Your national collection - discover it today
The set-up of the famous
Port Arthur roof shot.
The NFSA's national audiovisual collection contains over 1.4 million works and wonderful additions just keep on arriving.
Recently acquired for the Documents and Artefacts collection were the surviving fragments of the glass panel used for visual effects in the film, For the Term of His Natural Life (Norman Dawn, Australia 1927). In a feat of technical wizardry (for the time), Dawn used the panel to superimpose a roof on the roofless Port Arthur penitentiary. Dawn is considered the father of the matte painting technique and the famous sequence survives in the restored version of the film.
Poster from the 1952 film,
Kangaroo.
Visually stunning is a huge poster from the film, Kangaroo (Lewis Milestone, USA, 1952). The rare poster beautifully illustrates the first Technicolor feature produced by Hollywood in Australia.
Bert Newton is an icon of Australian radio and television and a recently acquired collection of 40 scrapbooks comprehensively documents his career during the years 1957 - 2004.
The Moving Image Branch is currently undertaking a special project to acquire vital preservation components of Australian feature films and has recently taken in material for The Last Days Of Chez Nous (Gillian Armstrong, 1991), True Love and Chaos(Stavros Andonis Efthymiou, 1996) and Wolf Creek (Greg McLean, 2005).
The quirkiest addition to the collection would have to be a new Spanish television advertisement for telephone company Orange which features a little boy singing Waltzing Matilda.
Sound archivist Graham McDonald contacted the company who said they just found the song very catchy and were more than happy to supply a copy of the ad for the collection.
Discover these and more wonderful items in the collection on our website.
Australianscreen Online celebrates Ken G Hall
This month, australianscreen celebrates the work of cinema pioneer Ken G Hall. Paul Byrnes curates seven Cinesound films from 1937-40, the end of an unprecedented streak of 15 box-office hits. During the Depression, Hall made comedies - sequels with the Rudd Family (Dad and Dave Come to Town, Dad Rudd MP ), showcases for Australia's premier comedian, George Wallace (Let George Do It , Gone to the Dogs) - and a musical melodrama on poverty row (The Broken Melody). Hall was also instrumental in launching international acting careers for Peter Finch and Cecil Kellaway (It Isn't Done, Mr Chedworth Steps Out). These new titles complete a comprehensive overview of Ken G Hall's work.
Scholars and Artists in Residence - we want you!
Diversity, innovation and curiosity are very important to us and the NFSA values the energetic way our resident scholars and artists bring the collection to life through new eyes. Since its inception in 2007, the Scholars and Artists in Residence Program has supported 31 Research Fellowships with facilitated access to the national collection, ongoing interaction with NFSA curatorial and technical experts, access to the NFSA Library, modern accommodation and a fully equipped work space on-site. The Research Fellowship program is Canberra-based and aims to attract applications that bring fresh perspectives, an innovative interpretation to the use of the audiovisual collection and to reflect the NFSA's quest to expand knowledge. To date, the research undertaken has resulted in a range of exciting outcomes, namely: journal articles, disc and filmographies, screenings, production and exhibitions proposals. Each Fellow also presents their work in a presentation to both NFSA and staff of other cultural institutions.
In 2009, 12 Research Fellowships were awarded to interpret the national collection via scholarly study. Research topics include: the films of Rolf de Heer; 1940s music broadcasting; a sense of place through the Australian bush ballad; audiovisual media representing the whaling debate; history of agricultural shows; new Australians and new media; Australian identity and the transformation of jazz from the 1930s - 1950s and; the history of Cummings and Wilson projectors. See the complete list of all research topics supported to date.
The NFSA also awards a specially funded Indigenous Research Fellowship. In 2009, this was awarded to Dr Romaine Moreton (University of Newcastle) who is undertaking research to examine the history of ethnography with the intention of reframing the works held at the NFSA through traditional and contemporary Indigenous philosophical frameworks of interpretation.
We're now taking applications for the 2010 fellowships so if you are an artist or performer, an academic or professional working in the audiovisual arena or maybe you know someone who is - find out more here. Applications for 2010 are due by the 2nd October 2009.
NFSA's Meg Labrum re-elected to FIAF executive
FIAF, the International Federation of Film Archives, is the peak body for the world's film archives. Founded in 1938 with just four members, it now comprises more than 140 institutions from more than 77 countries.
At its 65th Congress held in Buenos Aires in May of this year, the NFSA's Chief Curator, Meg Labrum, was re-elected to the FIAF Executive Committee as Secretary General. This position oversees the organisation's Secretariat based in Brussels, and provides critical support to administration and memberships, as well as congress and project management.
Meg says her re-election is a great honour for Australia and the NFSA. 'Australia has been a long-standing participant in FIAF with our membership dating all the way back to 1962. I am proud to say that we have been an active contributor for many years, working on FIAF preservation, cataloguing and access commissions, and we are acknowledged as one of the best resourced archives in the field. The opportunity to work with other archives through FIAF on program collaborations and mutual support in the current challenging economic and cultural environment is a tremendous benefit. An example of this collaboration is the Film Connection project. And, while we prosper from the experience of others, of course we too are more than pleased to assist and advise in any way we can.'
This year's FIAF Congress focused on the practical realities of 21st century film archiving and the challenge to find new audiences using the technologies of today. FIAF's commitment to the celebration of original film as well as its dissemination in new forms is confirmed in the FIAF Manifesto which is promoted on FIAF members' websites including the NFSA. The encouragement to save original films while discovering ways to inform new audiences through interactive mediatheques, mentored education programs and curated online discussion sites, draws the work of FIAF into an exciting era of change.
In its 71st year, FIAF itself also welcomes a new era, Meg says. 'The three Executive Officer roles are all held by affiliates from far afield, with a significant focus on the Asian region. The President is Hisashi Okajima, Chief Curator of the National Film Center in Tokyo, I represent Australia, and Pat Loughney, Chief of the Library of Congress Packard Campus for Audiovisual Conservation, in Culpeper USA, is the Treasurer. It is wonderful to work together in the interests of both the entire Federation and our specific regions. This is an important step in FIAF's strategic drive to address world archival issues.'
Meg is delighted to continue her Secretary General role with FIAF at such a time. 'FIAF, in its 71st year, continues to play a dynamic role in the world, helping emerging archives to survive and develop, and offering the more established archives the opportunity to collaborate on both archival triumphs and problem solving. It's wonderful to be able to contribute in such an active way.'
