The Australian film critic
David Stratton characterized the history of the country's film as one of "boom and bust": there have been deep troughs, during which few films were made for decades, and high peaks, during which a glut of films reached the market.
Pioneer days – 1890s to 1910 The first public screenings of films in Australia took place in October 1896, within a year of the world's first screening in Paris by
Lumière brothers. On 22 August 1896, the first films projected to a paying audience in Australia were at Harry Rickards' Melbourne Opera House (later known as the
Tivoli Theatre). The film by magician Carl Hertz was screened as part of a variety show act. Australian tours with similar projection machines followed. Australia's first cinema, the
Salon Lumière at 237 Pitt Street, Sydney, was operating in October 1896, and showed the first
Australian-produced short film on 27 October 1896. The first locally produced and successfully screened cinema program was a series of eleven one-minute film reels taken from the
Victoria Derby on 31 October 1896 and the
Melbourne Cup on 3 November 1896, both of which races were won by the same horse,
Newhaven. Directed by
Henry Walter Barnett, the
Lumiere Brothers film was photographed by celebrated cinematographer
Marius Sestier. They were first shown at the
Princess Theatre, Melbourne, on 19 November 1896, then taken to Sydney where they were shown at the
Criterion Theatre on 24 November 1896. Three of the reels are still in existence. The
Athenaeum Hall in Collins Street,
Melbourne, operated as a dance hall from the 1880s, and from time to time would provide alternative entertainment to patrons. In October 1896 it exhibited the first
movie film shown in Australia, within a year of the first public screening of a film in Paris on 28 December 1895 by the French
Lumière brothers. The Athenaeum would continue screenings, such as
Life in Our Navy, a 60,000 foot film of life on
HMS Jupiter, shown on 26 January 1901 by
G. H. Snazelle, who provided additional entertainment. A landmark of newsreel photography was in 1897, when films of both the
Caulfield Cup and
Melbourne Cup were screened at the
Melbourne Opera House on the evenings of the race. The events had been captured on film for
W. C. Baxter and
developed the same day by photographer Robert William Harvie (died 5 October 1922) and inventor Ernest J. Thwaites (c. 1873 – 12 July 1933). Some of the earliest movie film shot in Australia consisted of films of
Aboriginal dancers in
Central Australia, shot by anthropologists
Baldwin Spencer and
F. J. Gillen between 1900 and 1903. They pioneered
sound recording on
wax cylinders and shot their films under very difficult conditions. The earliest
feature-length narrative film in the world was the Australian-produced
The Story of the Kelly Gang (1906), shown at the Athenaeum. The film, written and directed by
Charles Tait, included several of his family members. The film was also exhibited in the United Kingdom in January 1908. Melbourne also hosted one of the world's first
film studios, the
Limelight Department, operated by
the Salvation Army in Australia between 1897 and 1910. The Limelight Department produced evangelical material for use by the Salvation Army, as well as carrying out private and government contracts. In its 19 years of operation the Limelight Department produced about 300 films of various lengths, making it the largest
film-producer of its time. The major innovation of the Limelight Department came in 1899 when
Herbert Booth and
Joseph Perry began work on
Soldiers of the Cross, described by some as the first feature-length film ever produced.
Soldiers of the Cross fortified the Limelight Department as a major player in the early
film-industry. The Limelight Department also produced a film recording of the
Federation of Australia.
Boom and bust – 1910s to 1920s The 1910s were a "boom" period in Australian cinema. Activity had begun slowly in the 1900s, and 1910 saw four narrative films released, then 51 in 1911, 30 in 1912, and 17 in 1913, and back to four in 1914, when the beginning of
World War I brought a temporary pause in film-making. While these numbers may seem small in the 21st century, Australia was one of the most prolific film-producing countries at the time. In all, between 1906 and 1928 Australia made 150 narrative feature films, almost 90 of them between 1910 and 1912. A general consolidation took place in the early 1910s in the production, distribution and exhibition of films in Australia. By 1912 numerous independent producers had merged into
Australasian Films and
Union Theatres, later Greater Union (now known as
Event Cinemas), which established control over film distributors and cinemas and required smaller producers to deal with the cartel. Some view the arrangement as opening the way for American distributors in the 1920s to sign exclusive deals with Australian cinemas to exhibit only their own products, thereby shutting out the local product and crippling the local film-industry. Various other explanations attempt to account for the decline of the industry in the 1920s. Some historians point to falling audience numbers, a lack of interest in Australian product and narratives, and Australia's participation in the war. Also, an
official ban on bushranger films occurred in 1912. With the suspension of local film-production, Australian
cinema-chains sought alternative products in the United States and realised that Australian-produced films were much more expensive than the imported product, which were priced cheaply as production expenses had already been recouped in the home market. To redress this imbalance, the
federal government of Australia imposed a tax on imported film in 1914, but this was removed by 1918. Whatever the explanation, by 1923 American films dominated the Australian market, with 94% of all exhibited films coming from the United States.
1930s–1960s - a classic example of an early, small, country-town cinema In 1930,
F. W. Thring (1883–1936) established the
Efftee Studios based in
Melbourne to make
talking films using optical sound equipment imported from the United States. The first Australian sound films appeared in 1931: the company produced
Diggers (1931), ''
A Co-respondent's Course (1931), The Haunted Barn (1931) and The Sentimental Bloke'' (1932). During the five years of its existence, Efftee produced nine features, over 80
shorts and several stage-productions. Notable collaborators included
C. J. Dennis,
George Wallace and
Frank Harvey. Film production continued only until 1934, when it ceased as a protest over the refusal of the Australian government to set Australian film-quotas, followed soon by Thring's death in 1936. It was estimated that Thring lost over £75,000 of his own money on his filmmaking and theatrical ventures.
Ken G. Hall became a driving force in establishing
Cinesound Productions in 1931. The company became one of Australia's first feature-film production companies and operated into the early 1940s, becoming Australia's leading domestic studio based on the
Hollywood model. The company also used the Hollywood model for the promotion of its films and attempted to promote a
star system. It was particularly successful with the
On Our Selection (1932) series of comedies, based on the popular writings of author
Steele Rudd, which featured the adventures of a fictional Australian farming family, the Rudds, and the perennial father-and-son duo, "
Dad and Dave". Despite its ambitions, Cinesound produced only 17 feature-films, all but one of them directed by Ken Hall. Though financially successful, the company ceased making feature films following the 1939 outbreak of
World War II. had his debut in
In the Wake of the Bounty (1933) with fellow Australian
Diane Cilento during the making of British film
Passage Home (1955)
In the Wake of the Bounty (1933), directed by
Charles Chauvel, starred Tasmanian-born
Errol Flynn. The film was not a success. Flynn then travelled to Britain to pursue a career in acting and later went to America and became a celebrated Hollywood star. Chauvel directed a number of successful Australian films, including 1944's World War II classic
The Rats of Tobruk (which starred
Peter Finch and
Chips Rafferty) and 1955's
Jedda, which was notable as the first Australian film shot in colour, and as the first to feature Aboriginal actors in lead roles and to enter the
Cannes Film Festival. In Britain, the
Cinematograph Films Act 1927 established a
quota of films that had to be shown in British cinemas. One could shoot compliant films in the British Empire as well as in Great Britain; this stimulated Australian film-production. However the
Cinematograph Films Act 1938 mollified the British film industry by including only films made by and shot in Great Britain in the quota - this removed Australian films from the film quota in the UK, and saw the loss of a guaranteed market for Australian films.
Kokoda Front Line! (1942), directed by Ken G. Hall, won Australia's first
Oscar. Chips Rafferty and Peter Finch became prominent international stars of the period. Rafferty's onscreen image as a lanky, laconic bushman struck a chord with Australian filmgoers, and he appeared in iconic early Australian films such as
Forty Thousand Horsemen (1940),
The Rats of Tobruk (1944),
The Overlanders (1946) and
Eureka Stockade (1949) (
Overlanders and
Eureka were part of a series of Australian-themed films produced by Britain's iconic
Ealing Studios). In Hollywood, Rafferty also appeared in Australian-themed films, including
The Desert Rats (1953),
The Sundowners (1960) and
Mutiny on the Bounty (1962). Similarly, Peter Finch starred in quintessentially Australian roles (such as "
digger" and
stockman) through a series of popular films and had a successful and diverse screen career in Britain and the United States. Both
Ron Randell and
Rod Taylor began their acting careers in Australia - initially in radio and on stage before appearing in such Australian films as
Smithy (1946) for the former and
Long John Silver (1954) for the latter. They each transferred to the United States to become Hollywood
leading men in a number of films of the late 1940s (Randell) and both from the 1950s onwards. Taylor had starring roles in
The Time Machine (1960) and
The Birds (1963) as well as in several American television-series such as
Hong Kong (1960–1961). In the 1950s British and American production-companies made several notable films in Australia based on stories from
Australian literature (generally with strong rural themes). These included
A Town Like Alice (1956, which starred
Virginia McKenna and Peter Finch);
The Shiralee (1957, also starring Peter Finch with Australian actors
Charles Tingwell,
Bill Kerr and
Ed Devereaux in supporting roles);
Robbery Under Arms (1957, again starring Finch); and
Summer of the Seventeenth Doll (1959, starring
Ernest Borgnine,
John Mills and
Angela Lansbury). In 1960,
The Sundowners was shot partly in the
Snowy Mountains of
New South Wales with foreign leads
Deborah Kerr,
Robert Mitchum, and
Peter Ustinov but a supporting cast including Australians - Chips Rafferty,
John Meillon and
Leonard Teale. In 1958,
Australian Film Institute was formed and in the same year began awarding the
Australian Film Institute Awards. After filming
Whiplash in the country in 1960,
Peter Graves said that the biggest problem was the shortage of Australian actors. Australian film-production reached a low ebb with few notable productions during the 1960s. The 1966 comedy
''They're a Weird Mob'', starring
Walter Chiari,
Chips Rafferty and
Claire Dunne, was a rare hit of the period which also documented something of the changing face of Australian society: telling the story of a newly-arrived Italian immigrant who, working as a labourer in Sydney, becomes mates with his co-workers, despite some difficulties with
Australian slang and culture. The film foreshadowed the successful approaching
"New Wave" of Australian cinema of the 1970s that would often showcase colloquial
Australian culture. Overseas cinema continued to attract Australian actors as "action-men" with the casting of Australian
George Lazenby to replace
Sean Connery in portraying the superspy
James Bond in the 1969 U.K. film
''On Her Majesty's Secret Service''.
Renaissance – 1970s and 1980s John Gorton initiated several avenues of government support for Australian cinema
John Gorton,
Prime Minister of Australia from 1968 to 1971, initiated several forms of government support for film and the arts, including the
Australian Film Development Corporation. The
Gough Whitlam government (1972–75) continued the support via its successor the
Australian Film Commission, and state governments also established assistance programs. These measures led to a resurgence of Australian film-making in both the low budget 16mm format and 35mm cinema – the
Australian New Wave – which lasted until the mid-to-late
1980s. The era also marked the emergence of the "
Ozploitation" style – characterised by the exploitation of colloquial Australian culture. Also notable during this era was the effect of the growing
feminist movement. The role of women's films was discussed at the Women's Liberation Conference in
Melbourne in 1970, A number of filmmakers, including
Jeni Thornley, Sarah Gibson, Susan Lambert,
Martha Ansara,
Margot Nash and
Megan McMurchy, were involved in these groups. The 1975
International Women's Film Festival, the first of its kind, but groups around the country organised screening events in other state capitals. In Melbourne and
Sydney the festivals ran for nine days (with an audience of around 56,000), and in the other states they spanned two to three days. Films such as
Picnic at Hanging Rock (directed by
Peter Weir, 1975) and
Sunday Too Far Away (
Ken Hannam, 1975) made an impact on the international scene. The 1970s and 1980s are regarded by many as a "golden age" of Australian cinema, with many successful films, from the dark dystopian fiction of
Mad Max (
George Miller, 1979) to the romantic comedy of
Crocodile Dundee (
Peter Faiman, 1986) and the emergence of such film-directing auteurs as
Gillian Armstrong,
Phillip Noyce and
Bruce Beresford. A major theme of Australian cinema which matured in the 1970s was one of survival in the harsh Australian landscape. A number of thrillers and horror-films - dubbed "
outback gothic" – have appeared, including
Wake in Fright,
Walkabout,
The Cars That Ate Paris and
Picnic at Hanging Rock in the 1970s,
Razorback,
Long Weekend and
Shame in the 1980s and
Japanese Story,
The Proposition and
Wolf Creek in the 2000s. These films depict the
Australian bush and its creatures as deadly, and its people as outcasts and psychopaths. These elements combine with futuristic post-apocalyptic themes in the
Mad Max series. 1971's
Walkabout was a British film, set in Australia, which became a forerunner to many Australian films related to indigenous themes; it introduced
David Gulpilil to cinematic audiences. 1976's
The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith directed by
Fred Schepisi re-told an award-winning historical drama from the book by
Thomas Keneally about the tragic story of an Aboriginal
bushranger. Classic stories from
Australian literature and
Australian history continued to provide popular cinematic adaptations during the 1970s and 1980s.
Gillian Armstrong's
My Brilliant Career (1979) featured
Judy Davis and
Sam Neill in early lead-roles. 1982's
We of the Never Never followed up on the theme of the female experience of life in the
Australian bush. 1982's
The Man from Snowy River, starring
Tom Burlinson and
Sigrid Thornton, dramatised the classic
Banjo Paterson poem of that name and became one of the all-time box-office successes of Australian cinema. In addition to the serious historical dramas popular in the 1970s, a number of films celebrating and satirizing Australian colloquial culture appeared over the decade, including:
The Adventures of Barry McKenzie (1972),
Alvin Purple (1973), and
Barry McKenzie Holds His Own (1974). The
Barry McKenzie films saw performing-artist and writer
Barry Humphries collaborating with director
Bruce Beresford. In 1976,
Peter Finch won a posthumous
Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in the American satire
Network, thus becoming the first Australian to win an Oscar for best actor. 1980's
Breaker Morant (starring
Jack Thompson and
Edward Woodward) dramatised the controversial trial of an Australian soldier during the
Boer War of 1899–1902; there followed 1981's
World War I drama
Gallipoli (directed by
Peter Weir and starring
Mel Gibson). These films, now considered classics of Australian cinema, explored contemporary Australian identity through dramatic episodes in Australian history. Gibson went on to further success in 1982's
The Year of Living Dangerously before transferring to pursue his Hollywood career as an actor and director. Many other Australian stars would follow his path to international stardom in the coming decades. The director of
The Year of Living Dangerously, Peter Weir, also made a successful transition to Hollywood. Weir contributed to the screenplay along with its original author, Christopher Koch, and playwright
David Williamson. Williamson rose to prominence in the early 1970s, and has gone on to write several other original scripts and screenplays made into successful Australian films, including: ''
Don's Party (1976); Gallipoli
(1981), Emerald City
(1988), and Balibo'' (2009). Actor/comedian
Paul Hogan wrote the screenplay and starred in the title role in his first film,
Crocodile Dundee (1986), about a down-to-earth hunter who travels from the Australian outback to New York City. The movie became the most successful Australian film ever, and launched Hogan's international film career. Following the success of
Crocodile Dundee, Hogan starred in the sequel,
Crocodile Dundee II in 1988. 1988 also saw the release of the drama
Evil Angels (released outside of Australia and New Zealand as
A Cry in the Dark) about the
Lindy Chamberlain saga, in which a
dingo took a baby at
Ayers Rock and her mother was accused of having murdered the child.
Nicole Kidman began appearing in Australian children's TV and film in the early 1980s – including starring roles in
BMX Bandits and
Bush Christmas. During the 1980s she appeared in several Australian productions, including
Emerald City (1988), and
Bangkok Hilton (1989). In 1989 Kidman starred in
Dead Calm alongside
Sam Neill and
Billy Zane. The thriller garnered strong reviews, and Hollywood roles followed.
1990–2000 The 1990s proved a successful decade for Australian film and introduced several new stars to a global audience. Low budget films such as the comedy/drama ''
Muriel's Wedding, starring Toni Collette, the gently satirical suburban comedy The Castle'' directed by
Rob Sitch (which cast
Eric Bana in his first prominent film role), and
Baz Luhrmann's flamboyant
Strictly Ballroom each attained commercial and critical success, and explored quirky characters inhabiting contemporary Australian suburbia – marking something of a departure from the
Outback and historical sagas which obtained success in the 1970s and 1980s.
Stephan Elliott's 1994 film
The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert mixed traditional outback cinematography and landscape with contemporary urban sub-culture: following three
drag queens on a road trip to
Central Australia. While a number of major international stars gained early prominence in Australia over the period, an important stable of established and emerging local stars with prodigious film credits remained prominent, including screen veterans
Charles Tingwell,
Bill Hunter,
Jack Thompson,
Bryan Brown and
Chris Haywood. The World War II drama
Blood Oath (1990) debuted both
Russell Crowe and
Jason Donovan, in minor cinematic roles. Crowe demonstrated his versatility as an actor in this early period of his career by starring soon after as a street gang Melbourne
skinhead in 1992's
Romper Stomper and then as an inner-Sydney working-class gay man in 1994's
The Sum of Us before transferring to the US to commence his Hollywood career. George Miller's
Babe (1995) employed new digital effects to make a barnyard come alive and went on to become one of Australia's highest-grossing films. The 1996 drama
Shine achieved an
Academy Award for Best Actor award for
Geoffrey Rush and
Gregor Jordan's 1999 film
Two Hands gave
Heath Ledger his first leading role.
Ausfilm was established in 1994 as the Export Film Services Association, after
Austrade recognised potential opportunities for the country in the American market. It was converted to an incorporated association, Ausfilm International Inc., in 1998. It continues to promote the use of Australian filmmakers, and to get
film production work done in Australia.
2001–2019 After Ledger's successful transition to Hollywood, Jordan and Ledger collaborated again in 2003, with Ledger playing the iconic
bushranger title role in the film
Ned Kelly, co-starring Australian actress
Naomi Watts. The canon of films related to
Indigenous Australians also increased over the period of the 1990s and early 21st Century, with
Nick Parsons' 1996 film
Dead Heart featuring
Ernie Dingo and
Bryan Brown;
Rolf de Heer's
The Tracker, starring
Gary Sweet and
David Gulpilil; and
Phillip Noyce's
Rabbit-Proof Fence in 2002. In 2006, Rolf de Heer's
Ten Canoes became the first major feature film to be shot in an Indigenous language and the film was recognised at
Cannes and elsewhere. The shifting demographics of Australia following post-war multicultural immigration was reflected in Australian cinema through the period and in successful films like 1993's
The Heartbreak Kid; 1999's
Looking for Alibrandi; 2003's
Fat Pizza; the
Wog Boy comedies and 2007's
Romulus, My Father which all dealt with aspects of the migrant experience or Australian subcultures.
Fox Studios Australia and
Village Roadshow Studios had hosted large international productions like
George Lucas's
Star Wars: Episode II – Attack of the Clones and
Episode III – Revenge of the Sith, and the ''
Wachowskis's
The Matrix.''
Rob Sitch and
Working Dog Productions followed the success of
The Castle with period comedy
The Dish, which was the highest grossing Australian film of the Year 2000 and entered the top ten list of highest grossing Australian films. Big budget Australian-international co-productions
Moulin Rouge! (
Baz Luhrmann, 2001) and
Happy Feet (which won the
Academy Award for Best Animated Feature for filmmaker
George Miller in 2006) also entered the top ten list during the first decade of the new century. Baz Luhrmann directed a series of international hits and returned to Australia for the production of 2008's
Australia, which showcased a host of Australian stars including
Nicole Kidman,
Hugh Jackman and
David Wenham and went on to become the second highest-grossing film in Australian cinematic history.
Lantana, directed by
Ray Lawrence attained critical and commercial success in 2001 for its examination of a complex series of relationships in suburban Sydney, and events surrounding a mysterious crime. It won seven
AFI Awards including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor for
Anthony LaPaglia and Best Actress for
Kerry Armstrong. Emerging star
Sam Worthington had early lead roles in the 2002 mobster black comedy
Dirty Deeds and 2003's crime caper ''
Gettin' Square. Gettin Square'' also featured rising star
David Wenham who demonstrated versatility with a string of critically acclaimed roles including the title role in
Paul Cox's 1999 biopic
Molokai: The Story of Father Damien and the 2001 thriller
The Bank, directed by the politically conscious film director
Robert Connolly. In 2005,
Little Fish marked a return to Australian film for actress
Cate Blanchett and won five
Australian Film Institute Awards including Best Actor for
Hugo Weaving, Best Actress for Blanchett and Best Supporting Actress for screen veteran
Noni Hazlehurst. In 2008 following Ledger's death, the documentary film celebrating the romps of the
Australian New Wave of 1970s and 1980s low-budget cinema:
Not Quite Hollywood: The Wild, Untold Story of Ozploitation! The film was directed by Mark Hartley and interviews filmmakers including
Quentin Tarantino,
Dennis Hopper, George Miller and
Barry Humphries. The early 2000s were generally not successful years for Australian cinema, with several confronting dramas proving unpopular at the box office. In 2008, no Australian movies made $3 million at the box office, but a conscious decision by filmmakers to broaden the types of films being made as well as the range of budgets produced a series of box-office hits at the close of the decade. Strong box office performances were recorded in 2009–10 by
Bruce Beresford's ''
Mao's Last Dancer; the Aboriginal musical Bran Nue Dae'' the dramatization of
John Marsden's novel
Tomorrow, When the War Began; and the crime drama
Animal Kingdom which featured major Australian screen stars
Ben Mendelsohn,
Joel Edgerton,
Guy Pearce and
Jacki Weaver.
Animal Kingdom achieved success at the 2010
Australian Film Institute Awards and was acclaimed at film festivals around the world.
Tomorrow, When the War Began became the highest-grossing domestic film of 2010 and it was nominated for nine Australian Film Institute Awards. Other award-winning films of the period included
Balibo (2009) starring
Anthony LaPaglia; Middle Eastern crime flick
Cedar Boys (2009) directed by Serhat Caradee; and animated comedy drama
Mary and Max. in 2010 World War I drama
Beneath Hill 60 (2010), directed by
Jeremy Sims and starring
Brendan Cowell, was nominated for numerous awards and won three.
Sally Riley, as inaugural head of the Indigenous department at
ABC Television, after her previous role at the
Australian Film Commission (later
Screen Australia), has done much to develop Indigenous talent in the film and television industry. Contemporary Indigenous film-makers include
Warwick Thornton,
Wayne Blair,
Trisha Morton-Thomas and
Rachel Perkins. The Australian film industry continues to produce a reasonable number of films each year, but in common with other English-speaking countries, Australia has often found it difficult to compete with the
American film industry, the latter helped by having a much larger home market. The most successful Australian actors and filmmakers are easily lured by
Hollywood and rarely return to the domestic film industry. The
South Australian Film Corporation continues to produce quality films, and
Adelaide has been chosen as the location for films such as
Hotel Mumbai (2019).
2020–present The Australian film and TV industry was greatly impacted by the
COVID-19 pandemic, with at least 60
shoots being halted and around 20,000 people being put of work. On Monday 23 March, all productions funded by
Screen Australia were postponed. , after some improvement in COVID-19 statistics in Australia, Screen Australia continues to fund work and process applications, intending to use all of its 2019/20 budget. Sometime after the movie and TV industries reopened, several films restarted production. Two such films were
Escape from Pretoria (2020) and
Mortal Kombat (2021). ==Genres==