AFF Top 100 Australian Films
List taken from Adelaide Film Festival, 2018.
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- DirectorRob SitchStarsMichael CatonAnne TenneyStephen CurryA working-class family from Melbourne, Australia fights city hall after being told they must vacate their beloved family home to allow for infrastructural expansion.
- DirectorP.J. HoganStarsToni ColletteRachel GriffithsBill HunterA young social outcast in Australia steals money from her parents to finance a vacation where she hopes to find happiness, and perhaps love.
- DirectorWarwick ThorntonStarsRowan McNamaraMarissa GibsonMitjili Napanangka GibsonA glue-sniffing boy and his girlfriend escape the government-controlled no-hope Aboriginal community they live in and go to the city, Alice Springs, looking for a better life.
- DirectorPhillip NoyceStarsEverlyn SampiTianna SansburyKenneth BranaghIn 1931, three half-white, half-Aboriginal girls escape after being plucked from their houses to be trained as domestic staff, and set off on a journey across the Outback.
- DirectorStephan ElliottStarsHugo WeavingGuy PearceTerence StampTwo drag performers and a transgender woman travel across the desert to perform their unique style of cabaret.
- DirectorPeter WeirStarsMel GibsonMark LeeBill KerrTwo Australian sprinters face the brutal realities of war when they are sent to fight in the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey during World War I.
- DirectorTed KotcheffStarsDonald PleasenceGary BondChips RaffertyAfter a bad gambling bet, a schoolteacher is marooned in a town full of crazy, drunk, violent men who threaten to make him just as crazy, drunk, and violent.
- DirectorPeter WeirStarsRachel RobertsAnne-Louise LambertVivean GrayDuring a rural summer picnic, a few students and a teacher from an Australian girls' school vanish without a trace. Their absence frustrates and haunts the people left behind.
- DirectorRay LawrenceStarsAnthony LaPagliaGeoffrey RushRachael BlakeThe relationships of four couples unravel after the discovery of a young woman's body in Lantana bush in suburban Sydney.
- DirectorBaz LuhrmannStarsPaul MercurioTara MoriceBill HunterA maverick dancer risks his career by performing an unusual routine and sets out to succeed with a new partner.
- DirectorGeorge MillerStarsMel GibsonJoanne SamuelHugh Keays-ByrneIn a self-destructing world, a vengeful Australian policeman sets out to stop a violent motorcycle gang.
- DirectorGeorge MillerStarsTom HardyCharlize TheronNicholas HoultIn a post-apocalyptic wasteland, a woman rebels against a tyrannical ruler in search for her homeland with the aid of a group of female prisoners, a psychotic worshiper and a drifter named Max.
- DirectorJocelyn MoorhouseStarsKate WinsletJudy DavisLiam HemsworthA glamorous woman returns to her small town in rural Australia. With her sewing machine and haute couture style, she transforms the women and exacts sweet revenge on those who did her wrong.
- DirectorWarwick ThorntonStarsHamilton MorrisShanika ColeEwen LeslieWestern set on the Northern Territory frontier in the 1920s, where justice itself is put on trial when an aged Aboriginal farmhand shoots a white man in self-defense and goes on the run as a posse gathers to hunt him down.
- DirectorRolf de HeerPeter DjigirrStarsCrusoe KurddalJamie GulpililRichard BirrinbirrinIn Australia's Northern Territory, a man tells us a story of his people and his land. It's about an older man, Minygululu, who has three wives and realizes that his younger brother Dayindi may try to steal away the youngest wife.
- DirectorDavid MichôdStarsJames FrechevilleGuy PearceJoel EdgertonA seventeen-year-old navigates his survival amongst an explosive criminal family and the detective who thinks he can save him.
- DirectorJennifer KentStarsEssie DavisNoah WisemanDaniel HenshallA single mother and her child fall into a deep well of paranoia when an eerie children's book titled "Mister Babadook" manifests in their home.
- DirectorKriv StendersStarsJosh LucasRachael TaylorRohan NicholBased on the legendary true story of the Red Dog who united a disparate local community while roaming the Australian outback in search of his long lost master.
- DirectorNicolas RoegStarsJenny AgutterDavid GulpililLuc RoegTwo city-bred siblings are stranded in the Australian Outback, where they learn to survive with the aid of an Aboriginal boy on his "walkabout": a ritual separation from his tribe.
- DirectorScott HicksStarsGeoffrey RushArmin Mueller-StahlJustin BrainePianist David Helfgott, driven by his father and teachers, has a breakdown. Years later he returns to the piano, to popular if not critical acclaim.
- DirectorBaz LuhrmannStarsNicole KidmanEwan McGregorJohn LeguizamoA poor Bohemian poet in 1890s Paris falls for a beautiful courtesan and nightclub star coveted by a jealous duke.
- DirectorAndrew DominikStarsEric BanaSimon LyndonVince ColosimoChopper tells the intense story of Mark "Chopper" Read, a legendary criminal who wrote his autobiography while serving a jail sentence in prison. His book, "From the Inside", upon which the film is based, was a best-seller.
- DirectorRolf de HeerStarsNicholas HopeClaire BenitoRalph CotterillBubby has spent thirty years trapped in the same small room, tricked by his mother. One day, he manages to escape and, deranged and naive in equal measures, his adventure into a modern and nihilistic life begins.
- DirectorGregor JordanStarsHeath LedgerBryan BrownDavid FieldA 19 year old finds himself in debt to a local gangster when some gang loot disappears and sets him on the run from thugs. Meanwhile two street kids start a shopping spree when they find the missing money.
- DirectorJohn DuiganStarsNoah TaylorLoene CarmenBen MendelsohnIn rural 1960s Australia, a boy watches helplessly as his best friend falls in love with a small-time criminal, setting off a violent chain of events.
- DirectorJustin KurzelStarsLucas PittawayDaniel HenshallLouise HarrisBased on true events, 16 year-old Jamie falls in with his mother's new boyfriend and his crowd of self-appointed neighborhood watchmen, a relationship that leads to a spree of torture and murder.
- DirectorGarth DavisStarsDev PatelNicole KidmanRooney MaraA five-year-old Indian boy is adopted by an Australian couple after getting lost hundreds of kilometers from home. 25 years later, he sets out to find his lost family.
- DirectorGeorge MillerStarsMel GibsonBruce SpenceMichael PrestonIn the post-apocalyptic Australian wasteland, a cynical drifter agrees to help a small, gasoline-rich community escape a horde of bandits.
- DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsEdward WoodwardJack ThompsonJohn WatersThree Australian lieutenants are court martialed for executing prisoners as a way of deflecting attention from war crimes committed by their superior officers.
- DirectorPeter FaimanStarsPaul HoganLinda KozlowskiJohn MeillonAn American reporter goes to the Australian outback to meet an eccentric crocodile poacher and invites him to New York City.
- DirectorHenri SafranIan GoddardStarsGreg RowePeter CumminsDavid GulpililMike is a lonely Australian boy living in a coastal wilderness with his reclusive father. In search of friendship he encounters an Aboriginal native loner and the two form a bond in the care of orphaned pelicans.
- DirectorRob SitchStarsSam NeillBilly MitchellRoz HammondA remote Australian community, populated by quirky characters, plays a key role in the first Apollo moon landing.
- DirectorWayne BlairStarsChris O'DowdDeborah MailmanJessica MauboyIn 1968, four talented young Australian Aboriginal girls learn about love, friendship, and war when their all-girl group The Sapphires entertains the US troops in Vietnam.
- DirectorRolf de HeerStarsDavid GulpililGary SweetDamon GameauFanatic is a government trooper who is heading an expedition to find an Aboriginal man accused of murdering a white woman. Others in the expedition are the Follower, a greenhorn trooper, the Veteran, and the Tracker.
- DirectorKate WoodsStarsGreta ScacchiAnthony LaPagliaElena CottaAt seventeen Josie Alibrandi is about to enter her final year as a scholarship student at an exclusive Catholic College. It's the year her life is turned upside down and changed forever.
- DirectorGillian ArmstrongStarsJudy DavisSam NeillWendy HughesA proud young woman in early 20th century Australia must choose between marriage and independence.
- DirectorKen HannamStarsJack ThompsonMax CullenRobert BruningA hard-drinking but hard-working gun shearer leads a group of Outback sheep herders into striking after wealthy landowners attempt to drive them from their territory.
- DirectorSarah WattStarsMary KostakidisJustine ClarkeDaniela FarinacciDuring one unusually hot and tragic weekend, four people struggle after hearing some life-changing news. This, in turn, brings them together.
- DirectorPhillip NoyceStarsBill HunterGerard KennedyWendy HughesIn post-war Australia the men and women of Cinetone struggle to produce the weekly news reels for the movie-going public.
- DirectorJohn HillcoatStarsRay WinstoneGuy PearceEmily WatsonA lawman apprehends a notorious outlaw and gives him nine days to kill his older brother, or else they'll execute his younger brother.
- DirectorIvan SenStarsDannielle HallDamian PittJenna Lee ConnorsLena is the daughter of an Aboriginal mother and Irish father and Vaughn is a Murri boy doing time in a minimum security prison in North West NSW. Dramatic events throw them together on a journey with no money and no transport.
- DirectorNadia TassStarsColin FrielsJohn HargreavesLindy DaviesA socially awkward and mechanically gifted man becomes involved in a quirky and unconventional crime.
- DirectorGeorge MillerStarsKirk DouglasTom BurlinsonTerence DonovanIn 1880s Australia, after young Jim Craig's father dies, he takes a job at the Harrison cattle ranch, where he is forced to become a man.
- DirectorGeoffrey WrightStarsRussell CroweDaniel PollockJacqueline McKenzieA group of skinheads become alarmed at the way their neighbourhood is changing.
- DirectorSimon BakerStarsSamson CoulterBen SpenceSimon BakerAfter developing an interest in surfing, a teenage boy and his friend forge an unlikely friendship with an older surfer.
- DirectorSue BrooksStarsToni ColletteGotaro TsunashimaLynette CurranAgainst the background of an Australian desert, Sandy, a geologist, and Hiromitsu, a Japanese businessman, play out a story of human inconsequence in the face of the blistering universe. The end of the journey leaves no one capable of going back to where they started from.
- DirectorCate ShortlandStarsAbbie CornishSam WorthingtonLynette CurranA young girl flees her hometown and arrives in the Australian Alps, where new experiences help her learn the differences between sex and love.
- DirectorClayton JacobsonStarsShane JacobsonTravis GollandChris DavisThis hilarious mockumentary film follows the numerous misadventures of a porta-john worker through both his personal and professional life, including an oddly glamorous excursion to the Pumper and Cleaner Expo in Nashville, TN.
- DirectorGreg McLeanStarsNathan PhillipsCassandra MagrathKestie MorassiThree backpackers stranded in the Australian outback are plunged inside a hellish nightmare of insufferable torture by a sadistic psychopathic local.
- DirectorBaz LuhrmannStarsNicole KidmanHugh JackmanShea AdamsIn 1939, an Englishwoman inherits a sprawling ranch in northern Australia and reluctantly makes a pact with a stockman to drive 2000 head of cattle over unforgiving landscape.
- DirectorChris NoonanStarsJames CromwellMagda SzubanskiChristine CavanaughGentle farmer Arthur Hoggett wins a piglet Babe at a county fair. Narrowly escaping his fate as Christmas dinner, Babe bonds with motherly border collie Fly and discovers that he too can herd sheep. But will the other animals accept him?
- DirectorBen HowlingYolanda RamkeStarsSimone LandersMartin FreemanMarlee Jane McPherson-DobbinsAfter an epidemic spreads all over Australia, a father searches for someone willing to protect his daughter.
- DirectorShirley BarrettStarsMiranda OttoRebecca FrithGeorge ShevtsovIn Sunray, a backwater town on Australia's Murray River, there's little to do but fish or listen to the local radio station. D.J. Ken Sherry arrives from the hustle of Brisbane to run the station; he's mid-40s, detached, thrice divorced, hatchet faced. But both sisters next door find him attractive: awkward Dimity, only 20, who works in a Chinese restaurant with few patrons, and perky Vicki-Ann, a hairdresser with a hope chest who invents a happy future with Sherry based on little but his arrival. First Dimity then Vicki-Ann spend the night with Ken, one concluding he's her boy friend, the other her fiance. Then Dimity begins to smell something fishy.
- DirectorJane CampionStarsHolly HunterHarvey KeitelSam NeillIn the mid-19th century a mute woman is sent to New Zealand along with her young daughter and prized piano for an arranged marriage to a farmer, but is soon lusted after by a farm worker.
- DirectorRolf de HeerStarsDavid GulpililPeter DjigirrLuke FordDispleased with the intervention of whitefella laws, Charlie takes off to live the old way and sets off a chain reaction of enlightening difficulties.
- DirectorJeremy SimsStarsMichael CatonNingali LawfordMark Coles SmithWhen Rex, a Broken Hill cab driver, is told he doesn't have long to live, he sets out on an epic journey to Darwin in a bid to die on his own terms.
- DirectorSophie HydeStarsTilda Cobham-HerveySam AlthuizenImogen Archer16-year-old Billie's reluctant path to independence is accelerated when her mother reveals plans to gender transition and their time together becomes limited to Tuesday afternoons.
- DirectorAdam ElliotStarsToni CollettePhilip Seymour HoffmanEric BanaIn 1976 Melbourne, a lonely 8-year-old girl strikes up a correspondence with an unlikely pen pal: a severely obese 44-year-old New Yorker with Asperger's syndrome.
- DirectorRowan WoodsStarsDavid WenhamToni ColletteLynette CurranBrett Sprague is a violent and psychopathic man, who is released on parole after serving a sentence for assault. As he returns to his family house and we watch him and his brothers, Stevie and Glenn, for the next 24 hours, it becomes clear this day will not end well.
- DirectorRichard LowensteinStarsMichael HutchenceSaskia PostNique NeedlesTwo man are the key members of a band called 'Dogs in Space' and share a house in a Melbourne suburb with a variety of young music fans and social misfits, including a college student and a transient and apparently nameless teenage girl.
- DirectorAna KokkinosStarsAlex DimitriadesElle MandalisDamien FotiouA 19 year old Greek Australian youth struggles with his sexual identity and has one clumsy heterosexual and several homosexual encounters.
- DirectorJocelyn MoorhouseStarsHugo WeavingGeneviève PicotRussell CroweThe life of a blind photographer who is looked after by a housekeeper is disrupted by the arrival of an agreeable restaurant worker.
- DirectorNeil ArmfieldStarsHeath LedgerAbbie CornishGeoffrey RushA poet falls in love with an art student who gravitates to his bohemian lifestyle -- and his love of heroin. Hooked as much on one another as they are on the drug, their relationship alternates between states of oblivion, self-destruction, and despair.
- DirectorIvan SenStarsAaron PedersenHugo WeavingRyan KwantenAn indigenous detective returns to the Outback to investigate the murder of a young girl.
- DirectorAna KokkinosStarsFrances O'ConnorMiranda OttoDeborra-Lee FurnessSeven lost children wander the night streets while their mothers await their return home.
- DirectorRachel PerkinsStarsRocky McKenzieJessica MauboyErnie DingoAn Aboriginal student on the west coast of Australia in the late '60s runs away from a Catholic boarding school with his cruel headmaster in hot pursuit, meeting eccentric characters along the journey back to his hometown.
- DirectorNeil ArmfieldStarsRyan CorrSarah SnookFrancesco FerdinandiThe warm, funny and achingly sad story of the 15-year-long love affair between Timothy Conigrave and the boy he fell in love with at high school, John Caleo.
- DirectorFred SchepisiStarsTommy LewisFreddy ReynoldsAngela Punch McGregorAfter suffering racist abuse throughout his life - which intensifies following his marriage to a white woman - a half-Aboriginal farmhand finds himself driven to murder.
- DirectorJonathan TeplitzkyStarsSam WorthingtonDavid WenhamTimothy SpallBarry has good intentions when he is released after 8 years in prison, but finding a job is difficult with a prison record, and he can't keep his kid brother or his friend out of crime.
- DirectorRichard LowensteinStarsNoah TaylorEmily HamiltonRomane BohringerA nightmare chase through hell in a never-ending, unrequited daisy chain of desire...
- DirectorPhillip NoyceStarsNicole KidmanSam NeillBilly ZaneAfter a tragedy, John Ingram and his wife Rae are spending some time isolated at sea, when they come across a stranger who has abandoned a sinking ship.
- DirectorJohn RuaneStarsSam NeillZoe CaridesJohn ClarkeCarl Fitzgerald is down-on-his-luck until he meets Sophie, a beautiful Greek girl. He gets a job as a cook, but accidentally kills a fellow worker. He turns to his unscrupulous best friend for help and they attempt to dispose of the body.
- DirectorElissa DownStarsRhys WakefieldLuke FordToni ColletteAll Thomas wants is a normal adolescence but his autistic brother, Charlie, thwarts his every opportunity. Will Thomas, with the help of his girlfriend, Jackie, accept his brother?
- DirectorRay LawrenceStarsBarry OttoLynette CurranHelen JonesAfter a near-death experience, a man wonders if he actually did die and is now in Hell.
- DirectorMark JoffeStarsBen MendelsohnBarry OttoToni ColletteLewis is a young Sydney amateur theater director at his first experience: he is offered a job with a Governmental program for the rehabilitation of mentally ill patients in a Sydney institution for mentally ill. His project is overrun by one of the patients Roy who wants to put on stage Cosi Fan Tutte (Mozart). None of the patients in the cast is able to sing and none of them knows Italian which is the language of the libretto. Through a lot of difficulties Lewis and his cast develop a deep understanding. The play smartly adapted for the unusual cast is finally produced: lots of unforeseen situations solved 'a la crazy way'but indeed brilliantly. Great success and sad farewell of the director from his cast.
- DirectorBruce BeresfordStarsJohn HargreavesPat BishopGraham KennedyOn the night of the 1969 Australian election, Don holds a party in his suburban Sydney house, where his raucous, rude, embarrassing, extrovert friends discuss sex, politics, and their lives, and seduce each others wives.
- DirectorRosemary MyersStarsBethany WhitmoreHarrison FeldmanAmber McMahonThe world is closing in on Greta Driscoll. On the cusp of turning fifteen she can't bear to leave her childhood, it contains all the things that give her comfort in this incomprehensible new world.
- DirectorNadia TassStarsBen MendelsohnClaudia KarvanMarshall NapierTo impress a girl a shy teenaged boy buys a used Jaguar.
- DirectorPeter WeirStarsTerry CamilleriJohn MeillonKevin MilesThe small town of Paris, Australia deliberately causes car accidents, then sells/salvages all valuables from the wrecks as a means of economy.
- DirectorGeoff BurtonKevin DowlingStarsJack ThompsonRussell CroweJohn PolsonA widowed father has to deal with two complex issues: while he is searching for "Miss Right," his son, who is in his 20s and gay, is searching for "Mr. Right."
- DirectorRachel WardStarsBen MendelsohnSophie LoweMaeve DermodyA writer reawakens his childhood trauma from the past when he returns home, at the request of his estranged sister, to grieve their father's impending death.
- DirectorPaul MoloneyStarsMick MolloyBill HunterFrank WilsonA local bowling club faces potential takeover due to dwindling membership and increasing overheads. A thrilling battle ensues, involving young and old, greed and good, and extraordinary circumstances.
- DirectorGeorge MillerWarren ColemanJudy MorrisStarsElijah WoodBrittany MurphyHugh JackmanInto the world of the Emperor Penguins, who find their soul mates through song, a penguin is born who cannot sing. But he can tap dance something fierce!
- DirectorJane CampionStarsGeneviève LemonKaren ColstonTom LycosAn introspective young woman's life is upturned by the arrival of her maladjusted sister.
- DirectorPeter WeirStarsMel GibsonSigourney WeaverLinda HuntA young Australian reporter tries to navigate the political turmoil of Indonesia during the rule of President Sukarno with the help of a diminutive photographer.
- DirectorMichael PowellStarsWalter ChiariClaire DunneChips RaffertyAn Italian sports journalist arrives in Australia but finds no work. The only employment he can find is as a builder's labourer. At first, he cannot comprehend the culture, but eventually he finds mateship and romance.
- DirectorJeffrey WalkerStarsOsamah SamiDon HanyHelana SawiresAfter telling a white lie which spirals out of control, a neurotic, naive, musically gifted Muslim cleric's eldest son must follow through with an arranged marriage, even though he's madly in love with an Australian born-Lebanese girl.
- DirectorGillian ArmstrongStarsJudy DavisJan AdeleClaudia KarvanA rock'n roll singer gets stranded in a small Australian town after losing her job in a band. She winds up in a trailer park only to encounter, by accident, the teenage daughter she deserted following her husband's death. In HD.
- DirectorKiah Roache-TurnerStarsJay GallagherBianca BradeyLeon BurchillA talented mechanic prepares to battle his way through hordes of flesh-eating monsters after his sister is kidnapped on the eve of a zombie apocalypse.
- DirectorCarl SchultzStarsWendy HughesRobyn NevinNicholas GledhillHis mother dead, PS lives in Sydney with working-class Aunt Lila and Uncle George. When he's six or eight, his posh Aunt Vanessa descends from England. Named a co-guardian by PS's feckless, absent father, she asserts her rights and convinces Lila to have PS live with her weekdays. PS is happy at Lila's, playing with children, running about, speaking up. At Vanessa's, there's a regimen of private school, round vowels, piano and riding lessons, and lonely indoor play with fancy toys. He's miserable and when he objects, she sues for complete custody. Will anyone listen to him? And will he take on Vanessa's challenges to find out who he is and to love someone?
- DirectorRachel PerkinsStarsLevi MillerKevin LongToni ColletteIn the late '60s, two teenage boys join forces to solve a chilling mystery and navigate the prejudices and secrets of their small Australian town.
- DirectorRowan WoodsStarsCate BlanchettSam NeillHugo WeavingA woman trying to escape her past becomes embroiled in a drug deal.
- DirectorMichael James RowlandStarsKenneth MoraledaRodney AfifSrisacd SacdpraseuthThree mismatched blokes are stranded in the Australian desert.
- DirectorPaul CoxStarsNorman KayeAlyson BestChris HaywoodAn eccentric elderly man tries to enjoy the three things in life that he considers real beauty: collecting art, collecting flowers, and watching pretty women undress.
- DirectorRobert ConnollyStarsSam WorthingtonEd OxenbouldDeborah MailmanAn imaginative children's film about a young Australian boy's passion for flight and his challenge to compete in the World Paper Plane Championships in Japan.
- DirectorSue BrooksStarsTony BarryVikki BlanchePaul ChubbOne of three cars carrying lady bowls players is overdue. Unsure about which car, who the occupants might have been, or what might have happened to them, the locals embark on a chaotic course of action to try to solve the mystery.
- DirectorJennifer PeedomStarsRussell BriceTim MedvetzPasang Tenzing SherpaIn 2014, director Jennifer Peedom was working on a documentary about the Sherpas of Mount Everest when the largest avalanche in recent history occurred on the mountain, killing 16 Sherpas.
- DirectorJane CampionStarsKerry FoxAlexia KeoghKaren FergussonJanet Frame was a brilliant child who, as a teen, was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia. Explore Janet's discovery of the world and her life in Europe as her books are published to acclaim.
- DirectorDavid CaesarStarsBen MendelsohnJeremy SimsJohn PolsonLooking for the fast track out of suburban hell, two natural born losers scheme an impossible heist. Two undercover cops and a highly strung speed dealer are not far behind.
- DirectorCharles ChauvelStarsRosalie Kunoth-MonksRobert TudawaliBetty SuttorSet against the harsh natural surrounds of outback Northern Territory, Jedda captures a rare and honest glimpse into the heart and history of indigenous Australia. Young Jedda is caught between two cultures forbidden from learning about her indigenous heritage and never fully accepted by the other.