Film

The NFSA’s holdings of features, documentaries, shorts, experimental and new technology productions include a significant collection of works relating to Australia and produced by Australians.

Films range from the earliest surviving footage of the Melbourne Cup (1897) and the first acknowledged feature film produced anywhere in the world, The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906), to newsreels that provided the Australian public with up-to-date news up till the 1970s, and the Australian film productions of most recent decades – including the newest digital forms – such as the award-winning Animal Kingdom (2010). These film holdings form an essential part of the NFSA’s mission to reflect and celebrate not only the past and the present but the also the future.

With over 300,000 film works in the national collection, the Australian experience of cinema is also reflected in its diverse representation of international classics. These range from Gone with the Wind (1939) to the Corrick Collection of early international film programs, to Australian and international production partnerships such as Wake in Fright (1971). Exciting restoration, research and programming projects continue to emerge from the collection that grows along with the film industry it represents.

You can view a curated selection of Australian feature films, shorts, documentaries, home movies, newsreels and actualities on australianscreen:

• features
• documentaries
• shorts
• home movies
• historical
• newsreels