The Office Picnic

1972 Australian film
  • 17 November 1972 (1972-11-17)
Running time
83 minutesCountryAustraliaLanguageEnglishBudgetA$30,000[1]

The Office Picnic is a 1972 Australian comedy film directed by Tom Cowan. It was entered into the 8th Moscow International Film Festival.[2]

Plot summary

A group of public servants go on an annual picnic. Two of them, Peter and Elly, disappear.

Cast

  • John Wood as Clyde
  • Kate Fitzpatrick as Mara
  • Philip Deamer as Peter
  • Gaye Steele as Elly
  • Ben Gabriel as Mr Johnson
  • Max Cullen as Jim O'Casey
  • Anne Tait
  • Francis Flannigan
  • Bryon Kennedy
  • Graham Richards
  • Elaine Smith

Production

Cowan got the idea to make the film while walking through the bush during shooting of a documentary in the Victorian countryside.[3] He says he was also influenced by the novels of Patrick White and the films of Antonioni.[4]

The film was shot on 35mm using a budget in part funded by the Experimental Film and Television Fund. It started in January 1972 but the money ran out during filming and there was a hiatus until filming resumed in April. The shoot took fifteen days in all.[3]

Release

The film was successfully previewed at Toorak and for a time it looked as though it would be distributed by British Empire Films but in the end most commercial screenings were arranged by the director.[1][3]

References

  1. ^ a b Andrew Pike and Ross Cooper, Australian Film 1900–1977: A Guide to Feature Film Production, Melbourne: Oxford University Press, 1998 p266
  2. ^ "8th Moscow International Film Festival (1973)". MIFF. Archived from the original on 16 January 2013. Retrieved 3 January 2013.
  3. ^ a b c David Stratton, The Last New Wave: The Australian Film Revival, Angus & Robertson, 1980 p184-185
  4. ^ Interview with Tom Cowan, 12 November 1998 Archived 14 November 2013 at the Wayback Machine accessed 11 Oct 2012

External links

  • The Office Picnic at IMDb Edit this at Wikidata
  • The Office Picnic at Oz Movies


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