Communications and Media Studies

Shining A Light: 50 Years of the AFI traces the progress of the film and television industries as well as screen culture within Australia over the past half century, through the lens of one organisation, the Australian Film Institute (AFI | AACTA).
Since its establishment in 1958, the AFI has played a central role in nurturing and supporting both screen culture and production, from small beginnings to an internationally recognised billion dollar industry. Shining A Light maps out the history of the AFI | AACTA (henceforth referred to as 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 offer an insider’s perspective, having interviewed twenty-seven key players from the AFI’s history, and have sifted through volumes of documentary evidence in chronicling the history of the AFI, its successes and its 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 scholarship.

This is the iTunes version of Shining A Light: 50 Years of the AFI. It is available on Apple iTunes here: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/shining-light-50-years-afi/id797384477?ls=1&mt=11. It includes video clips from key interviews as well as stills from the book version. It traces the progress of the film and television industries as well as screen culture within Australia over the past half century, through the lens of one organisation, the Australian Film Institute (AFI | AACTA).
Since its establishment in 1958, the AFI has played a central role in nurturing and supporting both screen culture and production, from small beginnings to an internationally recognised billion dollar industry. Shining A Light maps out the history of the AFI | AACTA (henceforth referred to as 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 offer an insider’s perspective, having interviewed twenty-seven key players from the AFI’s history, and have sifted through volumes of documentary evidence in chronicling the history of the AFI, its successes and its 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 scholarship.

Refereed chapter in a book published by Palgrave Macmillan and edited by Jill Nelmes and Jule Selbo. The Australian film industry has been recognised for its creative innovation and cinematic power, and Australian female screenwriters have played a significant role in many of Australia's most well-known films.