Richard Mason (1926–2002) was an Australian film producer and director.

He was born on the South Coast of New South Wales, the son of a parson. During the Second World War he guarded Italian Prisoners of War.[1]

After the war he joined Sydney's Mercury Theatre as an actor, co-starring in Molière's play, The Imaginary Invalid. However, he soon moved to film, starting as a wardrobe assistant for Eureka Stockade (1949), then as an assistant at the Colorfilm lab, before joining the Commonwealth Film Unit (now Screen Australia).[1]

He remained with the Commonwealth Film Unit, which then became Film Australia, for many years before resigning in 1978 over the Australian government's political censorship of The Unknown Industrial Prisoner.[1]

Once independent, he produced Winter of Our Dreams (1981), Far East (1982), and One Night Stand (1984).[1]

Mason died in Sydney on 22 November 2002.[1]

A focus on Australian Aborigines

A series of short films exploring themes of Aboriginal life in Australia in the 20th century:[2]

  • The Change at Groote (1968), a film exploring how an isolated Aboriginal community (of Groote Eylandt in the Gulf of Carpentaria) coped with the discover of Manganese on their land.
  • The Islanders (1968), documenting the lives of the Torres Strait Islander people.
  • God Knows Why But It Works (1976); an Australian doctor strives to help the local Aboriginal population.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 "Richard Mason". Variety. Retrieved 3 September 2015.
  2. ↑ "Film Australia Indigenous Studies Catalogue" (PDF). Screen Australia. Retrieved 3 September 2015.


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