Upper primary - Junior high program

Mary and Max (2009, PG)

Dir: Adam Elliot, Australia, 92mins, Animation

A simple tale of pen-friendship between two very different people; Mary Dinkle, a little chubby lonely eight-year-old girl living in the suburbs of Melbourne, and Max Horovitz, a 44-year-old, severely obese, Jewish man with Asperger’s Syndrome living in the chaos of New York.

Curriculum Areas* – English, Media and Film Studies, Cultural Studies, Values Education, Art and Design

See clips from Mary and Max on ASO
Study guide available from ::Metromagazine::

Son of a Lion (2007, PG)

Dir: Benjamin Gilmour, Australia / Pakistan, 92mins, digital

Pashtun boy Niaz Afridi lives in the village of Darra, in Pakistan’s Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province. He seems doomed to follow the trade his family have practiced for generations: gun making. But Niaz wants to go to school and learn a little more about the world. The closest Australian Benjamin Gilmour had previously been to filmmaking was as a film production unit nurse. But a mid-2001 backpacking trip through Pakistan, then the events of September that year, convinced him that the people of the region needed a filmmaking voice. Many observational documentaries have come from such ambition. However, Gilmour did something very different; choosing instead to work with the people of Darra and to make (for less than $5000) a deeply passionate, ‘embedded’ neo-realist digital feature, about their lives and aspirations. From the NFSA Collection.

Educational notes and clips are available for Son of a Lion on australianscreen.

Dr Plonk (2007, G)

Dir: Rolf de Heer, 85mins, b/w

It is the great year 1907 and Dr Plonk, famous scientist and inventor, calculates that the world will end in 101 years unless immediate action is taken. Plonk is ridiculed for his beliefs and the only acceptable proof lies in the very future that’s ending. Being the lateral thinker that he is, Plonk invents a time machine. In quick succession Tiberius the dog, Plonk and Paulus all visit the future 100 years hence. Not everyone returns but all find the year 2007 a somewhat different place than they expected…

Curriculum Areas* – Media Studies, English and SOSE

See clips from Dr Plonk on ASO

December Boys (2007, PG)

Dir: Rod Hardy, Australia, 105mins, colour

Based on the classic Michael Noonan novel, December Boys is the story of four orphan teenagers growing up behind the closed doors of a catholic convent in outback Australia during the 1960s. As the boys watch younger kids get adopted by loving families, they begin to realise that as they get older, their turn may never come. When the convent sends the boys to visit the seaside one summer, they finally have something to look forward to.

Curriculum Areas* – Media Studies, English and SOSE

See clips from December Boys on ASO

Footy Legends (2006, PG)

Dir: Khoa Doh, Australia, 95mins, colour
Prod: Megan McMurchy, Writ: Suzanne Do, Anh Do, Khoa Do

Set in Sydney’s western suburbs, Footy Legends tells the story of Luc Vu, a young Vietnamese-Australian man with an obsession about football. Out of work, and with welfare authorities threatening to take away his little sister, Luc reunites his old high school football team to win a competition that could change all their lives.

Curriculum Areas* – English, Literature, Media, SOSE, Vietnamese

ASO has educational notes for Footy Legends

Razzle Dazzle (2006, PG)

Dir: Darren Ashton, Australia, 92mins, colour
Prod: Andrena Finlay, jodi Matterson, Writ: Carolyn Willson, Robin Ince

The tension is palpable, the excitement is mounting and the intoxicating scent of competition is in the air as hundreds of contestants prepare to take part in what is undoubtedly Australia’s most prestigious dance competition – The Sanosafe Dance Spectacular. Amidst parental politics, dance school rivalry, creative controversy and the hysterics of pushy stage mothers, Razzle Dazzle takes us beyond the glamour and glitter to a world where, sometimes, winning is everything!

Curriculum Areas* – English, Media, The Arts

See clips from Razzle Dazzle: A Journey into Dance on ASO

Opal Dream (2006, PG)

Dir: Peter Cattaneo, Australia, 90mins, colour

Pobby and Dingan are invisible. They live in an opal town in Australia, and are friends with Kellyanne, the nine-year-old daughter of an opal miner. The film is a funny, uplifting and touching story of the bizarre and inexplicable disappearance of Pobby and Dingan, and the impact if their disappearance on Kellyanne’s family and the whole town. The story is told through the eyes of Kellyanne’s eleven-year-old brother Ashmol.

Curriculum Areas* – English, Media, Values Education

Download the NFSA study guide for Opal Dream

Hating Alison Ashley (2005, PG)

Dir: Geoff Bennett, Australia, 100mins, colour

Hating Alison Ashley is a comic yet poignant portrayal of the dilemmas of being a teenager, and how schoolgirl rivalries and embarrassing families can eventually lead to true friendship. Fourteen-year-old Erika Yurken is a teenager living in a chaotic house with a very unconventional family. She daydreams of being a famous movie star.

Curriculum Areas* English, Media, Values Education

ATOM study guide available to buy from The Education Shop

Harvie Krumpet (2003, PG)

Dir: Adam Elliot, Australia, 23mins, colour

The biography of an ordinary man seemingly cursed with perpetual bad luck. From being born with Tourette’s syndrome, to getting struck by lightning; from having his testicle removed to developing Alzheimers disease; Harvie’s troubles seems unending! Yet, Harvie learns many lessons in life and enjoys its many fruits. He finds love, freedom, nudity and ultimately the true meaning of what it is to be human.

Curriculum Areas* – English, Media and Film Studies, Cultural Studies, Values Education

See clips from Harvie Krumpet on ASO