Showcases - The Screen Guide - Screen Australia

Chasing Asylum

2016 - Completed

CHASING ASYLUM exposes the real impact of Australia’s offshore detention policies and explores how 'The Lucky Country' became a country where leaders choose detention over compassion and governments deprive the desperate of their basic human rights. The film features never before seen footage from inside Australia’s offshore detention camps, revealing the personal impact of sending those in search of a safe home to languish in limbo. CHASING ASYLUM explores the mental, physical and fiscal consequences of Australia’s decision to lock away families in unsanitary conditions hidden from media scrutiny, destroying their lives under the pretext of saving them.

Cleverman

2017 - Completed

As a community struggles to co-exist with non-human creatures living amongst them, two estranged brothers find themselves at a crossroads.

Deep Water

2016 - Completed

When Detectives Tori Lustigman and Nick Manning are assigned a brutal murder case they uncover evidence to suggest the killing is connected to a spate of unexplained deaths and disappearances of gay men that took place in the 80s and 90s. The killer is using THRUSTR to entice his victims and anyone using the App is now at risk. In reopening the cold cases the detectives reveal the hidden truth about the past murders, finally giving closure to the victims' families, and uncover critical evidence leading to the serial killer.

Embrace

2016 - Completed

When body image activist Taryn Brumfitt posted an unconventional before-and-after photo in 2013, it was seen by more than 100 million people world-wide and sparked an international media frenzy. EMBRACE follows Taryn’s crusade as she explores the global issue of body loathing, inspiring us to change the way we feel about ourselves and think about our bodies.

Evil Angels

1988 - Completed

A dramatised version of the events leading to the famous Azaria Chamberlain murder trial.

First Contact

2016 - Completed

FIRST CONTACT is a constructed documentary series that takes a group of six ordinary citizens and immerses them into Aboriginal Australia.

Frackman

2015 - Completed

A smouldering resentment has turned conservative country people to civil disobedience. Politicians are caught off guard, not knowing who to support. Coal seam gas is forcing us to ask difficult questions about our way of life and what we value. Into this maelstrom of conflict and passions ventures the Frackman and his filmmaker mate. They take a quixotic journey through the landscape and lives being torn apart by our desperate search for energy.

Gallipoli

1981 - Completed

A powerful, poignant story focusing on the friendship of two West Australian youths. Set on the fields of Gallipoli in World War I.

Gayby Baby

2015 - Completed

Last year saw the largest number of kids being born into gay families in human history. It was also a year which saw the world furiously debate whether gay couples can raise well-adjusted children, and whether they should be allowed to marry. Told from a child’s-eye view, GAYBY BABY is a revealing, intimate and at times humorous portrait of four kids coming of age in this paradigm, all raised in same-sex families. It’s the story of a new generation of kids who are queer by nurture and by birthright.

Go Back To Where You Came From

2012 - Completed

GO BACK TO WHERE YOU CAME FROM six Australians explore the real lives and historical struggles of refugees. Following in their footsteps they trace, in reverse, the journey that refugees take to reach Australia.

Here Come the Habibs!

2017 - Completed

Lebanese migrant family The Habibs of South West Sydney have just won Lotto… and now they’re moving to Vaucluse. Yalla!

Holding the Man

2015 - Completed

Based on the much loved and hugely successful memoir and stage play of the same name, HOLDING THE MAN is the warm, funny and achingly sad story of the 15-year long love affair between Timothy Conigrave and the boy he fell in love with at high school, John Caleo. Tim was an aspiring actor. John, the captain of the school football team. Their relationship blossomed and endured in the face of prejudice and adversity.

House Gang

1998 - Completed

An irreverent and frequently riotous look at group-living in the '90s. Three young people with intellectual disabilities are forced to share their rented house with a bankrupt builder and his vitriolic daughter. A richly wayward comedy of foiled expectations ensues.

Number 96: The Movie

1974 - Completed

During this film the residents at apartment building Number 96 are involved in one pack rape, two attempted murders and a fatal car crash, and that's not all!

Please Like Me

2016 - Completed

Inspired by the award-winning stand-up comedy of Josh Thomas, PLEASE LIKE ME is a series about growing up quickly, and about realising that your parents are not heroes, but dopes with no idea whats going on — just like you.

Proof

1991 - Completed

Martin, blind since birth, trusts nobody. As a young boy he had the feeling that even his mother lied to him as a punishment for being blind. As an adult he copes with his disability by taking his photographs as proof that the world he imagines is the same world that sighted people see. For years he has waited for someone he trusts to describe his photos to him, so when he meets Andy, Martin feels that he is close to knowing the truth. But Andy is only human, and Martin's jealous housekeeper, Celia, is not sure that she wants Martin to have the independence he so strongly desires.

Rabbit-Proof Fence

2002 - Completed

Based on the book 'Follow the Rabbit Proof Fence', this is the true story of three Aboriginal girls who were forcibly removed from their parents in North West Australia to the notorious Moore River Settlement 1,600 kilometres south and their extraordinary journey back home.

Redfern Now

2014 - Completed

REDFERN NOW centres around and explores contemporary inner city Indigenous life.

Redfern Now - Promise Me

2014 - Completed

The highly celebrated and multi award winning drama is back for one last story. A powerful, heartbreaking and uplifting telemovie that explores the impact of a violent crime on two women, and the fight for justice that ensues.

Romulus, My Father

2007 - Completed

ROMULUS, MY FATHER is based on Raimond Gaita's critically acclaimed memoir. It tells the story of Romulus, his beautiful wife Christina, and their struggle in the face of great adversity to bring up their son, Raimond. It is a story of impossible love that celebrates the unbreakable bond between father and son.

Samson & Delilah

2009 - Completed

SAMSON & DELILAH's world is small - an isolated community in the desert. When tragedy strikes, they turn their backs on home and embark on a journey of survival. Lost, unwanted and alone they discover that life isn't always fair, but love never judges.

Sherpa

2016 - Completed

We set out to make a film of the 2014 Everest climbing season, from the Sherpas’ point of view, to observe up-close, how and why the relationship between foreign climbers and Sherpas has shifted since the euphoria of the first Everest summit climb in 1953. But a brutal avalanche changed all that: with 16 Sherpas dead, the mood soured with grief and anger spilling over. The events of the week that followed were the most transforming on the mountain, and will affect the Sherpa/climbers' dynamic forever.

Shine

1996 - Completed

After succumbing to the pressure of his father's obsessive love and the fierce competition of the concert world as a child prodigy, David Helfgott makes a new beginning in London inspired by his passion for music and the woman he loves.

SPEAR

2016 - Completed

SPEAR is a contemporary Aboriginal story, told through movement and dance, of a young man Djali as he journeys through his community to understand what it means to be a man with ancient traditions in a modern world. Spanning from the outback of Australia to the gritty city streets of Sydney, SPEAR is a poignant reflection of the continuing cultural connection of Indigenous people. SPEAR is an intimate journey with Stephen Page, one of Australia's most celebrated artists, as he brings this modern day mythological story to the screen.

Struggle Street

2019 - Completed

An observational-documentary series that will feature the voices and stories of a cross-section of struggling residents and families as they try to get by, despite overwhelming personal and social challenges.

Swimming Upstream

2003 - Completed

Based on Anthony Fingleton's book of the struggle to become an Olympic swimmer despite an overbearing, alcoholic father and his long-suffering mother.

Ten Canoes

2006 - Completed

It is the distant past, tribal times. Dayindi (played by Jamie Gulpilil, son of the great David Gulpilil) covets one of the wives of his older brother. To teach him the proper way, he is told a story from the mythical past, a story of wrong love, kidnapping, sorcery, bungling mayhem and revenge gone wrong. In English storytelling (by David Gulpilil) and subtitled Ganalbingu language, this is a film unlike any you have ever seen.

That Sugar Film

2015 - Completed

THAT SUGAR FILM is one man’s journey to discover the bitter truth about sugar. Damon Gameau embarks on a unique experiment to document the effects of a high sugar diet on a healthy body, consuming only commonly perceived healthy foods. Through this entertaining and informative journey, Damon highlights some of the most important issues about the sugar industry, and where sugar hides on supermarket shelves. THAT SUGAR FILM will forever change the way you think about ‘healthy’ food.

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

1994 - Completed

Two drag queens and a transsexual leave Sydney in a bus called 'Priscilla', and travel across half of Australia to climb a rock and put on a show at a resort in the middle of the country. Along the way, they break down, paint the bus lavender, dress up a lot, perform where they shouldn't and encounter hilarity, hostility and incomprehension. THE ADVENTURES OF PRISCILLA, QUEEN OF THE DESERT is a road movie musical about a collision between three people in the wrong costumes and an environment that does not want them.

The Black Balloon

2008 - Completed

When Thomas (Rhys Wakefield) and his family move to a new home and he has to start at a new school, all he wants is to fit in. When his pregnant mother (Toni Collette) has to take things easy, his father Simon (Erik Thomson) puts him in charge of his autistic older brother Charlie (Luke Ford). Thomas, with the help of his new girlfriend Jackie (Gemma Ward), faces his biggest challenge yet. Charlie’s unusual antics take Thomas on an emotional journey that causes his pent-up frustrations about his brother to pour out - in a story that is funny, confronting, and ultimately heart-warming. The Black Balloon is a story about fitting in, discovering love and accepting your family.

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith

1978 - Completed

Set at the turn of the century, an Aboriginal man, raised by a Methodist minister determined to rid him of his beliefs and customs, finally pursues a personal vendetta of violence and murder against the people he blames for his misery.

The Family Law

2018 - Completed

THE FAMILY LAW gives a vivid glimpse inside the gloriously dysfunctional world of a hilarious and heart-warming Chinese- Australian family through the eyes of 14-year-old Benjamin.

The Home Song Stories

2007 - Completed

The story of Rose, a glamorous Shanghai nightclub singer, and her struggle to survive in Australia with her two young children. An epic tale of mothers and sons, mothers and daughters, unrequited love, betrayal and hidden secrets that spans continents and decades.

The Jammed

2007 - Completed

When a Thai mother arrives in Melbourne to find her missing daughter, she enlists the help of Ashley Hudson. Hooked on caffeine and bored with her job and loveless life, Ashley reluctantly agrees to help search, and is drawn into the dark underworld of this cultured city as she tries to rescue three girls from a trafficking syndicate. Inspired by court transcripts and actual events, The Jammed is a social thriller about trafficking and the sex slave trade in Melbourne.

The Sum Of Us

1994 - Completed

Jeff and his Dad are an odd couple of lonely hearts. One an open-hearted widower, the other a young bachelor of a different persuasion. Both men need some romance in their otherwise boring lives and decide to look for new ways to find it. Dad enrols in a computer dating service to find his lady love. Son Jeff, sick of one night stands and noisy gay bars, wants a real commitment. But when he finds his Mr Right, what will Dad have to say!

The Tall Man

2011 - Completed

This is the story of Palm Island, the tropical paradise where one morning Cameron Doomadgee swore at a policeman and forty-five minutes later lay dead in a watch house cell. This is also the story of that policeman, the tall enigmatic Christopher Hurley who chose to work in some of the toughest and wildest places in Australia and the struggle to bring him to trial. THE TALL MAN is a story in luminous detail of two worlds clashing - and a haunting moral puzzle that no viewer will forget.

Tyke Elephant Outlaw

2014 - Completed

TYKE ELEPHANT OUTLAW tells the story of a circus elephant’s rampage that shook a city and raised fundamental questions about our connection to other species.

Uranium - Twisting the Dragon's Tail

2015 - Completed

2015 is the 70th anniversary of the most profound change in the history of human enterprise; the unleashing of the elemental force within Uranium. Join us on a global adventure, to reveal the cultural, scientific and natural history of the most wondrous and terrifying rock on Earth. This is the extraordinary, untold story of Uranium.

Screen Currency: Thought-provoking titles

Chasing Asylum

Cleverman

Deep Water

Embrace

Evil Angels

First Contact

Frackman

Gallipoli

Gayby Baby

Go Back To Where You Came From

Here Come the Habibs!

Holding the Man

House Gang

Number 96: The Movie

Please Like Me

Proof

Rabbit-Proof Fence

Redfern Now

Redfern Now - Promise Me

Romulus, My Father

Samson & Delilah

Sherpa

Shine

SPEAR

Struggle Street

Swimming Upstream

Ten Canoes

That Sugar Film

The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert

The Black Balloon

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith

The Family Law

The Home Song Stories

The Jammed

The Sum Of Us

The Tall Man

Tyke Elephant Outlaw

Uranium - Twisting the Dragon's Tail