Bob Connolly

"First Contact" is a 1983 documentary by Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson which recounts the discovery of a flourishing native population in the interior highlands of New Guinea in 1930 in what had been thought to be an uninhabited area. It is based on the book of the same name by the same authors. Inhabitants of the region and surviving members of the Leahy brothers' gold prospecting party recount their astonishment at this unforeseen meeting. The film includes still photographs taken by a member of the expedition and contemporary footage of the island's terrain. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Joe Leahy is the half-caste son of one of the first explorers of the Papua New Guinean interior. The documentary explores his relationship with the tribes that work his coffee plantation and explores what happens when the coffee market situation becomes more difficult.

Before the 1970s, the Commonwealth Film Unit represented the people of PNG in a paternalistic way, as curiosities. The unit used pompous voice-overs telling viewers what they should believe. Les McLaren and Annie Stiven are two of a group of Australian filmmakers who have lived and worked in PNG during the past 25 years and who see their roles rather differently. Through their films, they have endeavoured to reflect Papua New Guineans' complexity of thought, language and culture, using a wide variety of filmic styles and techniques. The film 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. This documentary is a fascinating tracing of PNG culture and history from the 1930s until today.

In 1980 James "The Amazing" Randi was flown to Australia by Dick Smith to conduct the definitive test of the claims of Water Diviners or Dowsers. This event helped to launch the Australian Skeptics.

A high adventure film about Tim Macartney-Snape's incredible expedition to climb Gasherbrum IV - a 8000 metre symmetrical pyramid mountain of rock and ice on the border of Pakistan and China in the Karakoram Range of the western Himalaya. Tim was the first in the team to reach the summit, and as he says 'the climb was harder than Everest'. This was Gasherbrum IV's second complete ascent and first ascent of the northwest ridge. The mountain, first climbed in 1958 by Italians Walter Bonatti and Carlo Mauro is one of the most difficult ones in the Himalayas and has registered only a handful of ascents.

Follows amateur botanist Antonius Moscal's raft journey down the Franklin River (Tasmania, Australia).

"First Contact" is a 1983 documentary by Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson which recounts the discovery of a flourishing native population in the interior highlands of New Guinea in 1930 in what had been thought to be an uninhabited area. It is based on the book of the same name by the same authors. Inhabitants of the region and surviving members of the Leahy brothers' gold prospecting party recount their astonishment at this unforeseen meeting. The film includes still photographs taken by a member of the expedition and contemporary footage of the island's terrain. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

"First Contact" is a 1983 documentary by Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson which recounts the discovery of a flourishing native population in the interior highlands of New Guinea in 1930 in what had been thought to be an uninhabited area. It is based on the book of the same name by the same authors. Inhabitants of the region and surviving members of the Leahy brothers' gold prospecting party recount their astonishment at this unforeseen meeting. The film includes still photographs taken by a member of the expedition and contemporary footage of the island's terrain. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature.

Joe Leahy is the half-caste son of one of the first explorers of the Papua New Guinean interior. The documentary explores his relationship with the tribes that work his coffee plantation and explores what happens when the coffee market situation becomes more difficult.

In 1980 James "The Amazing" Randi was flown to Australia by Dick Smith to conduct the definitive test of the claims of Water Diviners or Dowsers. This event helped to launch the Australian Skeptics.

A high adventure film about Tim Macartney-Snape's incredible expedition to climb Gasherbrum IV - a 8000 metre symmetrical pyramid mountain of rock and ice on the border of Pakistan and China in the Karakoram Range of the western Himalaya. Tim was the first in the team to reach the summit, and as he says 'the climb was harder than Everest'. This was Gasherbrum IV's second complete ascent and first ascent of the northwest ridge. The mountain, first climbed in 1958 by Italians Walter Bonatti and Carlo Mauro is one of the most difficult ones in the Himalayas and has registered only a handful of ascents.

Follows amateur botanist Antonius Moscal's raft journey down the Franklin River (Tasmania, Australia).

Follows amateur botanist Antonius Moscal's raft journey down the Franklin River (Tasmania, Australia).

Anne Boyd, one of Australia's leading contemporary composers, teaches music at the publicly funded University of Sydney. This documentary chronicles a year in the life of an academic department that's under the financial gun.

High School Music Director Karen Carey, puts on a concert every two years at the Sydney Opera House. She insists upon a demanding repertoire, and the participation of all 1200 girls in the school. Not everyone share her passion

Every September Sydney's inner-suburban Leichhardt Council re-elects it mayor. Incumbent Larry Hand was popular with the citizenry but they don't vote for mayor - the 12 councillors do - and after three years of Larry, at least four councillors were after his job. When film-makers Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson settled in at Leichhardt Council in early 1994 the knives were already being sharpened. A battle royal was in the making, and so it came to pass. By the end of September Larry had fought the fight of his life, with Connolly and Anderson documenting every bit of it on film. Ambition, courage, envy, hatred, loyalty, betrayal, disaster, triumph... in other words, a classic study in politics.

Every September Sydney's inner-suburban Leichhardt Council re-elects it mayor. Incumbent Larry Hand was popular with the citizenry but they don't vote for mayor - the 12 councillors do - and after three years of Larry, at least four councillors were after his job. When film-makers Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson settled in at Leichhardt Council in early 1994 the knives were already being sharpened. A battle royal was in the making, and so it came to pass. By the end of September Larry had fought the fight of his life, with Connolly and Anderson documenting every bit of it on film. Ambition, courage, envy, hatred, loyalty, betrayal, disaster, triumph... in other words, a classic study in politics.

Every September Sydney's inner-suburban Leichhardt Council re-elects it mayor. Incumbent Larry Hand was popular with the citizenry but they don't vote for mayor - the 12 councillors do - and after three years of Larry, at least four councillors were after his job. When film-makers Bob Connolly and Robin Anderson settled in at Leichhardt Council in early 1994 the knives were already being sharpened. A battle royal was in the making, and so it came to pass. By the end of September Larry had fought the fight of his life, with Connolly and Anderson documenting every bit of it on film. Ambition, courage, envy, hatred, loyalty, betrayal, disaster, triumph... in other words, a classic study in politics.

Australian independent political documentary about the US installations in Australia at Pine Gap near Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.

Joe Leahy and his complicated relationship with the Guniga people in the Papua New Guinea highlands.

Joe Leahy and his complicated relationship with the Guniga people in the Papua New Guinea highlands.

Joe Leahy and his complicated relationship with the Guniga people in the Papua New Guinea highlands.