Heaven

Australia, 1997

Artwork First Nations

Surfing, sexuality and masculine bodies beneath the female gaze. A handheld camera closes in on private space of surfers as they disrobe in carparks and attempts to catch them ‘out’. Filmed in and around Sydney beaches, Moffatt and female friends have documented a playful but edgey representation of surfer culture as the interaction between the filmmaker and subject moves towards active voyerism. The heavy drum beats and lapping waves of the soundtrack mirror the thrill and excitement of gender mis-representation. How do the males react, or perform, on camera and how do audiences interpret their own voyeuristic desires? What does it suggest about the role of the film maker, of ethics or ‘surveillance’?

This work contains First peoples content

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Collection

In ACMI's collection

Previously on display

31 December 2004

ACMI Screen Lounge

Credits

creator

Tracey Moffatt

Duration

00:28:00:00

Production places
Australia
Production dates
1997

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

B1001361

Language

English

Audience classification

unclassified

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Colour

Object Types

Artwork

Materials

Single channel moving image, colour and audio

Holdings

Digital Betacam [PAL]; Sub-master

SP Betacam; Master

VHS [PAL]; Reference - timecoded

MOV file ProRes4444; Digital Preservation Master - overscan

MPEG-4 Digital File; ACMI Digital Access Copy - overscan

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/108052--heaven/ |title=Heaven |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=8 December 2024 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}