A docu-drama shot in 1970, but not completed until 1973, the film sought to encapsulate in an experimental form issues that were under discussion within the Women’s Liberation Movement at this time and to thus contribute to action for change. In its numerous community screenings, active debate was encouraged as part of the viewing experience.
Businessman Gerald Barker is invited to join a mysterious super corporation known as The Firm. His work in the organisation turns out to be of a unique and somewhat disturbing nature. But Gerald finds no comfort with his wife Melissa and friend Barry - his relationships with both collapse. In a surreal and strange fashion, Gerald eventually comes to understand what The Firm is about. Made on a tiny budget of $15,000 the film is a mix of naturalism and stylisation which the filmmaker hoped would work on 'a simple, surrealistic level'.
Four young heroin addicts scour the streets of Melbourne in search of some good-quality narcotics – or as they call it, 'pure shit’. In the space of 48 hours, a friend dies of an overdose, they are ripped off by criminals and arrested and assaulted by police. They bungle a break-in, get chased by hooligans and one is sent to a methadone clinic. The search for drugs veers between farce and tragedy, but it never stops.
A young photographer Simon Jess (David Cameron) is given an assignment to shoot some backgrounds for a fashion display in the Snowy Mountains.
Lalai Dreamtime takes the viewer into pre-settled Australia to show a myth from the spiritual tradition of the people. It is the story of Namarali, as presented by Sam Woolagoodja to his son Stanley and his granddaughter Kerry. Namarali is the law-giving 'Wandjina' of the Worora people who, along with him, have many other such Wandjinas. The 'Wandjinas' are ancient creators whose presence is real in the painted imprints of cave walls and in the shape of specific land formations. The film shows the importance of the Dreamtime in the Aboriginal culture.
A process of gradual revelation - while it is not a measured and sequential revelation, the viewer must collect and correlate fragments of visual information - initially the "view" is restricted by the limitations of the camera lens and its angle of acceptance and then the application of the mask systems re-orders and further restricts it.
