A view from the west: the cinema of Ana Kokkinos

The cinema of Melbourne film-maker Ana Kokkinos is deeply imbued with understandings and vistas of Melbourne's western suburbs. These personal filmic landscapes of the place she grew up offer an insider's view of place. Yet these insiders are also outsiders who are frequently 'Othered', painfully aware of their difference due to their sexuality (as gays or lesbians); their ethnicity (as Greek immigrants within a troubled multicultural Australia); their socioeconomic status (as working class, and often disenfranchised youths); and their place as sons and daughters battling familial tensions (particularly as 2nd generation migrants). Indeed, all these dilemmas are arguably expositions of her own background, and inform her vision as a filmmaker who has achieved powerful insights into these worlds, creating a body of work that makes a significant contribution to representing Melbourne in the cinema.