For the Term of His Natural Life | Reconstructed 35mm Film | Arc Cinema

Overview

Australia’s most famous silent film, lost for decades and painstakingly reconstructed from incomplete versions and NFSA stills.

Based on the epic novel by Marcus Clarke, Australia’s most famous silent film is set during a prison escape at Port Arthur, with a controversial cannibalism subplot.

Lost for decades, this 1927 classic – which made use of cutting-edge motion picture technology for its time – was painstakingly reconstructed in 1981 from incomplete versions released in Australia and America, and stills held by the NFSA.

In 1978, artist Sidney Nolan completed 31 crayon pastel drawings based on Clarke’s novel. In 1981, Nolan’s drawings were exhibited for the first time in Canberra, while Dawn’s reconstructed silent film screened at the Sydney and Melbourne film festivals, reflecting the renewed interest in Australia’s convict history in the lead-up to the bicentenary.

Stay for a post-screening discussion about these two adaptations of Clarke’s novel with Graham Shirley, the historian who reconstructed Dawn’s film in 1981; reconstruction colourist Dominic Case; and Canberra Museum and Gallery (CMAG) curators Virginia Rigney and Nicole Sutherland.

Presented in collaboration with CMAG alongside Nolan: For the Term of His Natural Life. On display at CMAG until 23 February 2025, this exhibition brings together all 31 of Nolan’s crayon pastel drawings based on Clarke’s novel.

Presented on 35mm film prints from the NFSA collection.