Film & Sound News

Featured articles

List of articles

Jan 2019
Popstar and TV personality Jimmy Hannan walking down the aisle at the Sydney Stadium with a crowd of people around him.

Jimmy Hannan: a winning smile

Vale Jimmy Hannan, who passed away on 7 January 2019, at the age of 84. We celebrate his life and work, and acknowledge his kind donation to the NFSA.

By Beth Taylor / 8 Jan 2019
Photographs
Sound
Television
Oct 2018
Two men and a woman. One man lights a cigarette while a mysterious hand reaches for him. The woman looks terrified. The other man holds a gun.

Horror Radio

For Halloween, we're sharing three full-length episodes of popular horror and thriller radio serials of the 1940s and 50s.

By Chris Arneil / 26 Oct 2018
Radio
Sep 2018

Wirth's Circus home movies

Film curator Tara Marynowsky looks at a preserved collection of 16mm home movies of Wirth's Circus and the family that ran it.

By Tara Marynowsky / 10 Sep 2018
Film
Photographs
Aug 2018
Actor Heath Ledger striking a dramatic pose with his arms out, one leg up in the air and his mouth open wide and eyes shut. He is in a yellow kitchen.

Heath Ledger exhibition

Audiences are about to discover the man behind the camera in the NFSA’s new exhibition Heath Ledger: A Life in Pictures.

By Miguel Gonzalez / 7 Aug 2018
Film
Nov 2017
Female lifesavers from Terrigal Surf Life Saving Club participate in a march past

Australia's first female lifesavers

Australia's first female lifesavers are being formally recognised for their service, more than 70 years after they patrolled Terrigal beach.

By Amanda Diaz / 16 Nov 2017
Film
Oct 2017
A screen hanging in a garage in Wollongong, part of the 1940s home cinema set-up of film projectionist Eddie Vormister

Home cinema, 1940s style

Meet 99-year-old Eddie Vormister and his homemade film projector.

By Jessica Bolton / 25 Oct 2017
Object
A woman wearing a pink foundation garment stands amidst art deco design elements suggesting power and lightening.

Berlei's Beauty in the Balance

Berlei cinema and television advertisements and educational glass slides from the 1920s to the 1960s offer a window onto Australian fashion and social mores.

By Beth Taylor / 9 Oct 2017
Film
Object
Sep 2017
Hugo Weaving as a country town police officer in a still from the film The Dressmaker

Starstruck: Australian Movie Portraits

Dr Jenny Gall, Assistant Curator Documents and Artefacts, previews the forthcoming NFSA-National Portrait Gallery exhibition, Starstruck: Australian Movie Portraits.

By Jenny Gall / 5 Sep 2017
Photographs
Aug 2017
Illustration of an Australian army slouch hat on a yellow-green background.

Australia's Tin Pan Alley

Australia's 'Tin Pan Alley' was born 75 years ago with a burst of patriotic wartime songwriting.

By Nick Henderson / 7 Aug 2017
Sound
Jul 2017
The members of the Horrie Dargie Quintet pose in front of a curtain, each member holding a harmonica

Australia's first gold record

What was Australia’s first gold record? You may be surprised to learn that it involved a harmonica and the Three Bears.

By Nick Henderson / 6 Jul 2017
Documents
Sound