2010 Events
To be confirmed
Past Events at the NFSA
Tuesday 17 November
Douglas Kahn: Natural Electromagnetic Sounds in the Arts
Kahn will talk about 'The Electro-Magnetic Expanded Cinema' and his new book, which examines the artistic and cultural interactions between acoustics and electromagnetism. Kahn is an international leader in addressing the need to historicise and contextualise auditory practices within twentieth century arts theory. As a Professor and Director at the University of California he has educated in the fields of Technocultural Studies in the United States of America and Media Arts and Production at the University of Technology, Sydney. Kahn writes on the history and theory of sound in the arts, experimental music, and the arts and technology and is touring as part of Art Monthly Australian (AMA) and Australia Network of Art and Technology's (ANAT) 'Occasional Lecture Series'. The evening will be moderated by Mitchell Whitelaw, Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Arts and Design at the University of Canberra.
More information
12 November - 13 December
Special activities marking the Fall of the Berlin Wall and Communism in Europe
The NFSA is collaborating with the German Embassy in Canberra on two main activities marking the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989. Projecting on the Wall is a season of films in Arc cinema looking at the divided Berlin and Germany's unique cinema legacy. The film series is combined with a public lecture by Robert Ide on the 22 November to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall 20 years ago. Ide will deliver a public lecture to be followed by a panel and general audience discussion about the historic, cultural and personal significance of the rise and fall of the Berlin Wall.
More information
Friday 23 October 2009
Beautiful Beautiful Queensland
In celebration of the 150th anniversary of the declaration of Queensland Statehood, the NFSA presents Beautiful Beautiful Queensland, a celebration of the state in song.
This lively show features songs with Queensland towns as names. Here songs as diverse as Life is Great in the Sunshine State, I Met her Monday on Thursday Island, The Indooroopilly Waltz Song, It's Hot in Brisbane but it’s Coolangatta, and I’ve Set Sail for Innisfail.
These songs, which date from Federation to Queensland’s 100th anniversary in 1959, are preserved in the National Library of Australia and State Library of Queensland collections.
The rare songs will be performed by soprano Melinda Van Der Meulen, tenor Chris Fennessy, who sang the role of Jean Valjean in Les Miserables in Australia and London, with pianist and bathroom baritone Robert Keane, well known for his comic and musical antics, as MC.
The songs will be presented with some amusing and surprising anecdotes of Queensland’s amazing and diverse 150 years of development – from being a part of the Colony of New South Wales to Queen Victoria’s very own, self-named state.
Friday 21 August 2009
Topology presents Australians
Moments in history become moments of extraordinary music in Australians.
Australians features the incomparable sounds of indie-classical ensemble, Topology, alongside the familiar voices of eminent Australians, including Charles Kingsford-Smith, Percy Grainger, Fred Hollows, Nancy Bird, Don Bradman, Mary Gilmore, Peter Singer, Germaine Greer and many more.
Topology founder Robert Davidson was a Scholar in Residence at the NFSA in January 2008. It was during this period that Robert researched and sourced the audio clips which are now used in Australians from the collection of the NFSA.
The music of Australians features not only famous Australians but individuals Davidson admires across various professions: politicians, lawyers, artists, writers, activists, business people, sports stars and thinkers. The performance takes in an amazing sweep of time from the early 1900s up to the turn of this century.
Apart from the collection of vocal portraits Australians will also feature Topology versions of iconic hits such as Cheap Wine – performed in salsa Latin style.
Topology is recognised as one of Australia’s most inventive and stimulating ensembles. Australians is presented as part of Topology’s highly popular Corridors of Power concert tour and follows sell-out collaborative shows with Katie Noonan at Brisbane Powerhouse.
Four of a Kind: The Noonan Family Show
For over 40 years, the Noonan family have been at the forefront of the Australian entertainment industry.
Renowned chanteuse Katie and brother Tyrome are both members of ARIA Award winning band george. Along with their parents, opera singer Maggie and TV journalist and presenter Brian, they have, together and as individual artists, performed across the entertainment spectrum - from opera to pop, from television panel shows to dramatic theatre.
Drawing on the NFSA's collection of TV talent shows and light entertainment broadcasts, Four of a Kind explores a unique and talented family. Songs, poems and reminiscences were accompanied by a nine-piece ensemble from the ANU School of Music conducted by Guy Noble.
A chance to be part of a very personal trip down memory lane with a remarkable family of Australian performers.
The Annual ANU Reconciliation Lecture 2009
The National Centre for Indigenous Studies, ANU College of Law, Reconciliation Australia and The National Film and Sound Archive presented The Annual ANU Reconciliation Lecture 2009 on Wednesday 10 June 2009.
How well do we know each other?
Speaker - Professor Mick Dodson AM, 2009 Australian of the Year
The event featured a special performance by Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter and a compilation of segments from the National Film and Sound Archive's national collection.
Reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians is broadly accepted as essential to our national well-being. It is strongly desired. At an institutional level, we are more prepared to back good intentions with action. But at a more personal, intimate level, beyond celebrating the concept of reconciliation and a willingness to participate in public events: What do we really know of each other? Mick Dodson considers the private domain of reconciliation.
The Annual ANU Reconciliation Lecture 2009 Video
Bunuel Amigos Y Peliculas Friends and Films
To celebrate the life and career of Luis Buñuel, the master of cinema surrealism, the National Film and Sound Archive held an exhibition of photographic works and a special cinema program in Arc.
Nine features and four shorts from the master director screened in conjunction with a photography exhibition, Buñuel: Friends and Films, which will run in the NFSA foyer until August. The screenings and exhibition are presented in association with the 12th Spanish Film Festival, and with the support of the Embassy of Mexico, the Embassy of France and the French Ministry of Culture.
In addition to the screenings and the exhibition, the NFSA presented a series of free lunchtime talks which will examine Buñuel’s work. The talks, which include the screening of documentaries and film clips, ran over three Fridays in the NFSA Theatrette.
Presented in association with the 12th Spanish Film Festival, and with the support of the Embassy of Spain, the Embassy of Mexico, the Embassy of France and French Ministry of Culture.
More information
The Voss Journey
Thursday 14 to Sunday 17 May 2009
For THE VOSS JOURNEY, over a dozen institutions collaborated in an unprecedented investigation into the fictional journeys of Johann Ulrich Voss and his historical counterpart Ludwig Leichhardt.
Led by the NFSA, the Canberra International Music Festival, the ABC, ANU, NLA, NPG, AIATSIS, The Canberra Symphony Orchestra and Manning Clark House, dug into their collections to retrieve some gems of Australian history. Together, they hosted events with David Malouf, David Marr, Richard Meale, Peter Sculthorpe, Barry Conyngham, Jim Sharman, Marilyn Richardson, Geoffrey Chard, Moffatt Oxenbould and Barry Jones.
Leichardt's vision lives on in three unproduced film scripts and the opera by Richard Meale and David Malouf (1986).
In association with the Canberra International Music Festival
More information
Pearl of the South Seas
A screening of the melodrama by Frank Hurley
Where: Fitzroy Pavillion, EPIC
When: Good Friday April 10 - 7.30pm
Live music by 'Seaman Dan', Frank Neuenfeldt and Will Kepa. In association with the National Folk Festival. Screening of Frank Hurley's Pearl of the South Seas (Dir: Hurley, 1926, 77mins, rated G).
The NFSA screened this epic story in celebration of the 150th anniversary of the proclamation of the state of Queensland. It was seen on the big screen accompanied by live music from the Torres Strait, provided by Seaman Dan and his band. Their music mixes traditional and contempory songs with Seaman Dan's distinctive blend of styles from crooner to hula.
Dream, Spill, Fear, Percussion
Hands-on music-making
Tuesday May 5 - Thursday May 7
Clocked Out is the creative outlet if composer-performers Vanessa Tomlinson and Erik Griswold (and occasionally their two small children!). Both have music doctorates from the University of California, San Diego, and formed their group first in Melbourne. In 2002 they moved to Brisbane where they are now a resident ensemble at the Queensland Conservatorium.
In association with the Canberra International Music Festival. Presented by Clocked Out percussion theatre, ensemble in residence.
17-20 April 2009
NFSA National Folk Recording Award 2009
Since 2000 the NFSA has been presenting the NFSA National Folk Recording Award at the National Folk Festival held in Canberra each Easter.
This year’s Award has been won by Fred Smith in collaboration with The Spooky Men’s Chorale for their CD Urban Sea Shanties.
Both Fred Smith and The Spooky Men’s Chorale are well-known on the Australian folk music stage, but this is their first recording together. Fred is based in Canberra, while the Spooky Men, with more than twenty singers, hail from the Blue Mountains.
ASRA 2009 Technical Seminar
Where: NFSA
When: 26-27 March 2009
Between 26-27 March, the NFSA hosted the Australasian Sound Recordings Association (ASRA) 2009 technical seminar. The seminar featured lecture-style presentations as well as practical workshops, and was attended by representatives from a wide range of cultural organisations from around Australia.
A highlight of the seminar was the launch of the International Association of Sound and Audio Visual Archives (IASA) Guidelines on the Production and Preservation of Digital Audio Objects (TCO4 Second Edition).
More information
Hula Girls
Where: Arc Cinema
When: 7.00pm Wednesday 18th March
Cost: Free
Dir: Lee Sang-il, Japan, 2006, 108 mins, 35mm, col. Japanese with Eng. subtitles (M)
It is 1965 and in Japan, the country has started to shift from coal to oil. One by one the old mining towns begin their long slow decline. But for one small town way up north, its leaders and mining company officials have come up with an idea to develop Japan's first Hawaiian Village. And what's a Hawaiian Village without a troupe of Hula dancers? The only problem is, no one knows how to do the dance, or even knows what the Hula is! In this hilariously touching comedy, the scepticism and conservatism of the locals is gradually overcome as their daughters fall under the spell of one talented and determined dance instructor from the big city of Tokyo. Based on a true story, HULA GIRLS is a heart-warming comedy about coal miners' daughters who took a once-in-a-lifetime chance to escape their monotonous lives, only to become unwitting heroes to their depressed mining town as well as the whole of Japan.
“Hula Girls (is) done with such verve, flair, and warmth that it's simply a joy to watch. The outcome of the film is never really in question. However, the joy is in the way that film arrives there… with such satisfaction that only the most cynical of folks will be able to resist an urge to cheer.” - twitch.com.
Presented by The Embassy of Japan, with the support of the National Film and Sound Archive.
Films for Apology Day
Films for Apology Day presents 5 short films over two weekends:
Saturday 14 February 4.30pm
Films for Apology Day 1 (unclassified 15+)
Saturday 21 February 4.30pm
Films for Apology Day 2 (unclassified 15+)
photographer: Namiko Kitaura
Friday 13 February 2009
On the first anniversary of the Prime Minister's Apology to the Stolen Generations
KALKADOON PEOPLE:
The life-journey of Australia's leading concert didgeridoo player and his mother
Friday 28 November 2008
Silk and Bamboo featured four outstanding Japanese-Australian artists, shakuhachi grand master Riley Lee joined koto player Satsuki Odamura in a live performance which included a screening of DREAM WINDOW: REFLECTIONS ON THE JAPANESE GARDEN (dir:John Junkerman, 1992, 57'). This was complemented by special bamboo sculptures by emerging designer Fukutoshi Ueno and silk screen projection of kimono-inspired images created by leading fashion designer Akira Isogawa. Isogawa's and Ueno's new furniture collaboration, DRESS-CODE, had its first public display in the foyer.
More Information
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.
More information
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.
More information
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.
Wednesday 18 June - Sound Day at the NFSA
Wednesday 18 June - Sound Day at the NFSA
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.
More information
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.
More information
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).
More information
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.
The Far Country
1 June 2006
An 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.
