29th Festival 1982

Films screened included Rainer Werner Fassbinder’s Veronika Voss, David Carradine’s Americana and Lindsay Anderson’s Britannia Hospital. Anderson delivered this year’s Ian McPherson Memorial Lecture.

Tributes to New Zealand and France were held. From David Stratton’s Director’s Forward: “New Zealand films have been shown with great success in London and New York, but hardly at all in Sydney. We’re not trying to start a new trend; just to point out that some pretty good things are happening across the Tasman – and to welcome a delegation of filmmakers from New Zealand to the Sydney Film Festival”.

A screening series titled An Alternative Selection, seemingly a distant precursor to the current Freak Me Out program of midnight and exploitation films, was programmed and introduced by Glenys Rowe. Additionally, a retrospective of classic horror films was screened, notably Mark of the Vampire , with Lionel Barrymore and the immortal Bela Lugosi as Dracula; 1932’s Pre-Code The Most Dangerous Game; James Whale’s The Invisible Man; and the cult French chiller Eyes Without a Face.

Friends of the Festival, a group created to bring people together throughout the year for special screenings, was inaugurated this year as well. A series of films highlighting ‘green’ issues was screened at the State Theatre.

Opening Night Film: Squizzy Taylor (directed by Kevin Dobson)

Closing Night Film: Bad Blood (directed by Mike Newell)

Award Winners

Greater Union Awards for Australian Short Films (General):

Shadows (directed by Royden Irvine)

Greater Union Award for Australian Short Films (Fiction):

Greetings from Wollongong (directed by Mary Callaghan)

Greater Union Award for Australian Short Films (Documentary):

Home on the Range (directed by Gil Scrine)

Rouben Mamoulian Award:

Mary Callaghan (director of Greetings from Wollongong)