28th Festival 1981

This year saw the first green series at the ANZAC Auditorium, as well as the first Ian McPherson lecture, delivered by John Gillett of the British Film Institute. McPherson had been one of the driving forces behind SFF and served on the festival board from 1954 onwards; he was President from 1968-71. He died of cancer in August 1980. This annual lecture, which continues to this day, was inaugurated in his honour.

Evenings of Polish and Spanish films were held. There was no clear theme given to retrospective screenings this year, with the concept of ‘catching up’ on previously unseen films put at the forefront of the festival’s intentions. Such titles included Joseph Losey’s M, a Los Angeles-set remake of the Fritz Lang classic; Alfred Hitchcock’s Juno and the Paycock; and, from a US-government print, John Huston’s Let There Be Light.

The festival also screened 16 films in a category loosely termed “new cinema,” described as “programs of films which approach the medium in fresh or unusual, sometimes experimental, ways.” Programmed by film distributor and producer Glenys Rowed, the section included titles like like Ray Guerra’s Mueda and Peter Greenaway’s The Falls.

The Closing Night film, Robert Altman’s Health, remains to this day unavailable on home video. The satire of the presidential electoral process was only ever released in a very limited fashion and Australia was the first international country to screen the film. Perhaps a notable achievement of the work occurred when US President Ronald Reagan, after seeing the film at Camp David in 1982, wrote in his diary that it was “the world’s worst movie.”

Opening Night Film: For the Term of His Natural Life (directed by Norman Dawn; retrospective from 1927)

Closing Night Film: Health (directed by Robert Altman)

Award Winners

Greater Union Award for Australian Short Films (General):

Groping (directed by Proyas/Silverstein/Vaccher/Nelson)

Greater Union Award for Australian Short Films (Fiction):

Meatheads (directed by Wayne Moore)

Greater Union Award for Australian Short Films (Documentary):

Waterloo (directed by Tom Zubrycki)

Rouben Mamoulian Award:

David Bradbury (director of Public Enemy Number One)