Tim Burstall

The Dance of the Angels: Ceramic Sculptures of John Perceval

Tim Burstall

Camera movement and film editing are combined to animate the ceramic figurines of John Perceval. He created his angels "more or less as symbols of the world's survival." An intangible element common to all Perceval's angels is their spirit of humanity. These ceramic sculptures are disting- uished by their beautiful modelling, and their lustrous red copper glaze with its uncanny depth and beauty. Perceval does not devote himself exclusively to ceramic sculpture; he gives equal time to painting and has won the McCaughey and Vizard-Whollohan Prizes, and shared the Wynne Prize in 1961. Photography by Gerard Vanderberg; music by Dorian Le Gallienne.

The Hot Centre Of The World

Tim Burstall

A dramatic encounter on St Kilda Pier between two derelicts and a would-be suicide.

The Last of the Knucklemen

Tim Burstall

Gerard Kennedy, Michael Preston

In the tradition of Sunday Too Far Away, this independent film is based on the classic Australian play by John Power. Pic tells the story of a group of miners living in a camp in outback Australia. They swear, brawl, gamble, and drink heavily. Central to the story is the conflict between Tarzan, the authoritarian group leader and cocky loud-mouth wisecracking Pansy. This results in a bare-knuckle punch-up for the movie's denouement.

Great Expectations: The Untold Story

Tim Burstall

John Stanton, Sigrid Thornton

A humble orphan suddenly becomes a gentleman with the help of an unknown benefactor.

Nullarbor Hideout

Tim Burstall

Bored during the summer holidays and escaping the heat, a group of kids (and their joey!) from Cook, on the Nullarbor Plain, discover a limestone cave with a huge underground lake. Meanwhile in town, a detective is called in from Port Augusta to investigate a stolen car and some sinister kangaroo shooters. When the kids discover their tucker and canoe have disappeared, they decide to do some investigating of their own. An Australian black and white short film written and directed by Tim Burstall (Alvin Purple).

Petersen

Tim Burstall

Jack Thompson, Jacki Weaver

Tony Petersen, a married electrician and ex-footballer, goes to university to study English. Petersen is odd man out at the uni. He receives extracurricular help from his stuffy professor's beautiful lecturer wife in her office. Their get-togethers there are quite rootine. The professor is also seeing one of his students after class. Petersen and the professor's wife talk about having a baby. But then she accepts an appointment to Oxford, provoking a rage in Petersen...

End Play

Tim Burstall

George Mallaby, John Waters

And just when you believe there is nothing more to fear, you will begin to experience the ultimate terror of the END PLAY.

Three Old Friends

Tim Burstall

Bruce Spence

A story of three old friends coming together.

Kangaroo

Tim Burstall

Colin Friels, Judy Davis

A mild-mannered English conscientious objector moves to what he feels will be the relative calm of Australia after World War I, but gets caught in the middle of violent battles between the rising trade unions and fascist groups.

Two Thousand Weeks

Tim Burstall

Jeanie Drynan, Eileen Chapman

A subjective view of a crisis in the life of a writer who calculates he has 2,000 weeks left in his life to fulfill himself.

Duet for Four

Tim Burstall

Doug Bowles, Diane Cilento

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.

Libido

Tim Burstall, David Baker

Elke Neidhart, Bryon Williams

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.

Stork

Tim Burstall

Bruce Spence, Jacki Weaver

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....

Eliza Fraser

Tim Burstall

Susannah York, Trevor Howard

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

Alvin Purple

Tim Burstall

Graeme Blundell, Abigail

Alvin is your average guy, except for the fact women find him irresistible and chase him everywhere. He tries to avoid them and get psychiatric help but gets used by the psychiatrists as a gigolo to treat other patients instead.

Attack Force Z

Tim Burstall

John Phillip Law, Мэл Гибсон

Tim Burstall directs then-up-and-comers Mel Gibson and Sam Neill in this action-packed Cannes Film Festival selection about the grim realities of World War II, a gritty drama based on actual events. Sent to rescue survivors from the site of a plane crash in the South Pacific, Capt. P.G. Kelly (Gibson) and his elite squad of Australian commandos must keep tabs on a defecting Japanese official who could hold the secret to peace.