The Nights Belong to the Novelist

nights | synopsis | study guide

 

The Nights Belong to the Novelist 1987 is a 47 minute documentary about the imaginative world of Elizabeth Jolley, Australian writer. It features interviews with the writer at home and on her farm, which are inter cut with dramatised excerpts from her novels featuring well loved actors Ruth Cracknell and Kerry Walker.

 

The Nights Belong to the Novelist was launched at the 1987 Sydney Film Festival as a finalist in the Greater Union Awards, screened on BBC and ABC television to critical acclaim:

 

....a finely structured and revealing exploration of the artistic process; an inspirational film." Anna Maria dell’Oso, Times on Sunday.

Elizabeth Jolley is a fine choice for a film…..(this film) is structured as an introduction to both the writer and the work and the mixture is clever.” Paul Byrnes, Sydney Morning Herald

A lucid yet complex creative documentary…. an almost seamless blending of reality with fantasy which marks Christina as one of our top documentary filmmakers.” John Hinde ABC Radio National Film Reviews

In addition to the AFI Award for Best Direction in a short film and the  Grand Prix for the Montreal Festival of Films on the Arts, The Nights Belong to the Novelist won the Erwin Radio Prize for the Best Short Film (shared with Palisade) at the Melbourne Film Festival, a Silver Plaque at the Chicago International Film Festival and Best Australian Film at the ATOM Awards.

Copies of this film are available in DVD format - Contact Christina for more information.