Films

Ladies in BlackLadies In Black (2018)

Ladies in Black was the hit Australian movie of 2018.  Directed by Bruce Beresford, produced by Sue Milliken and Allanah Zitserman and adapted by Milliken and Beresford from Madeleine St. John’s best selling novel, the film is set in 1959 as Australia was about to awaken from the post war era into a new world of possibilities.

The film stars Julia Ormond, Angourie Rice, Rachael Taylor, Susie Porter, Shane Jacobson and Vincent Perez.  It was nominated for ten Australian AACTA awards including best screenplay (Sue Milliken and Bruce Beresford).

The film is available on DVD and online.

redfern-story-3The Redfern Story (2013)

The film is about the National Black Theatre movement in Redfern, which was formed at a very crucial time in Australian political history, culminating with the establishment of a political movement and the setting up of a number of significant Aboriginal organisations. The National Black Theatre has left a lasting legacy on national politics, social welfare and the Australian arts scene.

Interviewees include Dr. Gary Foley, Professor Marcia Langton, actors Ernie Dingo, Bryan Brown, Rachael Maza and Lillian Crombie, plus extraordinary archival footage of the television pilot “Basically Black” and the establishment of the Tent Embassy in Canberra.

Crocodile Dreaming (2007)

Crocodile Dreaming was a project developed by Darlene Johnson and the legendary Australian actor and winner of AFFs inaugural Don Dustan Award, David Gulpilil.

The story is about two estranged half-brothers, Burrimmilla and Charlie, who must struggle against their own jealousy and distrust for each other. When there is a violent death in the community upsetting the spiritual world, Burrimmilla is unexpectedly called upon to fulfill an ancient tribal obligation.

Farscape (1999–2003)

Farscape is an Australian science fiction television series, produced originally for the Nine Network. The series was conceived by Rockne S. O’Bannon and produced by Jim Henson Productions and Hallmark Entertainment. Sue Milliken was producer of series 2 to 5.

The story centres around Astronaut John Crichton, who, on an experimental space mission, is accidentally hurled across the universe into the midst of an intergalactic conflict. There, Crichton meets a diverse ensemble of characters who are initially escaping from corrupt authorities in the form of a militaristic species called the Peacekeepers.

My Brother Jack (2001)


“My Brother Jack” is the award winning Australian miniseries based on George Johnston’s classic novel. The film was directed by Ken Cameron and stars Matt Day, Simon Lyndon and Claudia Karvan.

This semi-autobiographical tale follows the narrator, David Meredith, through his childhood and adolescence in interwar Melbourne through to adulthood and his journalism career during World War II.

Paradise Road (1997)


Paradise Road is a 1997 film by Bruce Beresford which tells the story of a group of English, American, Dutch and Australian women who are imprisoned by the Japanese in Sumatra during World War II and used music as a relief to their misery. The film stars Glenn Close as beatific Adrienne Pargiter, Frances McDormand.

Beresford and producer Sue Milliken researched the story over more than two years, by reading books and unpublished diaries on the subject and by interviewing survivors.

 

Dating the Enemy (1996)

Dating The Enemy is an Australian comedy about a boyfriend and girlfriend who swap bodies and have to live as each other. The film stars Guy Pearce and Claudia Karvan.

One review described Dating the Enemy as: “A fast and funny look at relationships in the 90s, the smash-hit romantic comedy ‘Dating the Enemy’ brings a whole new meaning to the battle of the sexes.”

 

Sirens (1993)

Sirens is a 1994 film, written and directed by John Duigan and produced by Sue Milliken. The film is set in Australia between the two World Wars. Hugh Grant stars as Tony, an Anglican priest newly arrived from England, asked to visit a notorious artist, played here by Sam Neill, out of the church’s concern about a blasphemous painting the artist plans to exhibit.

Sirens, along with Four Weddings and a Funeral and Bitter Moon—all released in the U.S. within weeks of each other—were the films that brought Hugh Grant to the attention of American audiences.

 

Black Robe (1991)

Black Robe is a 1991 film directed by Bruce Beresford.

Set in 1634, the film begins in the tiny French settlement that will one day become Quebec City. Jesuit missionaries are trying to encourage the local Algonquin Indians to embrace Christianity, with thus far only limited results. Samuel de Champlain, founder of the settlement, sends Father LaForgue, a young Jesuit priest, to find a distant Catholic mission in a Huron village.

 

The Fringe Dwellers (1986)

The Fringe Dwellers is a 1961 novel written by the Western Australian author Nene Gare.It was made into a 1986 film directed by Bruce Beresford and produced by Sue Milliken.

The film centres around a young Aboriginal girl who dreams of life beyond the family camp that sits on the fringe of white society. The Fringe Dwellers is acclaimed as being the first Australian film featuring Indigenous actors in all the major roles.

 

The Odd Angry Shot (1979)

Based on the novel of the same name by William L. Nagle, The Odd Angry Shot is a film following the experience of Australian soldiers during the Vietnam War. It traces the departure and tour of duty of an Australian Special Air Service Regiment reconnaissance team and avoids much of the political comment on Australia’s involvement in Vietnam; a theme that became more popular in the 1980s when Hollywood began to explore the rights and wrongs of the Vietnam War.