Catharine Lumby, Alvin Purple (Sydney: Currency Press and Canberra: Australian Film Commission, 2008) and Gail Jones, The Piano (Sydney: Currency Press and Canberra: Australian Film Commission, 2007)

Abstract

The series Australian Screen Classics is an exciting initiative from Currency Press. Jointly published with the Australian Film Commission's National Film and Sound Archive, this series recalls the British Film Institute's acclaimed Film Classics and Modern Classics guides to individual films. Under the stewardship of series editor Dr Jane Mills from the Australian Film. Television and Radio School - these neat, concise studies of single films make a rich contribution to Australian film culture that belies their small size. Recognising the role that cinema plays in our cultural heritage. the series pairs iconic Australian films with some of our leading writers and thinkers in culture, criticism and politics. These have included film critic Adrian Martin writing on the <i>Mad Max movies</i>: playwright Louis Novvra exploring <i>Walkabout</i>; novelist Chrislos Tsiolkas revisiting <i>The Devil's Playground</i>: and historian Henry Reynolds critiquing <i>The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith</i>. Two recent additions to the series are <i>The Piano</em? by Gail Jones, a novelist and academic at the University of Western Australia, and <i>Alvin Purple</i>, by feminist cultural commentator Catharine Lumby.