CONFERENCE - Baz Luhrmann's Australia Reviewed: An Interdisciplinary Conference on History, Film and Popular Culture, 7-8 December 2009 [25.09.2009]
Baz Luhrmann's Australia Reviewed: An Interdisciplinary Conference on History, Film and Popular Culture to be held at the National Museum of Australia on the 7 and 8 December 2009, with a film screening and public event on Sunday 6 December.
Conference and registration details are available HERE.
This conference is convened by Dr Shino Konishi from the Australian Centre for Indigenous History, ANU College of Arts and Social Sciences, and Dr Maria Nugent from the Centre for Historical Research, National Museum of Australia.
In his fabulous hyperbolic film Australia, Baz Luhrmann has leaped over the ruins of the 'history wars' and given Australians a new past – a myth of national origin that is disturbing, thrilling, heartbreaking, hilarious and touching. - Marcia Langton, 2008.
Arguably Baz Luhrmann's epic film Australia is the most ambitious, creative, and expensive engagement with our nation's past since the opening of the National Museum of Australia in 2001. The film's release met with both praise and sharp criticism from film critics, politicians, and other public commentators.
This conference presents an opportunity for scholars and students to review and extend these initial debates on Luhrmann's re-visioning of Australia's past. Papers and panels will explore the myriad ways in which the film (along with other films, fictional and non-fictional texts, and histories) engages with Australia's national history, self-fashioning, and identity.