This incredibly successful Australian comedy traces the adventures of three Sydney drag-queens who travel through the Australian outback in order to perform their exuberant act in Alice Springs. On their journey through the desert, on a bus christened Priscilla, they encounter both friendship and enmity from the small bush communities. Guy Pearce is excellent as the youngest drag-queen who has a tough mouth but a lot to learn about the world while Hugo Weaving is moving as a man who must reveal the truth of his homosexuality to his son. Terence Stamp is unforgettable as the transsexual Bernice and the loving relationship that develops between Stamp and Bill Hunter’s outback “bloke” is very tender and very touching. Full of humour, colour and bizarre costumes for which the film won an Academy Award, “Priscilla” is a wickedly entrancing family movie which shows that not only Australian cities but the mythical Australian bush has been affected and changed by ethnic and sexual multiculturalism. The soundtrack is full of great drag disco classics from “I Will Survive” and “Go West” to the more recent “Finally” and “Save the Best for Last.”
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How to watch
Collection
In ACMI's collection
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
307053
Language
English
Audience classification
MA
Subject categories
Advertising, Film, Journalism, Mass Media & TV → Academy awards (Motion pictures)
Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Gay and lesbian studies
Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Homosexuality in motion pictures
Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Transsexualism
Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Transvestites
Feature films → Feature films - Australia
Sound/audio
Captioned
Colour
Colour
Holdings
VHS; Access Print (Section 1)