1st Festival 1954

The Film Users’ Association of NSW, to which most film organisations belonged, organised an inaugural meeting to form a Sydney Film Festival committee. This took place on 13 October, 1953 at the offices of the Canadian National Film Board. It was attended by representatives of the Federation of NSW Film Societies, the Australian Amateur Cine Society, the Federation of Parents and Citizens Associations, the Independent Film Group, the Sydney Film Society, the Sydney University Film Group, the Film Users’ Association, the Sydney Scientific Film Society and interested individuals. As a result of the election of Professor A.K. Stout, Professor of Moral and Political Philosophy at the University of Sydney, to the position of President and Chairman, the co-operation of the University Vice-Chancellor was gained and an agreement to stage the Festival on university grounds was struck.

The inaugural Festival was held at the University of Sydney in four halls (Annexe, Teachers College, Union Hall, Wallace Theatre). Nine features shown, four of them revivals of classic films from the past (Rene Clair's Sous les toits de Paris, Buster Keaton’s The General, Schoedsack's and Cooper’s Grass, Carl Dreyer's The Passion of Joan of Arc). Highlight among the new features was John Heyer's presentation of his now classic documentary The Back of Beyond. Also screened were Paul Rotha's and Basil Wright World Without End, Jacques Tati’s first feature Jour de Fete, the Hungarian documentary Kingdom on the Waters and Roberto Rossellini's Germany Year Zero. The late Peter Foldes, then resident in Sydney, introduced his short films On Closer Inspection and Animated Genesis.