Lecture: Films With a Social Purpose

6 October 2026

Andrew Pike to deliver NFSA 2026 Rod Wallace Memorial Lecture

The Friends of the National Flim and Sound Archive Inc. are delighted to announce the renowned film producer, distributor and historian Andrew Pike OAM will deliver

The 2026 Rod Wallace Memorial Lecture
"Creating Communities – Archiving and Curating for Social Purpose"
Tuesday 6 October 2026
- 6.00pm (for 6.30 pm) -
Arc Cinema, National Film and Sound Archive

About the lecture

Andrew will trace the profound post-World War II influence of Scottish advocate and theorist John Grierson, rescuing film from the grasp of Hollywood and making documentaries and feature films available non-theatrically to workplaces, schools and community organisations in Australia, Canada and New Zealand. This led to the establishment of the National Library's 16mm Film Lending Collection in 1945 and ultimately to the creation of the National Film and Sound Archive in 1984.

The lecture will focus on a series of outstanding examples of film production, programming and archiving dedicated to specific social purposes

Hosted by the Friends and warmly open to the public, the lecture will be held at the Arc Cinema venue, kindly provided by the NFSA, commencing with a welcoming reception at 6.00 pm, followed by the lecture at 6.30 pm. Bookings are essential (see link below).

Background

It began with a purpose very close to Rod Wallace's own heart, initiated by his familiarity with the work of John Grierson, the Scottish public advocate for films to facilitate social change. Grierson argued with evangelical zeal for national cinema programs that would go beyond formal classroom tuition to encourage principles of citizenship, national cohesion and social empathy and awareness.

To achieve this broad goal, film needed to be rescued from the grasp of Hollywood, and documentaries and appropriate feature films made and distributed for non-commercial screenings in work-places and film societies.

Grierson's philosophy lay behind much of the work of several Australian institutions – not only through Rod Wallace and his colleagues in the Film Division of the National Library of Australia over five decades, through the national Film Lending and Film Study collections, but also through the Australian Commonwealth Film Unit, and eventually the independent National Film and Sound Archive.

Andrew will instance the development of these Grierson-based programmes through the work of Mary Field in the UK with the Children's Film Foundation. Her work also impacted on Australia. From the war years through to the 1980s, the Foundation and its successors produced and programmed films for children in many hundreds of Children's Film Clubs in the UK and around the world, including Australia - where Bush Christmas (1947), the very first feature-length film to be released in the name of the Film Foundation, was made. In time, Grierson's ideas became so deeply accepted that they were widely assumed in the film community as given ideals and principles.

Origins

The Friends of the NFSA established the annual Rod Wallace Memorial lecture to commemorate the pioneering achievement of Roderick Wallace AM as an innovator, advocate and mentor. During his 32 years at the National Library (1945-1977) he oversaw the growth of its special collections, including film, music and sound recordings, and laid the foundations for the NFSA's creation.

Further information

Contact: Ray Edmondson
or Ian Hallett
Bookings essential: (see link below)
Website: www.archivefriends.org.au