UNFOLDING FLORENCE: THE MANY LIVES OF FLORENCE BROADHURST

DOCUMENTARY, Australia, 2006, 82 minutes

Director: Gillian Armstrong
Producer: Sue Clothier, Charles Hannah
Writer: Katherine Thomson

Acclaimed Aussie director Gillian Armstrong (MY BRILLIANT CAREER, OSCAR AND LUCINDA), returns to documentary to capture the mystery, style and flamboyance of a Sydney society icon. Known to designing and fashion enthusiasts for her colorful wallpaper designs that broke new ground in the 60s, Florence Broadhurst had many lives before she became a Sydney society darling and industry magnate. Born in 1899 in a mud hut in rural Queensland, she reinvented herself throughout the course of her life, lying about her past, her age and even pretending to be British to gain admission into Sydney’s loftier social circles. None of these facts were known, however, until her brutal murder, making her posthumous reputation that much more scintillating. Using a mix of stylized re-enactments, animated photographs and talking heads, the film charts the many phases of Florence’s richly-patterned life (and death) – from opera singer to dance-academy manager in Shanghai, from fashion retailer in London to failed painter until her successful reinvention and eventual death.

· 2006 Sundance Film Festival: World Cinema Documentary Competition
· 2006 Karlovy Vary International Film Festival: Documentary Competition
· 2006 Australian Writers’ Guild (Awgie) Award: Nominated, Best Documentary

Gillian Armstrong is one of the Australia’s best-known film directors. Her formidable body of features includes OSCAR AND LUCINDA, LITTLE WOMEN (nominated for three Academy Awards), MRS SOFFEL and the Oscar-nominated MY BRILLIANT CAREER. To date, Armstrong has made four documentaries that has tracked the lives of three South Australian women from girlhood to motherhood.