David Williamson

As Australian cinema broke through to international audiences in the 1970s through respected art house films like Peter Weir's "Picnic At Hanging Rock," a new underground of low-budget exploitation filmmakers were turning out considerably less highbrow fare. Documentary filmmaker Mark Hartley explores this unbridled era of sex and violence, complete with clips from some of the scene's most outrageous flicks and interviews with the renegade filmmakers themselves.

An observational documentary about playwright and writer David Williamson and his work. Excerpts from theatrical performances and films written by Williamson are also shown - including The Removalists, The Club, and Peter Weir's Gallipoli.

It is the world's most mysterious manuscript. A book, written by an unknown author, illustrated with pictures that are as bizarre as they are puzzling - and written in a language that even the best cryptographers have been unable to decode.

A young Australian reporter tries to navigate the political turmoil of Indonesia during the rule of President Sukarno with the help of a diminutive photographer.

Two Australian sprinters face the brutal realities of war when they are sent to fight in the Gallipoli campaign in the Ottoman Empire during World War I.

As Indonesia prepares to invade the tiny nation of East Timor, five Australian based journalists go missing. Four weeks later, veteran foreign correspondent Roger East is lured to East Timor by the young and charismatic José Ramos-Horta to tell the story of his country and investigate the fate of the missing men. As East's determination to uncover the truth grows, the threat of invasion intensifie

Phar Lap, the big bold chestnut reigned as the king of the turf in the depression that gripped Australia of the 1930s. From his humble beginnings the New Zealand bred horse raced on to become the hero of a nation.

An adaptation of David Williamson's play; John Hargreaves and Peter Cummins star as a good and bad cop who assist a battered wife as she tries to escape her belligerent husband.

A couple move to Sydney from Melbourne, and soon become lured by the bright lights of the big city. Colin, the scriptwriter husband, is corrupted by his editor and then falls for the girlfriend of his writing partner, while Colin's wife Kate begins to lose sight of her ideals in a new world of hustlers and cynics.

Bob, a well-known Australian journalist, already wealthy working for US TV, is offered a $3 million dollar deal to stay in the US, for mysterious reasons he returns home. John, an obsessive young academic has spent years writing a book about Bob’s life, loathing him, he demands the truth why Bob returned to Australia. The encounter ignites the most basic emotions in both characters.

The club buys a talented young player, Geoff, for a record sum of money. The team members do not like their new star and friction develops immediately. Game after game is lost until Geoff begins to realize that there is more at stake than just his own career.

An old captain & his young wife share a lot of adventures after they're shipwrecked and captured by Aborigines on an island near Australia.

Face to Face is adapted from David Williamson's play of the same name which is in turn based on the transcripts from real conflict resolution sessions. The story is about a young scaffold construction worker who is charged with assaulting his boss. By the end of the film, all our assumptions about guilt and blame are turned on their heads. As 10 people sit in a room discussing the turn of events that brought our protagonist to breaking point, twists and surprises reveal that all is not quite as simple as it seems. Michael Rymer directs his screen adaptation of 'Face to Face' (written by Australian playwright David Williamson), as an ensemble piece about 10 very dissimilar Australians bound together by a complex pattern of relationships and shared histories. Hysterically funny and deeply moving, each character's role in the drama peels back another layer as the story digs down to the roots of who these people really are.

On the night of the 1969 federal election, Don Henderson invites a group of friends to celebrate a predicted Labor Party victory, much to the dismay of his wife, Kath. The Hendersons and their nine guests drink, joke, make love, and fight, all while coming to terms with their individual struggles in life.

A middle aged man, Ray Martin, faces a series of problems – his wife is cheating on him, his mistress wants to get married and Americans want to take over his toy business.

Barbara and Steward are happily married and have three kids. But one day Barbara decides that her children are old enough now and she can quit as housewife and start to study. Against the will of her husband she employs babysitter Eric while she attends university. Steward reacts increasingly nervous about the presence of another man in his family and brings their marriage into a crisis.

For two brilliant young athletes - Roger Bannister of England and John Landy of Australia - the 1952 Helsinki Olympics present an exciting challenge. But events help set them on the path to something even more memorable than an Olympic gold medal - the race to break the four-minute mile....

Travelling North tells the story of Frank, a crotchety old man with an unending zest and passion for life and Frances his much younger companion travelling to Queensland to enjoy their retirement and each other. Unfortunately the North cannot calm Frank's complex personality and Frances watches helplessly as Frank struggles to understand his own emotional and physical limitations.

Stork is a gangly young man, a virgin with an overactive imagination who thinks he’s a revolutionary. Bored with a design job at General Motors Holden in Melbourne, he drops out and moves into a share house with his mate Westy. He daydreams his way through life, bungling job interviews, upsetting ‘respectable’ people, and getting drunk. The only girl in the house, Anna resists Stork’s advances, because she’s already involved with the other two resident males, Tony and Clyde. But when she becomes pregnant and Clyde and Anna decide to marry, Stork, Tony, Clyde and Westy are shocked when they realize that either one of the foursome could be the father. Then the fun begins....

Kate McLelland's life is a normal one of a girl her age in the eastern suburbs, until her discovery that she is adopted. This is the story of her search for her natural mother and the resulting relationship.

Scripted by four of Australia’s greatest authors (David Williamson, Thomas Keneally, Hal Porter and Craig McGregor), this quartet of carnal desires explores adultery and jealous fantasies, the end of innocence, the moral and spiritual conflicts of a priest and a nun in love. The stories define the exploration of women and the cultural upheaval of the early 70s.