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2016: A-list visitors and big crowds!
NFSA events to remember
BY ADAM BLACKSHAW
Each year the NFSA is visited by special guests willing to help us celebrate and share our collection and, most importantly, by thousands of people interested to hear from these talented people, as well as our experts. Here's a look back at some of great events we presented in 2016.
Summer
The year kicked off with Gillian Armstrong celebrating Australia Day with us for a special screening of Starstruck. We went fully retro with The Go!! Show, and recorded fascinating oral history interviews.
Special guests Dennis Smith, Little Pattie and Normie Rowe (pictured with NFSA's Ross
Garret and Rod Butler) joined us for a screening of the only complete and restored
episode of The Go!! Show.
President of the Friends of the NFSA, Ray Edmondson, 'In Conversation' with renowned
Australian actress, Helen Morse, star of many films - including Caddie (1976).
Cathy O'Connor (L), CEO of Nova Entertainment, visited our Sydney office to record
an oral history with Sandra Odorisio.
Les Gock, guitarist from seminal 1970s glam rock band Hush, also recorded
an oral history.
National Youth Science Forum students visited the NFSA to discover the science
behind the work we do.
Autumn
In Autumn we had a special concert by a Sounds of Australia inductee, shared some of our secrets with a young TV audience, welcomed the man who peed on Fellini, and dressed up for Eurovision.
Deborah Conway and Willy Zygier performed in our Theatrette. The special
show included one song from each of Deborah's albums.
Read an interview with her here.
Film critic and television personality, David Stratton (back right) visited the NFSA.
He is pictured here with the NFSA's Shingo Ishikawa, Sally Jackson and Belinda Hunt.
NFSA CEO Michael Loebenstein hosted Eleven's Scope TV for a special tour,
sharing some of our technical expertise with their young audience.
Animator Cam Ford told us, 'Animated features used to be an event, now there is one every month.
The digital world is astonishing!' He visited for a Q&A to talk about his career, which
includes The Beatles' Yellow Submarine and Australia's first animated feature,
Marco Polo Junior Versus the Red Dragon.
Cam is pictured here with NFSA's Shingo Ishikawa, during a tour of our facilities.
Rebecca Elvy, CEO of our New Zealand counterpart Ngā Taonga Sound & Vision,
toured our preservation facilities. We continued our partnership with new content
on the Anzac: Sights and Sounds of World War One website.
The annual NFSA Eurovision Superfan Party! Dami Im, you're our unofficial winner.
NFSA CEO Michael Loebenstein introduced, Ireland Will Be Free (1920) with
Irish Ambassador Noel White, at Cathedral Hall, in Melbourne.
Winter
We witnessed the 'reunion of the Helfgotts', celebrated the work of a dentist and amateur filmmaker who captured Paralympic history, and hosted a number of red carpet premieres, as well as the ultimate sound conference.
We celebrated the 20th anniversary of Shine with special guests David Helfgott and Geoffrey Rush.
Geoffrey Rush and Hugo Weaving at the Melbourne International Film Festival premiere for the restoration of Proof.
The NFSA's Gayle Lake (L) with Ray Lawrence, Lynette Curran and Tony Buckley
at the Sydney Film Festival for the premiere of our restoration of, Bliss (1985).
Amateur filmmaker, Don Worley, donated the only known footage chronicling the
development of the Australian and International Paralympics movement in the 1970s - 80s.
He is pictured here with Paralympic champion Libby Kosmala.
We hosted the Australian Sound Recordings Association (ASRA) Conference and
appointed retiring staff member Matthew Davies (L) as the NFSA's inaugural Sound Curator Emeritus.
Spring
In Spring we barely stopped to take a breath! From a new website to our biggest collection item, we shared the collection in many, many ways.
NFSA Ambassador, Margaret Pomeranz, takes a photo of Hugo Weaving and
a member of the public at a special screening of Proof to raise funds for NFSA Restores.
We celebrated 30 years of Malcolm with a special anniversary screening featuring
a Q&A with director Nadia Tass and writer-producer David Parker. The original car
from the film, the biggest item in our collection, came out of its box for a special exhibition.
It was TV's 60th birthday. We were joined by special guests,
Gold Logie-award winning actress Lorrae Desmond, and
Sale of the Century announcer Pete Smith who shared their memories of life ‘on the box’,
We launched our new website and our friend, the Kookaburra, came back
with a refreshed, modern look, to be our logo once again.
Digital Directions 2016 brought together scholars, policy-makers, GLAM sector
professionals and creative entrepreneurs to explore the big-picture issues relating to digital cultural collections.
One of our main speakers was Julianne Schultz (pictured).
To mark UNESCO's World Audiovisual Heritage Day, the heads of key cultural institutions
gathered at the NFSA to discuss a National Framework for Digitisation.
We signed a Memorandum of Understanding with AIATSIS. It will see us working on
the Indigenous Remote Archival Fellowship, the National Framework for the
Digitisation of Audiovisual Heritage, and many other projects.
Photo (L-R): NFSA CEO Michael Loebenstein, AIATSIS CEO Russell Taylor AM,
AIATSIS HR Manager Jude Barlow, NFSA Deputy Chair Wayne Denning, AIATSIS Chairperson Professor Mick Dodson AM.
Summer
We ended the year with another celebration of the restoration of Proof (1991), and a day of contemporary music and old technologies.
Our digital restoration of the award-winning film, Proof had its Canberra premiere
with special guest, director Jocelyn Moorhouse. The Q&A was moderated by
ABC 666's Laura Tchilinguirian.
Live wax recording at the American Epic event.
American Epic was a full day of Blues, BBQs and live music, supported by the US Embassy.
More to Explore
The NFSA collects tens of thousands of items every year. What were some of the highlights for 2016?
The big pink bus turned 20 and the NFSA threw a party to celebrate two decades of one of Australia's most beloved films.
'Muriel's Wedding' producer Lynda House talks about her journey with the film, from reading the first script treatment to celebrating its cultural impact 20 years on.