After 40 years, The Pursuit of Happiness is being relaunched.
Originally screened across the country and on the ABC, this feature film is about the ties that bind couples and nations.
The film was financed in the mid-1980s by 200 groups and individuals from the anti-nuclear peace movement and shot in the Port of Fremantle amid the turbulence of a United States. nuclear fleet visit.
Controversially, in a period of popular anxiety about nuclear issues, Australia’s Cold War alliance with the US military was facing increasing pressure.
The Pursuit of Happiness mixed drama with documentary to focus this concern on the question of national and personal self-determination.
Since that time, security concerns have altered, but Australia remains firmly tied into US strategies, facilities and weaponry for fighting a nuclear war. Today the ally’s recent actions are increasingly erratic, unreliable and very costly.
The Pursuit of Happiness was directed by veteran filmmaker Martha Ansara; cast members included a large number of ordinary Fremantle residents as well as professional actors.
WA’s anti-nuclear federal Senator Jo Vallentine, musicians Lucky Oceans and the 1980s girl group The Jam Tarts, are among the non-professionals who feature, while war veterans, waterfront workers, high school kids, demonstrators, local and state politicians and a range of others make brief appearances.
The film will be screened by Anti-War Coalition Lutruwita in Lutruwita/Hobart on June 20. Rosalie Woodruff and Peter George will be there for the conversation and a Q&A about the need for a renewed movement.
Tickets for the screening at the Hidden Theatre, at Kickstart Arts Centre, 1831 Aouth, St Johns Park New Town, are available here.
