SHINING A LIGHT: 50 YEARS OF THE AFI

Authors Lisa French and Mark Poole interviewed key players on the local scene, completing 27 interviews which tell the story from an insider's perspective for the book. They sifted through volumes of documentary evidence in chronicling the history of the AFI, its successes and role in Australian screen culture past, present and future.

The authors’ collective experience spans filmmaking, academic research and teaching, film journalism, employment and service in key screen culture organizations, as well as an abiding passion for Australian cinema – bringing to this work both the filmmaker and industry perspective and academic scholarship.

Lisa French is Deputy Dean of Media at RMIT's School of Media and Communication and the co-author of the book 'Womenvision: Women and the Moving Image in Australia' (2003). Lisa has served on many industry boards, including the AFI Board and the Melbourne International Film Festival. In addition she co-produced the documentary 'Birth of a Film Festival' about the beginnings of MIFF.

Mark Poole is an award winning filmmaker in both documentary and drama, whose work has been awarded at the AFI Awards, the AWGIEs St Kilda Film Festival and ATOM. His most recent documentary “Fearless” about 92-year-old playwright Julia Britton was screened on ABC1.

Mark’s writing on film has been published in The Age, Metro magazine and Storyline and he is a regular contributor to the online journal Screen Hub. He was the Chair of the Australian Writers’ Guild, Victoria from 2007 to 2012, and is a past National Vice President of the AWG.