Queensland (film)

Queensland
Directed by	John Ruane
Written by	John Ruane Ellery Ryan
Produced by	Chris Fitchett
Starring	John Flaus Robert Karl
Cinematography	Ellery Ryan
Edited by	Mark Norfolk
Production company	Film Noir Productions
Distributed by	the Vincent Library
Release date	1976 (1976)
Running time	52 mins
Country	Australia
Language	English
Budget	A$12,000[1]

Queensland is a 1976 film directed by John Ruane and starring John Flaus and Robert Karl.

Plot

Doug is a factory worker living in Melbourne who dreams of moving from Melbourne to Queensland. He attempts to reconnect with an old flame, Marge, and move to Queensland together.

Cast

• John Flaus as Doug
• Bob Karl as Aub
• Alison Bird as Marge
• Tom Broadbridge as Mick

Production

John Ruane says he was inspired by a newspaper article about a slaughterman who killed his de facto wife and then got drunk for two days. He decided to remove the killing aspect, concentrate on the relationship. Ruane:

What we were trying to do then, strangely enough, was trying to imitate Summer of the Seventeenth Doll in reverse and to imitate Midnight Cowboy, a sort of Northcote version of Midnight Cowboy - not the story, but the fact that they were headed for a dream. Their dream was Miami. Our film was obviously about heading to Queensland... It's about a vanishing breed of Australians.[2]

The film was made with money from the Experimental Film and Television Fund while John Ruane was a film student at the Swinburne College of Technology in Melbourne.[1]

Release

The movie was released through the co-operative movement.[1]

References

1. Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998, p 302
2. Interview with John Ruane, 22 August 1995 accessed 20 October 2012

External links

• Queensland at IMDb
• Queensland at National Film and Sound Archive
• Queensland at Oz Movies