Birthday party home movie by Byron Kennedy

Andrea Kennedy celebrates her ninth birthday at home in the Melbourne suburbs, surrounded by friends in their best party dresses. They play games like 'Draw the Tail on the Donkey' using blindfolds and a blackboard, dance to a record in the front yard, and cheer as Andrea blows out the candles on her pink birthday cake. This charming home movie is a time capsule of an Australian suburban childhood in the 1960s.

The film is also interesting because of the teenager who is holding the camera. Byron Kennedy already shows a strong eye for framing and editing, early signs of the cinematic talent he would later bring to his partnership with George Miller. Kennedy (1949–1983) went on to produce Mad Max (1979) and Max Max 2 (1981), redefining Australian cinema before his life was tragically cut short in a helicopter crash at 33. His legacy endures through the production company Kennedy Miller Mitchell and the AACTA Byron Kennedy Award, which has honoured creative visionaries like Jane Campion, Baz Luhrmann and Catherine Martin since 1984.