Australian Rules is a fictional story based on true events as depicted in the award-winning novel Deadly, Unna?, by Phillip Gwynne. A sixteen-year-old boy, Gary Black (Phillips), grows up in a small country town with a violent and abusive father (Westaway). He befriends Dumby Red (Carroll), an Aboriginal from the nearby mission, and his sister Clarence (Flanagan), who shares with Gary a love of words. Gary pins his hope of escape on writing; Dumby sees football as his ticket out of the town. The bigotry of the town's inhabitants, however, leads to a tragic event.

David Wilson, a former coordinator of South Australian Indigenous Screen Culture Organisation, created controversy by claiming that the film had violated 'cultural protocols' and that the murder should not have been depicted on film, as it rekindled memories of the 1977 shootings in Gwynne's home town. Wilson claimed that the killings were an Aboriginal story and that director Paul Goldman and writer Gwynne had no artistic license to dramatise the events. But, as film critic Sandra Hall has pointed out, the story is a piece of shared history, seen through the eyes of a white person.

Winner of two AFI awards (best cinematography and best direction), Beneath Clouds is a gentle but perceptive film. It follows two teenagers who are running away from their lives toward an uncertain future. Lena (Hall) is smart ((mdash)) smart enough to know that she is stranded in a small country town in NSW with an abusive, alcoholic mother and deadbeat friends. Her dream is to find her father in Sydney. Vaughn (Pitt) is in a prison farm, but absconds when he learns that his mother is dying. The two come across each other on their journeys, and form a reluctant alliance which eventually develops into an unspoken friendship.

This is an understated film ((mdash)) it presents people's lives as they are and leaves the audience to draw its own conclusions. Much like the story, the cinematography and direction are understated but lovingly done. Not a film that will have you glued to your seat with excitement, it will draw you into its world and linger long after your have finished watching.