With The Australian Film Commission (Sorted by Popularity Ascending)
1. The Piano (1993)
R | 121 min | Drama, Music, Romance
In the mid-19th century, a mute woman is sent to New Zealand along with her young daughter and prized piano for an arranged marriage to a wealthy landowner, but is soon lusted after by a local worker on the plantation.
Director: Jane Campion | Stars: Holly Hunter, Harvey Keitel, Sam Neill, Anna Paquin
Votes: 79,286 | Gross: $40.16M
2. The Year of Living Dangerously (1982)
PG | 115 min | Drama, Romance, War
A young Australian reporter tries to navigate the political turmoil of Indonesia during the rule of President Sukarno with the help of a diminutive photographer.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Mel Gibson, Sigourney Weaver, Linda Hunt, Bembol Roco
Votes: 19,623 | Gross: $10.28M
3. Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975)
PG | 115 min | Drama, Mystery
During a rural summer picnic, a few students and a teacher from an Australian girls' school vanish without a trace. Their absence frustrates and haunts the people left behind.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Rachel Roberts, Anne-Louise Lambert, Vivean Gray, Helen Morse
Votes: 33,909 | Gross: $0.23M
4. Candy (2006)
R | 108 min | Drama, Romance
A poet falls in love with an art student who gravitates to his bohemian lifestyle -- and his love of heroin. Hooked as much on one another as they are on the drug, their relationship alternates between states of oblivion, self-destruction, and despair.
Director: Neil Armfield | Stars: Heath Ledger, Abbie Cornish, Geoffrey Rush, Tom Budge
Votes: 43,563 | Gross: $0.04M
5. Daybreakers (2009)
R | 98 min | Action, Adventure, Fantasy
In the year 2019, a plague has transformed almost every human into vampires. Faced with a dwindling blood supply, the fractured dominant race plots their survival; meanwhile, a researcher works with a covert band of vamps on a way to save humankind.
Directors: Michael Spierig, Peter Spierig | Stars: Ethan Hawke, Willem Dafoe, Sam Neill, Harriet Minto-Day
Votes: 122,348 | Gross: $30.10M
6. Romper Stomper (1992)
R | 94 min | Crime, Drama
A group of skinheads become alarmed at the way their neighbourhood is changing.
Director: Geoffrey Wright | Stars: Russell Crowe, Daniel Pollock, Jacqueline McKenzie, Alex Scott
Votes: 37,480 | Gross: $0.18M
7. Black Water (2007)
R | 90 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
A terrifying tale of survival in the mangrove swamps of Northern Australia
Directors: David Nerlich, Andrew Traucki | Stars: Diana Glenn, Maeve Dermody, Andy Rodoreda, Ben Oxenbould
Votes: 13,712
8. Ned Kelly (2003)
R | 110 min | Action, Adventure, Biography
An innocent man becomes one of the most wanted criminals the world has ever known.
Director: Gregor Jordan | Stars: Heath Ledger, Orlando Bloom, Geoffrey Rush, Naomi Watts
Votes: 25,963 | Gross: $0.07M
9. Shine (1996)
PG-13 | 105 min | Biography, Drama, Music
Pianist David Helfgott, driven by his father and teachers, has a breakdown. Years later he returns to the piano, to popular if not critical acclaim.
Director: Scott Hicks | Stars: Geoffrey Rush, Armin Mueller-Stahl, Justin Braine, Sonia Todd
Votes: 51,461 | Gross: $35.81M
10. Gallipoli (1981)
PG | 110 min | Adventure, Drama, History
Two Australian sprinters face the brutal realities of war when they are sent to fight in the Gallipoli campaign in Turkey during World War I.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Mel Gibson, Mark Lee, Bill Kerr, Harold Hopkins
Votes: 36,941 | Gross: $5.73M
11. Road Games (1981)
PG | 101 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
A laid-back American truck driver in south Australia starts to suspect a man driving a green van of killing young women along his route, and proceeds to play a cat-and-mouse game in order to catch him red-handed.
Director: Richard Franklin | Stars: Stacy Keach, Jamie Lee Curtis, Marion Edward, Grant Page
Votes: 5,404
12. Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002)
PG | 94 min | Adventure, Biography, Drama
In 1931, three half-white, half-Aboriginal girls escape after being plucked from their houses to be trained as domestic staff, and set off on a journey across the Outback.
Director: Phillip Noyce | Stars: Everlyn Sampi, Tianna Sansbury, Kenneth Branagh, Laura Monaghan
Votes: 27,475 | Gross: $6.17M
13. Breaker Morant (1980)
PG | 107 min | Drama, History, War
Three Australian lieutenants are court martialed for executing prisoners as a way of deflecting attention from war crimes committed by their superior officers.
Director: Bruce Beresford | Stars: Edward Woodward, Jack Thompson, John Waters, Bryan Brown
Votes: 12,127 | Gross: $7.14M
14. The Secret of Moonacre (2008)
PG | 103 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
Maria inherits a book of secrets from her dad. She moves to her uncle's Moonacre estate. A family curse was cast on the valley. Only Maria can break it using her book.
Director: Gabor Csupo | Stars: Ioan Gruffudd, Dakota Blue Richards, Tim Curry, Juliet Stevenson
Votes: 9,610
15. Long Weekend (1978)
Not Rated | 97 min | Horror, Mystery, Thriller
When a suburban couple go camping for the weekend at a remote beach, they discover that nature isn't in an accommodating mood.
Director: Colin Eggleston | Stars: John Hargreaves, Briony Behets, Mike McEwen, Roy Day
Votes: 4,467
16. The Coca-Cola Kid (1985)
R | 98 min | Comedy, Drama
Ex-marine turned Coca-Cola marketing guru Becker is on a mission to boost sales in Australia when he discovers a dry spot in the Outback, where everyone is guzzling homegrown brew - and not a drop of his company's cola.
Director: Dusan Makavejev | Stars: Eric Roberts, Greta Scacchi, Bill Kerr, Chris Haywood
Votes: 2,860
17. The Last Wave (1977)
PG | 106 min | Drama, Fantasy, Mystery
A Sydney lawyer defends five Aboriginal Persons in a ritualized taboo murder and in the process learns disturbing things about himself and premonitions.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Richard Chamberlain, Olivia Hamnett, David Gulpilil, Frederick Parslow
Votes: 8,733
18. Body Melt (1993)
AO | 81 min | Horror, Comedy, Sci-Fi
Residents of peaceful Pebbles Court, Homesville, are being used unknowingly as test experiments for a new 'Body Drug' that causes rapid body decomposition (melting skin etc.) and painful death.
Director: Philip Brophy | Stars: Gerard Kennedy, Andrew Daddo, Ian Smith, Regina Gaigalas
Votes: 2,642
19. Oscar and Lucinda (1997)
R | 132 min | Drama, Romance
In mid-1800s England, Oscar is a young Anglican priest, a misfit and an outcast, but with the soul of an angel. As a boy, even though from a strict Pentecostal family, he felt God told him ... See full summary »
Director: Gillian Armstrong | Stars: Ralph Fiennes, Cate Blanchett, Ciarán Hinds, Tom Wilkinson
Votes: 6,433 | Gross: $1.51M
20. Proof (1991)
R | 86 min | Drama, Romance
The life of a blind photographer who is looked after by a housekeeper is disrupted by the arrival of an agreeable restaurant worker.
Director: Jocelyn Moorhouse | Stars: Hugo Weaving, Geneviève Picot, Russell Crowe, Heather Mitchell
Votes: 6,220 | Gross: $0.52M
21. Patrick (1978)
PG | 96 min | Horror
A comatose hospital patient harasses and kills through his powers of telekinesis to claim his private nurse as his own.
Director: Richard Franklin | Stars: Susan Penhaligon, Robert Helpmann, Rod Mullinar, Bruce Barry
Votes: 2,995
22. Fair Game (1986)
R | 86 min | Action, Thriller
A young woman running an animal sanctuary in the outback takes her revenge on a trio of kangaroo hunters who terrorized her.
Director: Mario Andreacchio | Stars: Cassandra Delaney, Peter Ford, David Sandford, Garry Who
Votes: 1,099
23. The Devil's Playground (1976)
107 min | Drama
Fred Schepisi's film, 'The Devil's Playground' is an intimate portrait of Tom, a thirteen-year-old struggling in spirit and body with the constraints of living in a Catholic seminary. It is... See full summary »
Director: Fred Schepisi | Stars: Charles McCallum, John Frawley, Arthur Dignam, Nick Tate
Votes: 1,015
24. Selkie (2000)
88 min | Adventure, Family, Fantasy
A troubled, lonely teen gets a new lease on life when he comes upon a group of selkies, mythical people with the power to change into seals.
Director: Donald Crombie | Stars: Bryan Marshall, Celine O'Leary, Shimon Moore, Elspeth Ballantyne
Votes: 102
25. Paradise Road (1997)
R | 122 min | Drama, History, War
A group of women who are imprisoned on the island of Sumatra by the Japanese during World War II use music to relieve their misery.
Director: Bruce Beresford | Stars: Glenn Close, Frances McDormand, Pauline Collins, Cate Blanchett
Votes: 5,113 | Gross: $1.92M
26. Attack Force Z (1981)
Not Rated | 84 min | Action, Drama, History
A group of Australian commandos launch a secret mission against Japanese forces in World War II.
Director: Tim Burstall | Stars: John Phillip Law, Mel Gibson, Sam Neill, Chris Haywood
Votes: 2,193
27. Dark Age (1987)
R | 91 min | Adventure, Horror
A park ranger is tasked with dealing with a killer crocodile that appears to have a spiritual connection with the local Aboriginals.
Director: Arch Nicholson | Stars: John Jarratt, Nikki Coghill, Max Phipps, Burnham Burnham
Votes: 979
28. A Town Like Alice (1981)
301 min | Drama, Romance, War
Set against the brutal chaos of World War II, a love story begins that will take two lovers through a living nightmare of captivity, across three continents and two decades. From the steamy... See full summary »
Stars: Helen Morse, Bryan Brown, Gordon Jackson, Dorothy Alison
Votes: 883
29. Japanese Story (2003)
R | 110 min | Drama, Romance
Against the background of an Australian desert, Sandy, a geologist, and Hiromitsu, a Japanese businessman, play out a story of human inconsequence in the face of the blistering universe. ... See full summary »
Director: Sue Brooks | Stars: Toni Collette, Gotaro Tsunashima, Lynette Curran, Matthew Dyktynski
Votes: 6,257 | Gross: $0.65M
30. The Black Balloon (2008)
PG-13 | 97 min | Drama, Romance
All Thomas wants is a normal adolescence but his autistic brother, Charlie, thwarts his every opportunity. Will Thomas, with the help of his girlfriend, Jackie, accept his brother?
Director: Elissa Down | Stars: Rhys Wakefield, Luke Ford, Toni Collette, Erik Thomson
Votes: 8,611 | Gross: $0.09M
31. Harlequin (1980)
PG | 95 min | Drama, Fantasy, Horror
A modern-day politician is faced with an incomprehensible in this mystical-fantasy. Senator Rast is a very powerful man. But his is nothing compared to the extraordinary power of the ... See full summary »
Director: Simon Wincer | Stars: Robert Powell, David Hemmings, Carmen Duncan, Broderick Crawford
Votes: 1,235
32. The Navigator: A Medieval Odyssey (1988)
PG | 92 min | Action, Adventure, Drama
Men seeking relief from the Black Death, guided by a boy's vision, dig a tunnel from 14th century England to 20th century New Zealand.
Director: Vincent Ward | Stars: Bruce Lyons, Chris Haywood, Hamish Gough, Marshall Napier
Votes: 3,440 | Gross: $1.33M
33. The Efficiency Expert (1991)
PG | 85 min | Comedy, Drama
An expert on productivity shows wacky workers in 1966 Australia how to run their moccasin factory like clockwork, despite laying off more than half the workforce.
Director: Mark Joffe | Stars: Anthony Hopkins, Ben Mendelsohn, Alwyn Kurts, Bruno Lawrence
Votes: 1,626 | Gross: $0.10M
34. Mad Dog Morgan (1976)
R | 102 min | Action, Crime, Drama
The true story of Irish outlaw Daniel Morgan, who is wanted, dead or alive, in Australia during the 1850s.
Director: Philippe Mora | Stars: Dennis Hopper, Jack Thompson, David Gulpilil, Frank Thring
Votes: 1,338
35. On the Beach (2000 TV Movie)
195 min | Drama, Sci-Fi
After a global nuclear war, the residents of Australia must come to terms with the fact that all life will be destroyed in a matter of months.
Director: Russell Mulcahy | Stars: Armand Assante, Rachel Ward, Bryan Brown, Jacqueline McKenzie
Votes: 3,679
36. Sweetie (1989)
R | 97 min | Comedy, Drama
An introspective young woman's life is upturned by the arrival of her maladjusted sister.
Director: Jane Campion | Stars: Geneviève Lemon, Karen Colston, Tom Lycos, Jon Darling
Votes: 3,357 | Gross: $0.94M
37. The Lighthorsemen (1987)
PG | 131 min | Drama, War
In 1917 when the British forces are bogged down in front of the Turkish and German lines in Palestine they rely on the Australian light horse regiment to break the deadlock.
Director: Simon Wincer | Stars: Peter Phelps, Nick Waters, John Larking, John Heywood
Votes: 1,587
38. Death Defying Acts (2007)
PG | 97 min | Drama, History, Romance
On a tour of Britain in 1926, Harry Houdini (Guy Pearce) enters into a passionate affair with a psychic out to con him.
Director: Gillian Armstrong | Stars: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Guy Pearce, Timothy Spall, Saoirse Ronan
Votes: 9,729 | Gross: $0.00M
39. The Tracker (2002)
Not Rated | 90 min | Drama, History, Western
It's 1922; somewhere in Australia. When a Native Australian man is accused of murdering a white woman, three white men (The Fanatic, The Follower and The Veteran) are given the mission of ... See full summary »
Director: Rolf de Heer | Stars: David Gulpilil, Gary Sweet, Damon Gameau, Grant Page
Votes: 2,475
40. Don's party (1976)
Not Rated | 90 min | Comedy, Drama
Don is a schoolteacher living with his wife Kath and baby son in suburban Melbourne. On the night of the 1969 federal election he invites a small group of friends to celebrate a predicted ... See full summary »
Director: Bruce Beresford | Stars: John Hargreaves, Pat Bishop, Graham Kennedy, Veronica Lang
Votes: 1,165
41. The Children of Huang Shi (2008)
R | 125 min | Drama, War
About young British journalist, George Hogg, who with the assistance of a courageous Australian nurse, saves a group of orphaned children during the Japanese occupation of China in 1937.
Director: Roger Spottiswoode | Stars: Jonathan Rhys Meyers, Radha Mitchell, Yun-Fat Chow, Michelle Yeoh
Votes: 9,291 | Gross: $1.03M
42. The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith (1978)
108 min | Biography, Crime, Drama
Jimmie Blacksmith, the son of an Aboriginal mother and a white father, falls victim to much racist abuse after marrying a white woman, and goes on a killing spree and finds himself on the run in the aftermath.
Director: Fred Schepisi | Stars: Tommy Lewis, Freddy Reynolds, Angela Punch McGregor, Ray Barrett
Votes: 1,859
43. Balibo (2009)
Not Rated | 111 min | Biography, Drama, History
War correspondent Roger East and the young Jose Ramos-Horta travel to East Timor to investigate the murders of the Balibo Five in 1975.
Director: Robert Connolly | Stars: Jane Hampson, Bea Viegas, Christine Martins, Ana Rosa Mendoça
Votes: 2,560
44. Starstruck (1982)
PG | 105 min | Comedy, Musical, Drama
Young woman wants to become the next big singer with the help of her friends and despite the wishes of her working class family.
Director: Gillian Armstrong | Stars: Joey Kennedy, Ross O'Donovan, Margo Lee, Max Cullen
Votes: 1,040
45. The Odd Angry Shot (1979)
Unrated | 92 min | Action, Comedy, War
In between drinking cans of Fosters beer, Australian soldiers tread on a few landmines, and generally experience the war in Vietnam.
Director: Tom Jeffrey | Stars: Graham Kennedy, John Hargreaves, John Jarratt, Bryan Brown
Votes: 1,063
46. The Boys (1998)
R | 86 min | Crime, Drama
Brett Sprague is a violent and psychopathic man, who is released on parole after serving a sentence for assault. As he returns to his family house and we watch him and his brothers, Stevie ... See full summary »
Director: Rowan Woods | Stars: David Wenham, Toni Collette, Lynette Curran, John Polson
Votes: 1,331 | Gross: $0.00M
47. The Plumber (1979 TV Movie)
Not Rated | 76 min | Horror, Thriller
A young couple, living in a campus apartment complex, are repeatedly harassed by an eccentric plumber, who subjects them to a series of bizarre mind games while making unnecessary repairs to their bathroom.
Director: Peter Weir | Stars: Judy Morris, Ivar Kants, Robert Coleby, Candy Raymond
Votes: 1,931
48. The Chain Reaction (1980)
92 min | Action, Drama, Sci-Fi
A holidaying couple is pursued by the thugs of a nearby nuclear storage facility's boss, who is intent on covering up an accidental leak.
Director: Ian Barry | Stars: Steve Bisley, Arna-Maria Winchester, Ross Thompson, Ralph Cotterill
Votes: 795
49. Alexandra's Project (2003)
Unrated | 103 min | Drama, Mystery, Thriller
A regular suburban family man comes home from work on his birthday to find a deserted house and a videotape waiting to be played...
Director: Rolf de Heer | Stars: Gary Sweet, Helen Buday, Bogdan Koca, Samantha Knigge
Votes: 4,841
50. The Wedding Party (1997)
R | 91 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
The romantic myth is exposed for Guy when he is plagued by memories of an old girlfriend on his wedding day.
Director: Cherie Nowlan | Stars: Richard Roxburgh, Cate Blanchett, Frances O'Connor, Linden Wilkinson
Votes: 621