31st Festival 1984

The first year of Rod Webb’s tenure as Festival Director brought films from Wim Wenders, Jim Jarmusch and Robert Mugge among many others, highlighting a new generation of international filmmakers.

The Opening Night film was Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window – which was initially released in the first year of the festival, 1954. It was the first title screened in the superb Hitchcock retrospective, which was comprised of Rope, The Trouble With Harry, The Man Who Knew Too Much (the 1956 version), the early thriller Blackmail, and Vertigo. James Stewart, iconic star of four of the six films, was the festival guest.

In addition to the Hitchcock retrospective, programs of new French and Hungarian cinema were screened, as were assorted restorations, including Visconti’s The Leopard, seen for the first time in a decent-quality print.

The cash prize given to the winner of the Mamoulian Award was now provided by Kodak (Australasia). Jane Campion was the winner with her short A Girl’s Own Story.

Opening Night Film: Rear Window (directed by Alfred Hitchcock; retrospective from 1954)

Closing Night Film: Rumble Fish (directed by Francis Ford Coppola)

Award Winners

Greater Union Award for Australian Short Films (General):

Ned Wethered (directed by Lee Whitmore)

Greater Union Awards for Australian Short Films (Fiction):

Every Day, Every Night (directed by Kathy Mueller)

Greater Union Awards for Australian Short Films (Documentary):

Shipwrecked (directed by Bill Bennett)

Rouben Mamoulian Award

Jane Campion (director of A Girl’s Own Story)