Peter Tammer

As notions of civil rights transformed across the world, so was the screen landscape reformed by the ascension of grassroots film movements seeking to challenge the mainstream. Some aspired to push form to its limit; others worked to destabilise what they saw as a homogenous industry, or to provoke questions around gender, sexuality, migration and race.

The recollections of a shattered and traumatised man, a former escapee from the advancing Japanese army relates the horrors of war, his doubts and misgivings of the support of comrades, his fear for the loss of his best friend, and of course, his own fear of dying. "Journey to the End of Night" is the diary of a soldier. Although it was filmed forty years after the event, it is a timeless universal testimony because of its power and emotion. It is the voice of an individual raised against the violence, the horror and the futility of war. The film raises one question which continues to haunt us: a soldier is trained to kill, but not to commit murder. Who can draw the line?

A slice of life, summer in Australia: sunstroke, syphilis and varicose veins. The quiet seaside resort of Mallacoota is flooded by tourists seeking their holiday paradise. How can they know that their very search destroys everything they yearn for? We follow the life of a local boy, Donny, and his friends Larry and Leo, as they await the new season's arrivals, new adventures. Donny meets Debbie, an old flame from the previous year who has changed a lot in the meantime. They also meet a two drag-queens, Wanda and Michelle, who have come to town to put on a show. Their arrival adds a new dimension to the local colour. The holiday is full of minor events including a messy Australian-style rodeo. Some of the characters get what they are looking for. And some do not.

Killing a human being "in cold blood" requires unique mental preparation and single-minded determination. To pull the trigger a second time may be easier, but the moments between the shots must be calculatingly controlled, the precision of "getting it right" must be sustained. Representing this tormenting tapestry of emotion, the arts of acting and moviemaking become a tug-of-war between reality and imagination. A lifetime of regrets, anguish, confusion and frustration may erupt in the fleeting moments between the takes. In this film writer/director Peter Tammer explores the FEAR OF THE DARK through the person of the actor Robert Ratti, holding together the hopes and fears of the performer who is facing survival on a day-to-day basis for the opportunity to work in the future. This visual fantasy confronts a level of consciousness we've all touched, reminding us that we were not alone in the dark, facing a reality we dare not imagine.

A bloke narrates his day out at the footy.

A portrait of the actor, film teacher, critic, and legendary cinephile, John Flaus, in a unique film mosaic structured around cryptic crossword clues and solutions suggesting the content of the twelve sequences.

Shortly before film director Paul Cox died, he received a visit from his friend Peter Tammer and they spent an afternoon discussing Cox’s life. A remarkable record of that day and a fitting final tribute to Paul Cox’s life.

Peter Tammer’s personal diary film contrasting the comfortable suburban life of his family to that of his father-in-law, an Austrian Jew who emigrated to Australia after World War II.

A casual meeting of misfits and vagrants on a Saturday afternoon in Albert Park. Featuring Mark Gillespie and ‘Mad’ Danny Kramer.

TRIP OF A LIFETIME is a unique family footage film, Tammer being handed (in 1988) some unwanted 16mm. footage shot in 1950-51 of a seemingly ordinary older couple, as they travelled the world and recorded the sights they saw and the people they met up with. Stunningly restored by Tammer to a pristine high defintion, this is a heartfelt and exquisite film, honouring the existence of the people we see on screen, even if no-one (including Tammer) now knows who they are. A film one watches with awe and wonder.