying Doctors, Hunter, Ryan, Skyways, Young Ramsay, Showcase, Consider Your Verdict, All the Rivers Run, Solo One and many more.
Wednesday, 4 October
2006 Longford Lyell Lecture
Renowned director Bruce Beresford spoke of the challenges and triumphs of his dynamic career.
The Longford Lyell Lecture series is an annual event to highlight and create commentaries on the practice, people and history of motion picture production in Australia.
More information on the Longford Lyell Lecture Series
Monday 21 September
Out of the Shadows
A celebration and exploration of independent cinema and film distribution. As the famous Electric Shadows cinema gets ready to move to a new location and enters a new phase of its history as a Canberra cultural icon, co-founder Andrew Pike spoke about the films and filmmakers, the audiences, the events and the distributors that have been part of the Electric Shadows story. For 27 years, the cinema has played a key role in Canberra's local film culture, as well as contributing, with its sister company, Ronin Films, to the health and vitality of independent production nationally.
Thursday 27 July
Award-Winning Journalist Lectures at the NFSA
SBS journalist Chris Hammer spoke about video journalism and documentary making at the National Film and Sound Archive.. Hammer recently returned to work on the SBS news program Dateline. His career spans over 20 years, which has been divided between international postings and several periods in the Canberra Press Gallery reporting on federal politics. He has reported from over 30 countries. Showing examples from his work, he also answered questions from the audience.
The second part of the evening featured a screening of the documentary, 120 Kilometres Walk Over the Brindabellas, by Vladimir Gottwald. This is an entrant in the Film Industry Network (Aust) Awards.
These presentations were part of an ongoing program presented by the Film Industry Network (Australia) a recently established group in the ACT. Filmmakers are encouraged to submit their work for screening at the monthly meetings. Contact Nora Preston on 0407 601 662.
Monday 24 July
Podcasters broadcasting from the NFSA
Insatiable Banalities
Insatiable Banalities, Canberra's pre-eminent podcast, celebrated its fiftieth edition and inclusion in the National Film and Sound Archive by bringing its blend of original Canberra music and lounge room ambience to the heritage theatre at the NFSA.
The podcast was captured live for broadcast.
Special guests included The Cashews, Randall Blair and Julia and the Deep Sea Sirens.
29 June 2006
The Archive Project (dir.John Hughes 2006)
Stanley Hawes Award-winning documentary filmmaker John Hughes returns to the theme of earlier films like Menace (1977) and Film-work (1981) - the role of filmmaking in Australian political culture and society - in his new history of the post-WW2 Melbourne-based Realist Film Unit.
1 June 2006
The Far CountryAn Evening with Novelist and Scriptwriter Peter Yeldham
Peter Yeldham's work in radio, film, television, theatre and literature spans more than 50 years.
20-29 May 2006
Celebration of Cinematography Festival
In conjunction with the National Awards for Cinematography being held in Canberra for the very first time, the National Film and sound Archive and the Australian Cinematographers Society presented the Celebration of Cinematography Festival.
Ghost of Asia (2005)
4 May 2006
Ghosts of Asia
Videos by Apichatpong Weerasethakul
'the most visionary, critically lauded filmmaker working in South-East Asia today.'
Brett Farmer, Senses of Cinema
6 April 2006
The National Registry of Audiovisual Collections
Collections of cultural and heritage value are being registered in a single, central database for the interest and use of all. The ACT is the 'pilot' region for this project.
Walkabout (1971)
16 March 2006
The Outback on Screen
Physical Space/State of Mind
A documentary with live narration by Graham Shirley.
24 February 2006
David Pendragon
Online music producer
Canberra music community and online music aficionados had the chance to talk to David Pendragon, an award-winning exponent of this new model for global creative collaboration.
Bill Pence
Co-founder of the Telluride Film Festival
Canberra film-lovers had the chance to meet one of the founders of the Telluride Film Festival when the National Film and Sound Archive hosted a conversation between NFSA Director Paolo Cherchi Usai and the legendary Bill Pence, who helped establish the festival and remains one of its directors.
