
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA) has digitally restored The Corrick Collection, containing 135 of the world's earliest films, which formed part of the Corrick Family Entertainers variety act over 100 years ago.
A selection of these priceless films will have a world premiere at Ten Days on the Island from 5-21 March 2021, to celebrate the Corricks’ connection with Tasmania. Further national and international screenings will be announced in coming months.
Additionally, five films from The Corrick Collection are now available to audiences worldwide on the NFSA’s YouTube channel: http://bit.ly/NFSACorrickCollection.
NFSA Chief Curator Gayle Lake said: 'The Corrick Collection was truly a window on the world for early 20th century Australians. The Corricks were entertainment visionaries, and we’re proud to give these films a new digital life so they can once again capture the audiences, 100 years on.’
Starting in 1897, the Corricks produced a two-hour 'multimedia' extravaganza featuring live music, dancing, comedy sketches, poetry recitals and singalongs.
In 1901 the youngest Corrick, Leonard, introduced a film program titled 'Leonard's Beautiful Pictures'. It offered Australian audiences a chance to explore the world, presenting the latest special effects, comedy and newsreel films made in Europe and the United States by legendary names such as D.W. Griffith and Edwin S. Porter.
Leonard Corrick eventually acquired his own film equipment, and started shooting, editing, and screening footage of whichever town the troupe was visiting. Audiences would come along, wanting to see their town (and themselves) on screen. Leonard also made the first narrative film ever produced in Western Australia, 1907's The Bashful Mr Brown.
The Corricks eventually retired and settled in Tasmania. Their collection, including films, photographs and tour memorabilia, was donated to the NFSA by Leonard‘s son John.
Restored photochemically almost 20 years ago, The Corrick Collection has now been digitally restored as part of the NFSA Restores program to digitise, restore and preserve Australian films so they can be seen in today’s digital cinemas.
While copies of some of the international productions exist at other archives around the world, the new NFSA Restores digital prints were produced using the highest technological standards, giving the black and white and hand-coloured films a new lease of life.
Leonard Corrick’s grandson Stewart said: ‘For many years these films were no more than ‘things’ Dad had in our garage growing up. If I had been asked why The Corrick Collection is important, I wouldn’t have been able to answer beyond its meaning to the family.
‘When I met all the NFSA staff who’d been working on this collection and its digital restoration for years, that was a mind-blowing day for me. It made me appreciate what my grandfather Leonard had brought together and, in part created something that was and is a cinematic holy grail of enormous significance to not only my family’s heritage, but that of our nation. I now realise that this collection is history brought to life.”
The five Corrick Collection films available on the NFSA's YouTube channel from today are:
NFSA Chief Curator Gayle Lake and Stewart Corrick are available for interviews. For further information, images and clips, please contact publicist Gabrielle Wilson, gabrielle@thepresssociety.com.au or +61 (0) 433 972 915.
Leonard’s Beautiful Pictures at Ten Days on the Island
Sat 6-Sun 7/03 - Gaiety Theatre, Zeehan
Fri 12-Sat 13/03 - Mechanics Institute, Scottsdale
Fri 19-Sun 21/03 - Theatre Royal, Hobart
Special event: The Marvellous Corricks (presented with QVMAG)
Sun 14/03 - Princess Theatre, Launceston
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.