The Archive Project (book)

Year: 2008-2013

The ‘book of the film’ concerning the Melbourne Realist film movement, who brought world cinema to audiences otherwise served only by British and American distributors, and who made independent documentary in support of social issues in the early post war and Cold War years, has been a long time in preparation. The intention is to bring an awareness of the ‘Realists’ in Melbourne to another audience, in an annotated, illustrated screenplay of the film The Archive Project

The book enhances the experience available through the film with greater editorial detail and rich pictorial documentation. Over very many Friday mornings during 2010-2012, with modest support from the City of Melbourne’s ‘Writing About Melbourne’ Arts Grant (2011), we were able to produce a print ready book, designed by William Head of Yay Tractor.

The book is full color, twelve chapters (150 pages), and ‘extras’ including a complete index of the Realist Film Association’s screenings in Melbourne 1946-’58. Here, you can download a PDF of the first two chapters.

The Archive Project documents a crucial moment in Australian film history (particularly Australian documentary). The book is now available through Metro