Jeni Thornley (born 1948) is an Australian feminist documentary
filmmaker, writer, film valuer and research associate at University of
Technology, Sydney. Since leaving her job as Manager of the Women's
Film Fund at the Australian Film Commission in 1986, Thornley has
worked as an independent writer, director and producer at Anandi
Films. She has fulfilled teaching roles at UTS and the Australian
School for Film and Television. Thornley is currently an Honorary
Research Associate in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at UTS.
She is also a consultant film valuer for the Cultural Gifts Program,
Dept of Communications and the Arts.According to Collins (1998),
Thornley "belongs to a 1960s generation of New Left filmmakers whose
revived historical consciousness was germinated during the Cold War
years in the silent fallout from Hiroshima". Born in Tasmania where
her father was a film exhibitor, Thornley gained a degree in
literature and political science at Monash University in Melbourne in
1969. After moving to Sydney she worked as an actor in experimental
theatre and was active in the Women’s Liberation Movement, Sydney
Women's Film Group (SWFG), the Sydney Filmmakers Co-operative and the
Feminist Film Workers Collective. As a member of SWFG, Thornley
appeared in and worked on the production of the 1973 film, A Film for
Discussion.Thornley was one of the organisers of the International
Women’s Year Film Festival in 1975, the first of its kind in
Australia. As an active member of feminist collectives until the early
1980s, she was involved in a range of exhibition, distribution and
publishing activities as well as working as a camera assistant on
independent film productions.In 1978 Thornley released her first film,
the 27½ minute Maidens. The first two parts look at the lives of
Thornley's mother, grandmother and great-grandmother through archival
photographs and interviews. The second two parts show her own life in
film, combining family photographs with feminist material of the
1970s. The film received funding from the Australian Film Commission.
"It remains essential viewing for an enhanced understanding of the
moment of awakened consciousness that characterised 1970s feminism."
The film also acts as a short history of "the Anglo-Celtic 'diaspora'
in Australia."
filmmaker, writer, film valuer and research associate at University of
Technology, Sydney. Since leaving her job as Manager of the Women's
Film Fund at the Australian Film Commission in 1986, Thornley has
worked as an independent writer, director and producer at Anandi
Films. She has fulfilled teaching roles at UTS and the Australian
School for Film and Television. Thornley is currently an Honorary
Research Associate in the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences at UTS.
She is also a consultant film valuer for the Cultural Gifts Program,
Dept of Communications and the Arts.According to Collins (1998),
Thornley "belongs to a 1960s generation of New Left filmmakers whose
revived historical consciousness was germinated during the Cold War
years in the silent fallout from Hiroshima". Born in Tasmania where
her father was a film exhibitor, Thornley gained a degree in
literature and political science at Monash University in Melbourne in
1969. After moving to Sydney she worked as an actor in experimental
theatre and was active in the Women’s Liberation Movement, Sydney
Women's Film Group (SWFG), the Sydney Filmmakers Co-operative and the
Feminist Film Workers Collective. As a member of SWFG, Thornley
appeared in and worked on the production of the 1973 film, A Film for
Discussion.Thornley was one of the organisers of the International
Women’s Year Film Festival in 1975, the first of its kind in
Australia. As an active member of feminist collectives until the early
1980s, she was involved in a range of exhibition, distribution and
publishing activities as well as working as a camera assistant on
independent film productions.In 1978 Thornley released her first film,
the 27½ minute Maidens. The first two parts look at the lives of
Thornley's mother, grandmother and great-grandmother through archival
photographs and interviews. The second two parts show her own life in
film, combining family photographs with feminist material of the
1970s. The film received funding from the Australian Film Commission.
"It remains essential viewing for an enhanced understanding of the
moment of awakened consciousness that characterised 1970s feminism."
The film also acts as a short history of "the Anglo-Celtic 'diaspora'
in Australia."
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