Archive Project: The Realist Film Unit in Cold War Australia, The

My first exposure to the idea that Australians could actually make films themselves came from this time. It came from the Wharfies' Film Unit with these extraordinary documentaries on the life of wharfies, which I knew off by heart because I used to screen them night after night as part of my party and projectionist duties. I think it was quite an important stage in the sequence of events that got the film industry up and running again. But it's not recorded anywhere, it's not written about, it's not understood. – Phillip Adams

This 'book of the film' has been a long time in preparation. The Archive Project is an illustrated screenplay of the film of the same name that premiered at the Australian International Documentary Conference in 2006. The film quickly accumulated a number of awards and nominations, including a Film Critics Circle of Australia Award for best feature documentary, a NSW Premier's History Prize and nominations at the 2006 AFI Awards, the Australian Writers' Guild Awards and the Australian Directors Guild Awards. The film won Best Tertiary Resource at the 2006 ATOM (Australian Teachers of Media) Awards.

The book enhances the experience available through the film with greater editorial detail and a rich pictorial documentation. The extra interviews included in the book supplement a pictorial history of film culture and politics during Australia's cultural Cold War. An appendix lists all known screenings of the Melbourne Realist Film Association and breakout texts provide background information and succinct biographies of key players.