Critic’s life in review

The film screened in the Cannes Classics strand of the festival in May, which presents restored classics as well as documentaries on films and the personalities of world cinema.

A special work-in-progress version was screened at the Adelaide Film Festival’s Rogue event last October, with Mr Stratton and writer-director Sally Aitken in attendance.

The film features interviews with Gillian Armstrong, Eric Bana, Bryan Brown, Russell Crowe, Rachel Griffiths, Nicole Kidman, George Miller, Sam Neill, Geoffrey Rush, Fred Schepisi, Warwick Thornton, Jacki Weaver and Hugo Weaving.

“I attended Cannes every year from 1984-14 as a critic, but the experience of appearing in a documentary screened at the festival will be an entirely new one for me,” Mr Stratton said recently.

Adelaide Film Festival chief executive Amanda Duthie said the documentary was a chance for the world to view Australian cinema through Stratton’s eyes.

“This is David’s love letter to Australian cinema, and there is no more a fitting place for it to mark its international premiere,” she said.

THE three-part series David Stratton’s Stories of Australian Cinema will premiere on ABC TV over three nights, June 6, 13 and 20, at 8.30pm.

Mr Stratton tells the story of Australian cinema, focusing on the films that capture the nation’s nature with such candour, emotion and humour that they still knock us for a six.

“A nation found its identity through cinema and so did I; this is my journey through the movies that made our nation,” Mr Stratton said.

In conjunction with the series, the ABC will celebrate Australian cinema with a host of films streaming on iview from June 1. The iview season will include extras, extended interviews and archival material.

Films include They’re a Weird Mob, Walkabout, My Brilliant Career, Newsfront, Careful He Might Hear You, and Lantana, all introduced by Mr Stratton.