Diasporas of Australian cinema

• Sarah Pinto
• Southwest Journal of Cultures

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23 November 2009"Australian cinema seems to be enjoying yet another renaissance in 2009... After several years of apparent darkness, during which critics and commentators lamented the state of both box office receipts and filmic quality, a number of films have arrived on screens to much local success....

"As many film historians will know, however, this year’s “renaissance” is one of several since the industry’s revival in the 1970s, and demonstrates, yet again, the degree to which local filmmaking attracts public anaylsis in Australia. Indeed, at times Australian films can seem swamped by the ongoing debates about the local industry that inevitably swirl around them. This analysis is certainly important, particularly given Australia’s limited funding opportunities and the heightened sense of local film’s importance to the nation’s identity and character. But I’m less convinced that this should be at the expense of closer examinations of the films themselves, not for verdicts on whether they constitute “good” or “bad” cinema, but for a consideration of their storytelling and engagements with the worlds of their release, Australian or otherwise.

"This is precisely the project of Diasporas of Australian Cinema..."

Review by Sarah Pinto, Centre for Australian Indigenous Studies, Monash University.

Diasporas of Australian Cinema
Edited by Catherine Simpson, Renata Murawska, and Anthony Lambert.  
Fishponds, Bristol, UK: Intellect Ltd., August 2009.  Paper: ISBN 978-1841501970, $40.  128 pages.