This time a year ago, we launched our very first book:
The Australian Film Yearbook – 2021 Edition
It featured a wealth of interviews, reviews, and filmmaker insights about the Australian films released during 2021, including in depth discussions with Costume Designer Erin Roche (High Ground), Director Sally Aitken (Playing with Sharks), Editor Rachel Grierson-Johns (Strong Female Lead), Director Matthew Walker (I’m Wanita), Composer Angela Little (Streamline), Writer/Director Thomas Wilson-White (The Greenhouse), Editor Nick Fenton (Nitram) and filmmakers Tina Fielding, Jacqueline Pelczar, and Cody Greenwood (Sparkles) and many more.
In the time that it’s been released, copies have been sold all around the world, with readers in the UK, the US, and New Zealand. The response has been phenomenal too, with feedback showing that books about modern Australian films are in need.
Which leads us to our next book in the series. We’ve decided to implement a slight name change to the series, which will go by the title:
The Australian Film Book
from the next volume onwards.
Each edition will continue to cover the annual output of Australian films, with in depth filmmaker interviews and critical pieces. We’re currently hard at work on bringing the next volume to life, and will announce our crowdfunding campaign in the upcoming months.
For everyone who has supported our first book, we say a hearty: thank you!
I had been told that a book about Australian films would be a niche topic, one that only a handful of people might be interested in, but to have blasted through out Kickstarter goal within 36 hours, and then to reach the hands of industry veterans and legends (and even into the hands of a certain Minister for the Arts), and to hear from filmmakers both emerging and established about what it means to be celebrated, recognised, and championed in this manner has meant the world to us. It reminds us that we are on the right track and that people genuinely want to hear about Australian films and the people who bring them to life.
We are excited to give you a small tease of what’s to be expected in The Australian Film Book – Volume 2, where there will be in depth coverage of Thomas M. Wright’s haunting film The Stranger, a deep dive into the work of documentarian Eddie Martin, a journey into the aural landscape of Leah Purcell’s magnificent The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson and a celebration of the mind and mastery of filmmaker Platon Theodoris, amongst many other filmmakers and artists.
Future reprints of the 2021 edition will feature the new title, making the existing printed copies a collectors item in some way. We still have physical copies available if you haven’t had a chance to grab one, which you can pick up from the link below. Once these are gone, they’re gone, so get in quick!
