Queensland

Made while he was student at Swinburne, Ruane’s low-budget short feature is a fascinating time capsule of mid-1970s inner suburban Melbourne that provides an intimate and unvarnished portrait of working-class lives, male friendship and the always unfulfilled dreams of romance and escape. John Flaus brilliantly inhabits the central role of a factory worker moving between the down-at-heel settings of unreconstructed local pubs, the dog track, his shared room and the streets of Northcote. Grittily shot by Ellery Ryan, and featuring Bob Karl and Alison Bird in other key roles, it remains one of the most impressive Melbourne-made films of the 1970s revival.

DCP courtesy of John Ruane and Ray Argall