Gorton saw the Arts as a viable avenue through which the young nation could discover and express its identity both here and abroad. He established an Experimental Film Fund (EFF) which was aimed at fostering the nations creative talents. The best filmmakers discovered through the program, it was decided, would be invited to join a national film school. This was the beginning of Australian cinema's revival.
Before he could set up the film school, Gorton was replaced by Gough Whitlam as Prime Minister. Whitlam, though, appeared to be even more supportive of the Arts than Gorton. He poured money into the film industry, setting up the planned Australian Film, Television & Radio School. The AFDC, a federal film funding body, was also established to fuel local production.
Concurrently, an enthusiastic generation of Australian filmmakers were deriving a great deal of inspiration both from international film festivals (such as the newly founded Cannes Film Festival) and from an influx of controversial local and foreign films which were permitted to be screened once the 'R-Certificate' was brought in. Prior to the advent of the R-Certificate and popular international film festivals, Australians were bombarded solely with American and British cultural products.
During the 1970s, then, a new wave of Australian filmmakers came out of film co-operatives and the AFTRS to break new ground in this country. The likes of Peter Weir, George Miller, Bruce Beresford, Fred Schepisi and Gillian Armstrong finally had their chance to create films that would be supported and respected both locally and overseas; and they were.
Two distinct bodies of work can be defined during this period. The first, dubbed the AFC genre by film scholars Dermody & Jacka, are the European-inspired works of art cinema. Such films were often based on literary works and are defined by their slow narrative progression and in-depth character studies. Weir's Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975) and Armstrong's My Brilliant Career (1979) epitomize this 'genre'. The second body of work can be defined broadly as exploitation or sexploitation. Such films were often claimed to be commercially-oriented generic works. Millers' masterwork, Mad Max (1979); as well as Don's Party (Beresford, 1976) and Alvin Purple (Tim Burstall, 1973) succeeded in making Australian films accessible and popular once again.
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