Maidens

A compilation documentary of four generations of the filmmaker’s maternal family from 1906-1977 using images from old family photographs, slides, home movies and excerpts from historical Australian women’s films. The images trace the transition of the family from the extended family functioning as a productive unit on the land to the nuclear family and by the fourth generation into further disintegration and change into a yet to be defined form. Parts 1 & 11 illustrate the historical development of the image and its use by families in reading personal history. Parts 3 & 4 juxtapose fictional dramatic films in which the filmmaker appears with cinema verite and home movies thus exploring the relationship between filmic representation and reality. First Prize, General Section, Greater Union Awards, Sydney Film Festival 1978. Gold Hugo, Best Short Subject Film, Chicago Film Festival 1978.