Namatjira the Painter

Namatjira the Painter is a 1947 documentary about the artist, Albert Namatjira. It deals with his background, his relationship with Rex Battarbee and how he learned to paint.[2]

Namatjira the Painter
Directed byLee Robinson
Produced byRalph Foster
CinematographyAxel Poignant
Production
company
Release date
1947
Running time
22 mins
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish
Budget£3,000[1]

Production

The film was one of the first productions of the Australian National Film Board (later known as Film Australia). Ralph Foster was the first Film Commissioner appointed to the Board.[3]

Lee Robinson had joined the Board out of the army and wrote a treatment for the documentary in January 1946. Because no one else was experienced as a director, he was given the job.[4] Robinson received basic advice on directing from Harry Watt, then in Australia shooting The Overlanders.[5]

Filming took around five months in mid 1946 in the Northern Territory, finishing in August, and was edited in Ralph Foster's flat.[6] The movie was completed after Stanley Hawes became head of the film board.

Reception

The film was widely screened in cinemas as a support feature.[7] It was re-released in 1974 with new narration.

References
  1. 'Occasional Paper No. 49 TENTH ERIC JOHNSTON LECTURE 1995: Lost Conversations, Recovered Archives' By Roslyn Poignant
  2. ""HERALD" WEEK-END MAGAZINE Filming the life of Australia's famous aboriginal artist — Suggestion for approaching Mr. Chifley with a low bow — The wreek of the malabar, Easter 1931". The Sydney Morning Herald. National Library of Australia. 29 March 1947. p. 10. Retrieved 30 August 2015.
  3. Namatjira the Painter (1947) at Moving History: 60 Years of Film Australia. Retrieved 16 December 2011
  4. Robinson, Lee (15 August 1976). "Lee Robinson" (Oral history). Interviewed by Graham Shirley. National Film and Sound Archive.
  5. Geoff Mayer, 'Lee Robinson (1923 – 2003)', Screening the Past 30 April 2004
  6. 'Film Australia's Outback DVD: Interview with Lee Robinson' Archived 22 February 2012 at the Wayback Machine
  7. Lee Robinson interview with Albert Moran, Continuum: The Australian Journal of Media & Culture vol. 1 no 1 (1987)


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