ON LOAN

Australia, 1984, 50 minutes, Colour.
Directed by Geoff Bennett.

On Loan is a short film that is part of by the Australian Children's Television by Anne Brooksbank and directed by Geoff Bennett on location in Sydney, with some scenes at western suburbs.

It was filmed on Bondi Beach. The film has a look at Australian families, adoption, the adoption of a Vietnamese girl and her growing up in an Australian family. It also remembers the Vietnam war, the havoc that it wrought on families, separations, the quests of parents to find their children - and the dilemma for the children when faced with a parent whom they have never known. The film is well-acted, with an excellent blend of sentiment and objectivity. It is a fine piece of film-making for children - which would be of great interest and value to the adult audience.

1. The quality of the film? Its impact? Its place in The Winners series? For children's audiences? Adults?

2. Production values: Sydney locations, Bondi Beach and the suburbs, the city and the airport? The Sydney atmosphere?

3. The musical score and its mood, the evocation of Asian music? The contribution of the cast - the blend of Asian actors and actresses with the Australian-born? The impact on the audience: on the young, adults, the family audience? on audiences born in Australia? On migrants? On Asian migrants?

4. The title and its relationship to adoption and the dilemma for parents and for children? The film's principal focus on Lindy: audience response to her, liking her, sympathy for her, feeling for her, understanding?

5. The opening dance with its Asian atmosphere? Her parents and their proud response? Her place in the family? The background of her being adopted? The celebration of her birthday - but her not knowing the real day? Her father's speech and his pride? Marge and her love for her daughter? Danny as the younger brother, loving, awkward in his comments.' Lindy's friends, the close girlfriend with whom she talked things over?

6. The patterns of her life in Sydney? Happiness? Twelve years with her family? The scenes of ordinary life - school etc.? Yet her walking along the footpath, looking into the Vietnamese cafes? The arrival of the letter and its effect on her, the puzzle, speaking to her deep longings? Her parents' reaction?

7. Geoff's strength? Marge's confusion and upset? The decision to let the father come? The emotional effect on Lindy? Her wanting to see her real father? Her looking at the books on the Vietnam war? Her not having any memories of the war?

8. The airport, the arrival, letting Geoff's hand go and greeting her father? Marge's emotionality? Her father's decision to stay at the hotel, showing him Bondi Beach, talking with him, the information about her parents, her brothers, their life in Vietnam, and Thailand? The discovery of her real birthday? Her real name? The visits to the cousins in the western suburbs, feeling at home, with thein, sharing, the meals, the song? The difficulty of language and translation? Her feeling at home? The pressure on her to make decisions; With her father on the train and his plea for her to come to Thailand? Marge's emotional reaction? Geoff's calmer and more reasoned approach? Her answer - and the decision to stay with her parents in Australia? The promise to continue writing to her father in Thailand, to come to visit? The bond with her cousins in Sydney. learning Vietnamese. dancing and customs? The airport and her introducing her cousins to her parents? The realism of her characterisation? Charm, suffering?

9. The situation of the parents and their adopting Lindy, their eagerness. the conscience about the Vietnam war? Their not being able to have a child of their own? Danny not being expected? Geoff's pride at the concert? His speech? Geoff and Marge and their love and parenting? The reaction to the letter. to the coming of her natural father? Lindy's analogy for Marge - that if she had lost a child in war that she would still seek it out years later? Their dilemma, Marge's grief and emotionality. Geoff's calm and hope? The decision and its repercussions?

10. Geoff and Marge as an ordinary couple. caring. pride, love? Geoff as fair-minded? Wisdom? Helping Marge with her emotionality? Family life? Danny and his youthfulness, wondering, his impetuous asking the old man about being tortured?

11. The glimpse of Lindy's girlfriend. the swims `together. talking. the contrast with family life, her father having walked out. Lindy able to share her feelings with her friend?

12. Lindy's father and his letter. the experience in Thailand. saving money to come, the suffering. the arrival. his staying at the hotel. the walk along Bondi beach, his plea to Lindy. telling her her real name, her birthday. the story of her mother? The visit to his brother, the sharing of the meal and the celebration in the western suburbs? The return on the train? His accepting Lindy's decision? The hope for a visit in the future?

13. The Vietnamese family and its lifestyle in Sydney. the past experiences, the horror of the war, the cousin telling of the bombing of the school. the tears, wondering which corpse was her sister? The present of the book of drawings? Language, translation. traditions? The final credits and the dancing? The cousins sharing and the effect? The cousin explaining the meaning of Lindy's Vietnamese name, ‘the Spring Blossom'? The bonds between Australians and Vietnamese?

14. Australian attitudes, prejudice. the response to the Vietnamese?

15. The impact of Vietnam - photos. memories. the war, the terror, the aftermath. Thailand? A humane understanding of the Vietnamese experience?

16. The themes of adoption. the emotional impact on the child. on the adoptive parents. on the real parents? The theme of 'on loan'?