Cinema's New Waves: An Interview with Albie Thoms

Albie Thoms is a seminal figure in the history of avant-garde film in Australia. In the mid-1960s he helped found Ubu Films, the precursor of the Sydney Film-makers' Co-operative, and he has made a number of short and feature-length experimental films. Thoms has written on film and film cultures for an array of journals and maintains an active involvement with aspects of the surf film industry in Australia. In this interview, Thoms discusses his early Ubu films, and the connections between those films and Palm Beach (1979). Styles of surf film and the influences on Thoms' filmmaking are also discussed.