Conor Bateman
May 29, 2013 — By Conor Bateman

Sydney Film Festival: 1954 to Now

An archival project for and about Sydney Film Festival, prompted by its 60th anniversary in 2013.

A mammoth online publication that chronicles the history of Sydney Film Festival, from its beginnings at the University of Sydney to today. Featuring essays by David Marr, David Stratton, Tom Zubrcyki and many more, the archive follows Australia’s battles with film censorship, emerging local and international film movements as well as providing a rare look at the inner workings of a major arts festival. The archive also includes a searchable index of every film ever screened at the festival and galleries of images and documents that not only reflect the history of Sydney Film Festival but that of the City of Sydney itself.

“‘online publication’ really doesn’t do this treasure trove justice…it is an EPIC e-book; a staggering, film history geek mecca that chronicles 60 years and the 8580 films that have graced Sydney Film Festival screens” – The Vine

Conor co-authored the project with Jim Poe, wrote the feature piece “Hindsight is 20/20: SFF and the Filmic Zeitgeist” and edited the introductory project video.