AustLit

'A new book, Shining a Light: 50 Years of the Australian Film Institute, traces the progress of the film and television industries in Australia - as well as screen culture within Australia over the past half century - through the lens of one key organisation, the Australian Film Institute (AFI).

Since its establishment in 1958, the AFI has played a central role in nurturing and supporting both screen culture and production, from the Australian film industry's small beginnings to its development into an internationally recognised billion dollar industry. Shining a Light maps out the history of the AFI and the wider industry over the past fifty years and explores the relationship of screen culture to a successful production industry.

The book is a timely and significant contribution to scholarship on Australian cinema, being published at a critical time in Australian film history. The authors have interviewed key players on the local scene, and sifted through volumes of documentary evidence in chronicling the history of the AFI, its successes and role in Australian screen culture past, present and future.

The writers' collective experience spans filmmaking, academic research and teaching, film journalism, employment and service in key screen culture organisations as well as an abiding passion for Australian cinema - bringing to the book both the filmmaker or industry perspective, and academic schlorship.' (Publisher's blurb)

Silversun follows the journey of the titular spacecraft, two years into a ninety-year journey to a distant, Earth-like planet, intended for colonisation. The colonists are in cryogenic status, and the ship's crew is largely teenagers, who will take over the primary roles as the adult crew ages.

The program's focus was a combination of the coming-of-age/interpersonal relationship storylines typical of a teenage show and the type of ethical dilemmas common to science-fiction story-telling. Among the latter were such issues as whether or not a crew member's clone was human, and what effect long-distance interstellar travel would have on the human mind and emotions.

Season two of the program ended on a cliffhanger, and no plans have been made to revive the program.

A series of short dramas from children, adapted from the works of Australian and New Zealand authors. Not all of the episodes contain speculative-fiction content, though the majority do.

In 'The Giant's Tooth', two children assist a young giant who has lost his tooth.

In 'Pumped Up', a young boy's grandfather designs a pair of basketball boots that enable the wearer to perform feats of great physical strength and dexterity.

In 'Ben and the Alien Invasion', a young boy and his talking wart save the world from an alien invasion.

In 'Bull Harris and the Purple Ooze', a group of friends outsmart the class bully with the help of a mysterious miniature brain.

In 'The Mystery of the Talking Tail', a young boy helps a demanding talking tail find a new home.

In 'Rose Meets Mr Wintergarden', a young girl helps a reclusive old man re-enter life.

In 'Skating on Sand', a young girl overcomes rocky terrain and sibling rivalry to teach herself how to roller blade.

Chuck Finn follows Charles 'Chuck' Finn, a Canadian boy whose parents move from Toronto to the Australian country town of Tingalla. At first, he longs desperately to return to Toronto, but he soon finds the decommissioned and derelict paddle steamer the Tingalla Rose. Soon, he and his friends--some of whom are ghostly, rather than mortal--are enchanted by the possibility of getting the Tingalla Rose running again and seduced by life on the Murray River.

Unfortunately for Chuck Finn, Barron Entertainment declared bankruptcy during the production of season two. A truncated season of six episodes was completed and released, but the production was abandoned at that point.

A single woman in her thirties decides to have a child.