About the Book

Tom O'Regan's book is the first of its kind on Australian post-war cinema. It takes as its starting point Bazin's question "What is cinema?" and asks what the construct of a "national" cinema means. It looks at the broader concept from a different angle, taking film beyond the confines of "art" into the broader cultural world.

Analysis and Perspective

O'Regan's analysis situates Australian cinema in its historical and cultural perspective, producing a valuable insight into the issues that have been raised by film policy, the cinema marketplace, and public discourse on film production strategies.

Historical Context and Critiques

Since 1970, Australian film has enjoyed a revival. This book contains detailed critiques of the key films of this period and uses them to illustrate the recent theories on the international and Australian cinema industries.

Conclusions and Broader Relevance

Its conclusions on the nature of the nation’s cinema and the discourses within it are relevant within a far wider context; film as a global phenomenon.