One of the most curious chapters in Australia's cinematic history began in 1948 when petroleum group Shell Company of Australia formed its own film production unit.
'Shell Film Unit Australia' produced hundreds of promotional and educational films about mining, roads, infrastructure, sports and motoring and other similar topics. While films like The Back of Beyond (1954), which won the Grand Prix Absolute at the Venice Film Festival, provided a fascinating snapshot of 'remote' mid century Australia, its depictions of life in the Red Centre and the First Nations people who lived there, were often clouded with desires to further the colonial project – and oil.
With her three-channel artwork Beneath Roads, ACMI Curator Jenna Rain Warwick has produced a poetic response to these works, intercutting archival government films, iconic Australian road movies and newly captured footage of the Aboriginal motorcycle club The Southern Warriors, to reinsert First Peoples knowledge legacies and representation into our cinematic canon and recontextualise our relationship to history, culture and Country.
Jenna was joined by Art Gallery of New South Wales' curator of Film, Ruby Arrowsmith-Todd to discuss the Shell Film Unit and the nature of its travelogues, and the making of Beneath Roads, in a recorded conversation that took place at ACMI in July 2024.
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One of the most curious chapters in Australia's cinematic history began in 1948 when petroleum group Shell Company of Australia formed its own film production unit.
'Shell Film Unit Australia' produced hundreds of promotional and educational films about mining, roads, infrastructure, sports and motoring and other similar topics. While films like The Back of Beyond (1954), which won the Grand Prix Absolute at the Venice Film Festival, provided a fascinating snapshot of 'remote' mid century Australia, its depictions of life in the Red Centre and the First Nations people who lived there, were often clouded with desires to further the colonial project – and oil.
With her three-channel artwork Beneath Roads, ACMI Curator Jenna Rain Warwick has produced a poetic response to these works, intercutting archival government films, iconic Australian road movies and newly captured footage of the Aboriginal motorcycle club The Southern Warriors, to reinsert First Peoples knowledge legacies and representation into our cinematic canon and recontextualise our relationship to history, culture and Country.
Jenna was joined by Art Gallery of New South Wales' curator of Film, Ruby Arrowsmith-Todd to discuss the Shell Film Unit and the nature of its travelogues, and the making of Beneath Roads, in a recorded conversation that took place at ACMI in July 2024.
As an artist collective, Marshmallow Laser Feast seeks to find emotional resonance in scientific stories – stories that connect us to the more-than-human world. When coupled with emerging technologies, these stories deepen our understanding of what it is to be something other than human.
While developing their artworks, Marshmallow Laser Feast conducted a series of interviews with the foremost thinkers on nature, life and the more-than-human world. These include internationally renowned cultural ecologist and geophilosopher Dr David Abram, Professor of Plant-Soil-Processes at the University of Sheffield Katie J Field, author and founder of Schumacher College Dr Stephan Harding, and biologist and bestselling author Dr Merlin Sheldrake.
In this episode, they question – since everything is connected (according to science) – can anything ever really die?
ACMI Stories & Ideas
One of the most curious chapters in Australia's cinematic history began in 1948 when petroleum group Shell Company of Australia formed its own film production unit.
'Shell Film Unit Australia' produced hundreds of promotional and educational films about mining, roads, infrastructure, sports and motoring and other similar topics. While films like The Back of Beyond (1954), which won the Grand Prix Absolute at the Venice Film Festival, provided a fascinating snapshot of 'remote' mid century Australia, its depictions of life in the Red Centre and the First Nations people who lived there, were often clouded with desires to further the colonial project – and oil.
With her three-channel artwork Beneath Roads, ACMI Curator Jenna Rain Warwick has produced a poetic response to these works, intercutting archival government films, iconic Australian road movies and newly captured footage of the Aboriginal motorcycle club The Southern Warriors, to reinsert First Peoples knowledge legacies and representation into our cinematic canon and recontextualise our relationship to history, culture and Country.
Jenna was joined by Art Gallery of New South Wales' curator of Film, Ruby Arrowsmith-Todd to discuss the Shell Film Unit and the nature of its travelogues, and the making of Beneath Roads, in a recorded conversation that took place at ACMI in July 2024.
