Vale Tina Kaufmann

Tina Kaufmann – among many other roles in Australian film culture over more than half a century – was for several years a member of AMOHG, and also in its earlier name, the Filmmakers’ and Broadcast Industry Oral History Group (FBIOHG). We are very much saddened to learn that Tina passed away, after an illness, last weekend.

In Senses of Cinema (the publication, not the recent film documentary about the Filmmakers Coop): Tina Kaufman was the editor of the Sydney Filmmakers Coop monthly newspaper, Filmnews for seventeen years. The newspaper covered all aspects of screen culture, policy and practice, which Tina continues to write about for various screen publications including Metro magazine and the online publication Screen Hub. A board member of the Sydney Film Festival for 25 years and a founding member of the Film Critics Circle of Australia, she is now an honorary life member of both organisations. She is also the author of Wake in Fright (Currency Press).

Tina herself writes of her years growing up, and of her involvement with UBU films in the mid- to late- sixties, in the introductory chapter to her book on the 1970 classic Australian film Wake in Fright. That introduction is available on the website to read as a sample.

Tina conducted a number of Oral History interviews that are held at NFSA (over a wide range of subjects from documentary-maker Dennis O’Rourke to Atlab colour grader Tina Hutch), and was herself interviewed (by Martha Ansara) as recently as 2017. Here is the description of her own interview, in NFSA’s database.

Tina Kaufman was editor of Film News from 1975 to 1995 and an ever-present reporter of film events and gatherings of every kind for most of that period and beyond. Film News was initially published by the Sydney Filmmakers Coop and when that organisation folded, it was published independently until the Australian Film Commission ceased supporting it. In this interview, Tina discusses growing up in Sydney’s Northern Suburbs, becoming an avid filmgoer, her work as a journalist upon leaving high school, and her participation in Sydney’s burgeoning art, music and film scene as a member of “the baby push”. She recalls some of the young people in that scene who later made their name. After marrying rock musician Mick Lieber and giving birth to her son Cas, Tina went with Mick to London, but returned in the early 70s, to be absorbed by the life of a single parent until approached to produce the Sydney Filmmakers Coop newssheet, Film News, by editor Gabrielle Godard, wife of Arthur Karvan, Coop manager. Tina discusses the operations, contributors, and expansion of Film News and its relationship with the Coop, as well as her experience of the Coop itself. She also speaks of other organisations with which she was involved, especially the Sydney Film Festival and her 25-year membership of its board. Other organisations discussed include Watch on Censorship, the Film Critics Circle of Australia, the Australian Film Institute, the National Film Theatre of Australia and the attempted formation of a Sydney Cinematheque. Among those mentioned in the interview are Barbara Alysen, Albie Thoms, Richard Neville, Richard Walsh, Richard Brennan, Marcia Rowe, Michael Thornhill and many others.

The interview, running for nearly 5 hours, gives an indication of the extent of Tina’s involvement in a wide range of groups and organisations.

From Graham Shirley: As a periodic writer for Filmnews in the 1970s and 80s, I always found Tina to be a skilled, inspired, patient and encouraging editor. She continuously had her finger on the pulse of the filmmaking community, paying particular attention to the news, events, challenges and achievements of experimental, alternative, documentary, non-mainstream, short-subject as well as feature-length filmmakers. Tina had a clear understanding of the ‘industrial’ as well as political context in which all of them operated and was a familiar face at film community meetings and screenings of all kinds. A decade ago, I was intrigued by Albie Thoms’ descriptions of the Tina of the 1960s in his book My Generation (published 2012). If I’m correctly interpreting Albie’s memories of Tina, she was invariably smart, sharp, always energised and seemingly everywhere.