Featuring Australia: The Cinema of Charles Chauvel

This study follows the career of Charles Chauvel, one of Australia's pioneer film-makers, and the films he made between the 1920s and 1950s. Believing that Chauvel has not received the attention he deserves, the author probes the obstacles to a deeper appreciation of Chauvel's strange, ambitious and fascinating films, and the industrial and cultural environment from which they emerged. "Featuring Australia" shows that Chauvel's career and films were shaped by issues of colonialism, nationalism and internationalism, by the attractions and difficulties of independence, and by stylistic options very much alive today. "Featuring Australia" tells a story of remarkable relevance to today's film industry, showing that Chauvel's career and films are shaped by issues of colonialism, nationalism, and internationalism, by the attractions and difficulties of independence, and by stylistic options very much alive today. Students and teachers of Australian culture, history and film will welcome the book, while film-industry personnel, policy-makers and fans will find much to interest them in this informative study of one of Australia's greatest film-makers. Stuart Cunningham gained postgraduate qualifications from universities in Canada, the United States and Australia, and is presently Senior Lecturer in Communication and Cultural Studies, Queensland University of Technology. He is a well known writer on the history, products and policy of Australian film and television; he has also been a full-time policy analyst and part-time video maker and poet. He has worked on the editorial boards of several jourmals and magazines, including Cinema papers, Filmnews, Culture and policy, Metro, Continuum, and Cultural studies. This book is intended for students and researchers in cultural studies and film studies.