Author Ben Kooyman

Since the success of My Brilliant Career (1979), Gillian Armstrong has become somewhat synonymous with period cinema, an association borne out by her subsequent Hollywood work (Mrs Soffel, 1984; Little Women, 1...

Pauline Kael, the great American film critic, was decidedly lukewarm on Australian cinema. In an interview with Cinema Papers, she elaborated that “Most Australian films are terribly well done”, but “There is a...

In the twentieth century, many of the most notable depictions of Indigenous Australians and their culture in feature films were steered by white filmmakers: see, for example, Jedda (Charles Chauvel, 1955), Walk...

Kathryn Bigelow has defied expectations throughout her unorthodox career: the co-director of arthouse biker movie The Loveless (1981) also helmed the most expensive (for its time) film from a female director, K...

Credit for the genius of the original series of The Twilight Zone is routinely attributed to its droll, visionary chain-smoking architect Rod Serling – a 1950s equivalent of today’s Social Justice Warrior, who ...

Among his many claims to fame, Marlon Brando was noteworthy as a supporter of Native American heritage and civil rights, famously sending activist Sacheen Littlefeather to the 45th Academy Awards ceremony to pu...

Jane Campion’s After Hours (1984) was developed in partnership with the Women’s Film Unit of Film Australia. This is a virtually forgotten entry in Campion’s filmography; while the short works helmed during her...