NFSA blog entries in Portraits

A true gentleman and artist, Jimmy Little’s contribution to the Australian music industry and Indigenous music is immeasurable. Brenda Gifford knew not only the myth, but also the man.

Jacqui Jackson is studying a Bachelor of Engineering (Mechanical) at RMIT University. Working at the NFSA as an engineering technician cadet, she learned a thing or two about old machinery.

Did you know that the NFSA workforce is made up of 54 per cent women, working at all levels of the organisation? Sonia Gherdevich writes about United Nations International Women’s Day on 8 March.

The NFSA joins the Australian film industry in mourning the loss of artist, writer and filmmaker Sarah Watt to cancer.

Jonathan Dennis was the founding director of the New Zealand Film Archive and a champion of audio-visual preservation. Emma Kelly is visiting the NFSA to explore Jonathan’s connections to the NFSA and interview staff who worked with him.

Christopher Fulham writes about the video artworks he created for use in Arc cinema. The public launch of his work takes place at Arc cinema on 21 July at 5.30pm.

Jazz drummer Barry Woods has passed away in Sydney. Carla Teixeira, Sound Archivist at the National Film and Sound Archive, looks back at his life and legacy.

Paul Byrnes marks the death of iconic Australian film and television actor Bill Hunter, who will be remembered with affection by audiences and peers.

This year’s NFSA National Folk Recording Award has been won by Kavisha Mazzella for her new CD, Love and Sorrow.

Edward Goldner, winner of the NFSA-ACS Emerging Cinematographer Award for 2011, has his sights set on the Budapest Cinematography Masterclass.

The NFSA congratulates Belinda Webster, an indefatigable advocate for contemporary Australian music and this year’s recipient of the Don Banks Award from the Australia Council.

Paul Cox has been awarded an honorary degree by the University of Technology (Sydney).

NFSA Historian Graham Shirley remembers filmmaker and actor Esben Storm (1950–2011).

Bill Armstrong, radio pioneering and sound recording legend is this year’s winner of the Cochrane-Smith Sound Heritage Award.

The veteran Australian newsreader James Dibble has died in Sydney at the age of 87.

For many, he was the voice of authority and integrity, the Australian equivalent of the much revered Walter Cronkite, 'the most trusted man in America’ who, for 19 years, fronted the news desk of ABC America.

Patricia Lovell AM, famous for producing Gallipoli (1981) and Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), will be awarded the NFSA’s highest accolade — the Ken G Hall Preservation Award — on Monday night. She is is being recognised for her tireless work in promoting the need for film preservation and advocating the establishment of the NFSA. Pat has kindly answered a Q&A giving us a personal insight into her career. A portrait can be found on australianscreen.

In a state memorial service today at the Sydney Opera House, over 2000 people celebrated the life and career of the Australian operatic legend. The Sydney-born singer, universally known as La Stupenda, was dubbed 'the voice of the 20th century’ by her longtime collaborator Luciano Pavarotti. Over her 40-year career she sang in 48 operas and recorded over 60 albums, many of which are in the NFSA collection.

The 2010 NFSA Ken G Hall Film Preservation Award is being presented to Patricia Lovell AM, on November 22, for her tireless work in promoting the need for preservation to film industry colleagues, politicians and the community at large. Patricia’s firm belief in the value and importance of the National Film and Sound Archive can be seen through this advocacy and by her continuing to deposit materials in the NFSA.

Two of Australian’s finest make-up artists, Chiara Tripodi and Toni Ffrench, have won one of the highest American TV awards, an Emmy, for Outstanding Make-up in a Miniseries or Movie for their work on the historic war series The Pacific (HBO, 2008). The Pacific follows its sister series Band of Brothers (HBO, 2001) and screened on the Seven Network.

Gillian Armstrong presented a double bill of her films at the NFSA’s Arc Cinema on 7 August: her 1994 adaptation of Helen Garner’s The Last Days of Chez Nous; and her latest instalment in a 30-year series charting the lives of three Adelaide women, Love, Lust and Lies. The NFSA’s Senior Film Historian, Graham Shirley, reflects on Gillian’s films and career ahead of this weekend’s repeat screenings of her engaging films.

As the NFSA was preparing to award its first Sound Heritage Award to Dr Karl Neuenfeldt for his work in documenting the music of the Torres Strait region, we heard of the death of jazz and blues singer Georgia Lee in her home town of Cairns at the age of 89.

Today the NFSA presents the inaugural Cochrane Smith Award for Sound Heritage to Dr Karl Neuenfeldt. Karl has made an enormous contribution to the sound heritage of the Torres Strait through his efforts in recording, producing and promoting recordings of musicians from the area.

Nothing could be quite so perfect as watching an engaging Aussie film under the stars with a receptive local audience on the banks of the mighty Murray. The stars glittering overhead after a gorgeous sunset, and giant outdoor screen backed up against the heritage woolshed on the Homestead Lawns just outside Mildura.