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SAFC celebrates 50th anniversary of Sunday Too Far Away

26 May 2025

Australian screen icon Jack Thompson AM and legendary producer Matt Carroll OBE were the guests of honour at the South Australian Film Corporation’s (SAFC) 50^th anniversary celebration of critically acclaimed and multi award-winning Sunday Too Far Away, the first feature film to be produced by the SAFC in 1975.

Held at Adelaide Studios last week, the special event was attended by SA screen sector members including some of the film’s original cast and crew, and members of the South Australian Producers and Heads of Department Working Groups, along with members of the SAFC’s Screen Circle and VIP guests, all enjoying a reception followed by a Q&A with Jack and Matt by ABC 891 Adelaide’s Deb Tribe and a screening of the film.

Distinguished guests included The Hon Michael Brown MP, Senator The Hon Don Farrell, The Right Hon Lord Mayor Dr Jane Lomax Smith AM, Former Deputy Premier The Hon Vickie Chapman, Mayor of Burnside Anne Monceaux, Mayor of Flinders Ranges Ken Anderson, The Mercury General Manager Sarah Lancaster and Mercury Co-Chair Kirsty Stark, members of the SAFC Board, and past SAFC Board Chairs Hedley Bachmann AM, Julie Cooper and David Minear.

Members of the original South Australian crew who worked on the film were also in attendance: Director of Photography Geoff Burton ACS, Camera Assistant David Foreman ACS, 2^nd Assistant Camera Geoffrey Simpson and Best Boy Trevor Toune.

Sunday Too Far Away was released in 1975, marking a key moment in the history of Australian cinema, and South Australia’s pioneering place in it – launching more than half a century of filmmaking in the state through the SAFC. Directed by Ken Hannam, produced by Matt Carroll and the SAFC’s inaugural director Gil Brealey, and starring legendary actor Jack Thompson in one of the most iconic roles of his career, Sunday Too Far Away is one of the great Australian films of all time.

On an outback station in 1956, hard-drinking shearers battle the clock, the sheep and each other for the position of “gun shearer”, the one with the highest tally. Foley (Thompson) has not been beaten in 10 years, but he knows the day will come. As he considers his future, a disastrous strike looms.

Shot in Port Augusta and Quorn on Barngarla and Nukunu country, Sunday Too Far Away was produced by the then-fledgling SAFC – which had only launched three years earlier in 1972 – as the first feature film to emerge from this bold, nation-leading initiative. The film was a box office and critical success, winning the 1975 AFI Awards for Best Film and Best Actor for Jack Thompson, and it was the first Australian feature film selected for the Director’s Fortnight at Cannes.

Sunday paved the way for a spate of extraordinary works out of South Australia, including Picnic at Hanging Rock (1975), Storm Boy (1976) and Breaker Morant (1980), spearheading the “Australian New Wave” of cinema, and establishing the SAFC as a pioneer in the new world of Australian screen culture.

ABC Radio Adelaide is keeping the celebrations going with another special screening of Sunday Too Far Away on Wednesday, 4 June at 6pm at The Mercury Cinema, with opportunities to win tickets over the week across the Breakfast, Evenings, Weekends and Sunday Mornings programs.

Attendees will also have the chance to win some excellent door prizes on the night, including a mounted Sunday Too Far Away poster signed by Jack Thompson and Matt Carroll and a subscription to The Mercury Cinema with free unlimited tickets to 300+ unique films across 800+ screenings, discounts and more for a whole year.

See more photos from the SAFC’s celebration below.

All photos by Naomi Jellicoe.