Namatjira the Painter
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2021}}
{{Infobox film
| name = Namatjira the Painter
| image =
| caption =
| director = Lee Robinson
| producer = Ralph Foster
| writer =
| starring =
| music =
| cinematography = Axel Poignant
| editing =
| studio = Australian National Film Board
| distributor =
| released = {{Film date|1947}}
| runtime = 22 mins
| country = Australia
| language = English
}}
Namatjira the Painter is a 1947 documentary about the artist, Albert Namatjira. It deals with his background, his relationship with Rex Battarbee and how he learned to paint.{{cite news |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article18008415 |title="HERALD" WEEK-END MAGAZINE Filming the life of Australia's famous aboriginal artist — Suggestion for approaching Mr. Chifley with a low bow — The wreek of the malabar, Easter 1931. |newspaper=The Sydney Morning Herald |date=29 March 1947 |access-date=30 August 2015 |page=10 |publisher=National Library of Australia}}
Production
The film was one of the first productions of the Australian National Film Board (later known as Film Australia). Ralph Foster was the first Film Commissioner appointed to the Board.[http://www.abc.net.au/aplacetothink/html/namatjira.htm Namatjira the Painter (1947) at Moving History: 60 Years of Film Australia]. Retrieved 16 December 2011
Lee Robinson had joined the Board out of the army and wrote a treatment for the documentary in January 1946. Because no one else was experienced as a director, he was given the job.{{cite interview |last=Robinson |first=Lee |interviewer=Graham Shirley |title= Lee Robinson |type=Oral history |date=15 August 1976 |publisher=National Film and Sound Archive|url=http://colsearch.nfsa.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;page=0;query=lee%20robinson%20graham%20shirley;rec=4;resCount=10}} Robinson received basic advice on directing from Harry Watt, then in Australia shooting The Overlanders.[http://www.latrobe.edu.au/screeningthepast/firstrelease/fr_16/gmfr16.html Geoff Mayer, 'Lee Robinson (1923 – 2003)', Screening the Past 30 April 2004]
Filming took around five months in mid 1946 in the Northern Territory, finishing in August, and was edited in Ralph Foster's flat.[http://www.filmaust.com.au/outback/attachments/faoutback_leerobinson.pdf 'Film Australia's Outback DVD: Interview with Lee Robinson'] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120222235019/http://www.filmaust.com.au/outback/attachments/faoutback_leerobinson.pdf |date=22 February 2012 }} The movie was completed after Stanley Hawes became head of the film board.
Reception
The film was widely screened in cinemas as a support feature.[http://wwwmcc.murdoch.edu.au/ReadingRoom/1.1/Robinson.html Lee Robinson interview with Albert Moran, Continuum: The Australian Journal of Media & Culture vol. 1 no 1 (1987)] It was re-released in 1974 with new narration.
Namatjira later had a cameo as himself in Robinson's first film as director, The Phantom Stockman.{{cite magazine|magazine=Filmink|url=https://www.filmink.com.au/the-lee-robinson-chips-rafferty-story-part-one-the-phantom-stockman/|first=Stephen|last=Vagg|date=1 June 2025|access-date=1 June 2025|title=The Lee Robinson-Chips Rafferty Story Part One: The Phantom Stockman}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- [https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1813523/ Namatjira the Painter] at IMDb
- [http://colsearch.nfsa.gov.au/nfsa/search/display/display.w3p;adv=no;group=;groupequals=;holdingType=;page=0;parentid=;query=namatjira%20the%20painter;querytype=;rec=6;resCount=10 Namatjira the Painter] at National Film and Sound Archive
- [http://www.abc.net.au/aplacetothink/?#watch/mh_1940/namatjira/watchVideo Complete copy of 1974 edition of film] at ABC website
{{Films and television series about Indigenous Australia |state=autocollapse}}
{{Lee Robinson}}
Category:Australian short documentary films
Category:Documentary films about painters
Category:Documentary films about Aboriginal Australians
Category:1940s Australian films
Category:Films directed by Lee Robinson
Category:1947 short documentary films
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