Inclusive list of mostly Australian films with some connexion between Australia and people of Asian origin
Arigato Baby (Greg Lynch, 1990) wr. A. J. Klitz, dp Jaque Rubin; Yoko Atsumi, Nicci Lane, Adrian Wentworth, Mishi Maracos; an anti-Asian Vietnam vet is attracted to Japanese woman; R cert. adult; 80 min.
Autumn Moon [Qiuyue] (Clara Law, 1992) Masatoshi Nagase, Pui-Wai Li, Colour, 108 min. Cantonese/Japanese/English, Hong Kong, Japan
Aya (Solrun Hoaas, 1991) Eri Ishida, Nicholas Eadie, Chris Haywood, Tim Robertson; the husband of a Japanese war bride expects her to become Australian; 92 min. na DVD
Bangkok Hilton (Ken Cameron, 1989) mini-series
Blood Oath (Stephen Wallace, 1990) Bryan Brown, George Takei, ... John Polson, Russell Crowe, ... Jason Donovan; war-crimes trials in Ambon
Bondi Tsunami (Rachael Lucas, 2004) Keita Abe, Taki Abe, Miki Sasaki, Nobuhisa Ikeda
Brothers (Terry Bourke, 1982) aka Hounds of War; Chard Hayward, Ivar Kants, Margaret Laurence, Alison Best; based on true story of five Australian journalists shot in Timor in 1975; two journalist brothers escape death but find it hard to settle in small town in NZ even after four years
Echoes of Paradise (Phillip Noyce, 1988) aka Shadows of the Peacock; wr. Jan Sharp, dp Peter James, exec prod Jan Sharp, prod. Jane Scott; Wendy Hughes, John Lone, Rod Mullinar, Peta Toppano, Steven Jacobs, Gillian Jones, Claudia Karvan. "Maria's seemingly secure world collapses - her senses numbed, she escapes to exotic Thailand to examine her past and her future. Soon she meets a mysterious and handsome Balinese dancer and what begins as a friendship turns into a passionate and all-consuming love affair." (video box); 92 min
Far East (John Duigan, 1982) wr. John Duigan, dp Brian Probyn; Bryan Brown, Helen Morse, John Bell, Sinan Leong, Raina McKeon, Henry Duval, Bill Hunter; a couple come to a South East Asian country where they meet again with a former lover of the wife; their relationships are played out again the political background; 107 min.
Finished People, The (Khoa Do, 2003) dramatised documentary; homeless in Cabramatta
Floating Life (Clara Law, 1996) Clara Law [born Macau, she came to Australia from Hong Kong in 1996] has also made some interesting films, Farewell, China (1990) probably the pick of them. Her work is saturated with themes of displacement, and she herself now lives and works in Australia, where she made Floating Life (1996). Bill Mousoulis, http://www.innersense.com.au/senses/contents/2/some.html
The Goddess Of 1967 (Clara Law, 2000) Rose Byrne; started shooting November 1999; the story of a Japanese man who comes to Australia to buy his dream car; filmed in Sydney, Lightning Ridge and Tokyo; screened Toronto 2000
Golden Cage, The (Ayten Kuyululu, 1975) prod. Ilhan Kuyululu, wr. Ayten Kuyululu and Ismet Soydan, dp Russell Boyd; Michelle Fawdon, Ron Haddrick, llhan Kuyululu, Sayit Memisoglu, Kate Sheil; colour; story of two Turkish men in Australia and their tragic events
Heaven's Burning (Craig Lahiff, 1997) wr. Louis Nowra; Russell Crowe, Youki Kudoh; 99 min. Japanese woman on honeymoon in Australia leaves her husband and becomes involved with Aussie bushwhacker in a chase across Australia
Home Song Stories, The (Tony Ayres, 2007) autobiopic of Ayres' life with his Chinese mother
Hound Of The Deep, The (Frank Hurley, 1926) aka Pearl of the South Seas; Stoll Picture Productions; see also The Jungle Woman
Illustrious Energy (Leon Narbey, 1988) aka Dreams of Home; Chan, a Chinese prospector in the NZ goldfields in the 1860s and his father-in-law work a gold claim in a racist climate
In a Savage Land (Bill Bennett, 1999) wr. & prod. Bill Bennett, Jennifer Bennett; Maya Stange, Martin Harrison, Rufus Sewell, John Howard, Max Cullen; AFI Nomination 1999; IF: Married anthropologists voyage to a PNG island to study sexual behaviour of the locals. An interesting, gutsy first half trips its way into the second, which leans at times toward a storyline more befitting of a Mills and Boon novel. Still, a tale told well. Bill and Jennifer Bennett have written an intelligent role for just the right woman, unearthing a star in Maya Stange. (Independent Filmmakers, October 1999: 17)
Jammed, The (Dee McLachlan, 2007) Australia 22 June 2007 (Sydney International Film Festival); women of different national origins trapped in sex slavery
Jungle Woman, The (Frank Hurley, 1926) shot in New Guinea
Japanese Story (Sue Brooks, 2003) wr. Alison Tilson, prod. Sue Maslin, ed. Jill Bilcock; Gecko Films; Toni Collette; set and shot in Perth and the Pilbara; screened at Cannes in the section of the Festival called Un Certain Regard; won Best Film, Best Screenplay, Best Cinematography AFIs 2003; well-connected Japanese executive comes to Western Australian to inspect iron-ore mining and is driven in the bush by a geologist; this is the story of their relationship
Koya No Toseinin [The Drifting Avenger] (Junya Sato, 1968) Japanese western shot but not released in Australia
Kokoda Front Line! (Damien Parer, 1944) war doco shot in New Guinea
Like a Dream (Clara Law, 2009) relationship between American man and Chinese woman; co-produced with US; shot in New York and Shanghai
Little Fish (Rowan Woods, 2005) prod. Vincent Sheehan, Liz Watts, Porchlight Films, wr. Jacquelin Perske, dp Danny Ruhlmann; Hugo Weaving, Cate Blanchett, Sam Neill, Martin Henderson, Dustin Nguyen, Joel Tobeck, Noni Hazlehurst, Lisa McCune, Susie Porter; set in Little Saigon outside Sydney; woman tries to escape her past as a heroin addict and set up a business in Sydney's west; to open Melbourne FF 20 July 2005; Australian release 8 September 2005; 114 min.
Love in Ambush (Carl Schultz, 1997) wr. Carl Schultz; Jacques Perrin, Gary Sweet, Sigrid Thornton, Grant Piro, James Tolkan; political romance; Shelly Kincaid leaves her unhappy marriage for Cambodia, where her brother is accused of deserting the army in Vietnam
Love Serenade (Shirley Barrett, 1996) Miranda Otto, Rebecca Frith, George Shevtsov, John Alansu (Albert Lee) runs the local Chinese restaurant; 101 min.; two sisters compete for the attentions of DJ new to small town; the younger works in the restaurant
Lucky Miles (Michael James Rowland, 2007) illegal immigrants landed on remote WA coast by Indonesian people smugglers
Midnite Spares (Quentin Masters, 1983) wr. Terry Larsen; dp Geoff Burton; Max Cullen, Bruce Spence, David Argue, John Clayton, Tony Barry, Terry Camilleri, introducing Gia Carides, Jonathan Coleman, James Laurie (Steve), Graeme Blundell; 'B' grade crime movie: the stolen car industry; anti-Viet racism
Moeru Tairuku [Blazing Continent] (Shogoro Nishimura, 1968) Japanese romance shot but not released in Australia
No Worries (David Elfick, 1993) Amy Terelinck, Geoff Morell, Susan Lyons, John Hargreaves, Steven Vidler, Ray Barrett, Harold Hopkins, Ngoc Hanh Nguyen (Binh); family has to leave the farm in hard times and come to the city, where the daughter makes a new, Vietnamese friend
The Odd Angry Shot (Tom Jeffrey, 1979) wr. Tom Jeffrey; Graham Kennedy, John Hargreaves, John Jarratt, Bryan Brown, Graeme Blundell, Richard Moir, Ian Gilmour, Graham Rouse, John Allen, Tony Barry, Brandon Burke, John Fitzgerald, Mike Harris, Johnny Garfield, Ray Meagher, Frankie J. Holden, Roger Newcombe, Brian Evis, Rose Ricketts, Chuck McKinney, Freddie Paris, Sharon Higgins; 88 min.
Quiet American, The (Phillip Noyce, 2002)
Sebastian and the Sparrow (Scott Hicks, 1989) children's film, set in Adelaide, friendship between two boys, one Euro-Australian, the other from Vietnamese background
Southern Cross (Mark DeFriest, 2001) prod. Paul D. Barron, remake of A Waltz Through the Hills (Frank Arnold, 1988) from the novel by Gerry Glaskin; Heath Bergersen, Bill Kerr, Michael Loney, Geoff Kelso; two Vietnamese children escape from an institution for refugees, and make their way to Perth
Traps (Pauline Chan, 1994) wr. Robert Carter, Pauline Chan, novel Kate Greville, dp Kevin Hayward, ed. Nicholas Beauman; Saskia Reeves, Robert Reynolds, Sami Frey, Jacqueline McKenzie, Kiet Lam; filmed on location in Vietnam; Chan's feature debut; English couple come to French Indo-China, 1950, to do photo-journalism story on rubber plantation, and become involved in political developments
Vietnam (John Duigan & Chris Noonan, 1987) mini-series
Year of Living Dangerously, The (Peter Weir, 1982) wr. David Williamson, music Maurice Jarre, prod. Jim & Hal McElroy; Mel Gibson, Sigourney Weaver; 115 min.
Documentaries
Bob Connolly & Robyn Anderson
First Contact (Robyn Anderson & Bob Connolly, 1982) documentary
Joe Leahy's Neighbours (Bob Connolly & Robyn Anderson, 1988) documentary
Black Harvest (Bob Connolly & Robyn Anderson, 1992) documentary
David Bradbury
Frontline (David Bradbury, 1980) documentary concerned with war cameraman Neil Davis and his work in Vietnam and Cambodia: he shot the girl who had been bombed with napalm, and the VC tank crashing through the gate of the Presidential Palace in Hanoi.
John Darling
Lempad of Bali (John Darling, 1980) documentary
Bali Triptych (John Darling, 1987) documentary
Bali Hash (John Darling, 1989) documentary
Below the Wind (John Darling, 1994) documentary
Healing of Bali, The (John Darling, 2003) documentary broadcast on The Cutting Edge, SBS, Tuesday 7 October 2003
Cecil Holmes
Gentle Strangers (Cecil Holmes, 1972) dp Bruce McNaughton; 'mini-feature' about the problems faced by Asian students in Australia; Kate Fitzpatrick; 58 min.
Chris Hilton and Gauthier Flauder
Advertising Missionaries (Chris Hilton and Gauthier Flauder, 1996) In Papua New Guinea where over three quarters of the population cannot be reached by regular advertising media, markets are being developed by other means. A theatre group travels the remote highlands performing soap operas devised around advertising messages for products like Coca Cola, Colgate and Mortein.
Green Tea and Cherry Ripe (Solrun Hoaas, 1988) AFI nomination Best Director in Documentary Cinema du Réel (Competition). Available on DVD
Sacred Vandals (Solrun Hoaas, 1983) Highly Commended ATOM awards Jury Special Prize, Uni-Japan Competition for films on Japan, Tokyo, 1984 recently screened in 2008: Okinawan Film Festival, Tokyo. Available on DVD
Pyongyang Diaries (Solrun Hoaas, 1998) International Forum, Berlin , IDFA (Amsterdam), PICAF (Pusan) TV broadcasts worldwide. US distributor. Available on DVD
Rushing to Sunshine (Solrun Hoaas, 2001) premiered Insa Art Space, Seoul. Chungmuro International Film Festival, Seoul, 2007. US distributor. Available on DVD
Frank Hurley
Pearls and Savages (Frank Hurley, 1921) documentary about Anglican missions in Papua; with additional footage expanded to become With the Headhunters in Papua, 1923: Hurley presented both films lecturing from the stage; see Pike & Cooper 1998: 131-3
Joris Ivens
Indonesia Calling (Joris Ivens, 1946) documentary
Gary Kildea
Trobriand Cricket (Gary Kildea with Jerry Leach, 1979) cultural creativity among the people of the Trobriand Islands of Papua New Guinea
Celso and Cora: A Manila Story (Gary Kildea, 1982) feature-length film about a young couple and their two children living in a squatter settlement in the Philippine capital, Manila
Valencia Diary (Gary Kildea, 1992) chronicle of a Southern Philippine village when daily life was charged with tension at the impending collapse of the Marcos regime
Clara Law
Letters to Ali (Clara Law & Eddie Fong, 2004) documentary; premiere Melbourne Film Festival June 2004; Toronto FF September 2004
Les McLaren & Annie Stiven
Taking Pictures (Les McLaren & Annie Stiven, 1996) thoughtful look at the way Western cameras have represented the lives of Papua New Guineans; features interviews with a variety of Australian filmmakers who have worked extensively in PNG, including Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson, Chris Owen, Dennis O'Rourke and Gary Kildea
Chris Owen (Australian residing permanently in PNG, and one of PNG's leading filmmakers)
Bridewealth for a Goddess (Chris Owen, with Professor Andrew Strathearn, 2000) The Kawelka people live on tribal land near Mount Hagen in the Wahgi Valley, in the Western Highlands Province of Papua New Guinea; record of a ritual that took years to prepare and may never be performed again.
Tom Zubrycki
Molly and Mobarak (Tom Zubrycki, 2003) documentary; Mobarak is a refugee, and Molly and her mother befriend him
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