Film & Sound News

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May 2019
A montage of colourful glass cinema slides advertising political candidates at elections

Cinema Glass Slides – Political Ads

The NFSA collection contains over 100 political glass slide advertisements from 1917 to 1976.

By Michelle Davenport / 31 May 2019
Object

Indigenous Filmmaking: A Short History

Within a generation, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander filmmakers have become a vibrant presence in the centre of filmmaking in Australia.

By Liz McNiven / 27 May 2019
Film
Television
Apr 2019
Three women pose for the camera. One wears a white wedding gown. The other two are bridesmaids in pink.

Vintage fashion in colour

Mark Foy's fashion parades from the 1940s and '50s, featuring designers Pierre Balmain and Schiaparelli, captured in gorgeous colour footage.

By Beth Taylor / 29 Apr 2019
Film
Mar 2019
Black and white portrait of actress Betty Bryant wit her elbows resting on a piano accordian and her face in her hands.

Starstruck: Betty Bryant

A look at Betty Bryant, once Australia’s most famed film ingénue, who features in the exhibition Starstruck: Australian Movie Portraits, now open on the Gold Coast.

By Tenille Hands / 6 Mar 2019
Film
Object
Photographs
Jan 2019
Men working on a large pipeline

Constructing Australia: Pipe Dreams

Construction of the Perth to Coolgardie Water Scheme is a story of personal tragedy, political rivalries, corruption and trial by media that nearly tore apart Australia at the moment of its birth.

Film
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
May 2018
Huge crowd on the Sydney Harbour Bridge during the Walk for Reconciliation. Some people are waving Australian and Aboriginal flags.

Newscaf: Reconciliation Walk

A look back at the historic Walk for Reconciliation across the Sydney Harbour Bridge on 28 May 2000, through footage from the NFSA News and Current Affairs Program.

By Mel Bondfield / 24 May 2018
Television