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David Elfick
David Elfick
David Elfick
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David Elfick (born 20 December 1944)[1] is an Australian film and television writer, director, producer and occasional actor. He is known for his association with writer-director Phillip Noyce, with whom he has collaborated on films including Newsfront (1978) and Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002).[2]

Key Information

Career

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Elfick began his film career as the producer of the 1971 surf movie Morning of the Earth, directed by Alby Falzon. In 1973 Elfick collaborated with surfer, writer and cinematographer George Greenough as producer-director of Crystal Voyager.[3] This became one of the most successful Australian surf movies ever made, grossing over A$100,000 on its first release, followed by six-month run in London, where it ran on a double bill with René Laloux's Fantastic Planet and grossed over UK£100,000.[citation needed]

Elfick was co-writer (with Philippe Mora) of the original story for the acclaimed docu-drama Newsfront, in which he also had a small role, and he also had a minor role (as a projectionist) in Albie Thoms' Palm Beach (1979). In addition to writing, Elfick has also worked as a director, making his directorial debut in 1969. Directing credits include Crystal Voyager (1973), Love in Limbo (1993), and No Worries (1994).[4]

Elfick's credits as a producer include the pop film Starstruck (1982), Undercover (1983), the comedy Emoh Ruo (1985), the drama Blackrock (1997) and the multi-award-winning Rabbit Proof Fence (2002).[citation needed] He also produced Around the World in 80 Ways (released in 1988), which was directed by his friend Stephen MacLean.[5]

Filmography

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Directing

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Year Title Notes
1969 Magnificent Males
1973 Crystal Voyager
1975 Surfabout 75
1976 The Levi Strauss Story
1988 Fields of Fire II Miniseries
1990 Harbour Beat
1993 Love in Limbo
1994 No Worries
1998 Never Tell Me Never Television film
2002 Gliding with George
2003 Combat Women Documentary

Acting credits

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Year Title Role Notes
1975 The Golden Cage Man at Party
1978 Newsfront Rocker
1980 Palm Beach Projectionist
1985 Emoh Ruo Suitor

References

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[edit]
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David Elfick

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''David Elfick'' is an Australian film and television producer and director known for his influential work in Australian cinema, particularly through his collaborations with Phillip Noyce on the acclaimed Newsfront and Rabbit-Proof Fence, as well as his pioneering surf documentaries Morning of the Earth and Crystal Voyager. Born in Sydney to English migrant parents, Elfick grew up in a working-class family in Maroubra and developed an early interest in film and drama while studying at the University of New South Wales. He began his career in the late 1960s with roles in music journalism at Go-Set magazine, television presenting on the ABC's GTK program, and involvement in Sydney's underground film scene. In 1970 he co-founded the influential surf magazine Tracks, which helped pave the way for his entry into film production. Elfick established Palm Beach Pictures and produced the landmark surf films Morning of the Earth (1972) and Crystal Voyager (1973), which combined innovative cinematography with popular music and achieved commercial success. His transition to dramatic features came with Newsfront (1978), a critically celebrated film that he originated and produced, depicting the evolution of news media in post-war Australia through a blend of fiction and archival footage. The film marked a high point in the Australian New Wave and earned major awards from the Australian Film Institute. Over subsequent decades, Elfick produced or executive produced numerous features and television projects, including Starstruck (1982), Blackrock (1997), and Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002), the latter becoming a significant cultural success as one of the first major Australian films to address Indigenous experiences with broad domestic and international appeal. He has also directed several films himself, such as Love in Limbo (1993) and No Worries (1994), and has worked as a script editor on many projects. Through his entrepreneurial approach and emphasis on strong director-producer relationships, Elfick has played a key role in developing and supporting Australian stories on screen.

Early life

Family background and education

David Elfick was born on 20 December 1944 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia, to English migrant parents. He grew up in a working-class family in the Sydney suburb of Maroubra, where he was raised alongside two older brothers. His father worked in a factory yet remained well-read, while his mother had trained as a ballet dancer. Elfick left school at the age of 16 and later completed his matriculation through evening classes, securing a Commonwealth scholarship that enabled his tertiary studies. He enrolled at the University of New South Wales in 1964, pursuing drama, English literature, and political science. During his time at university, he was active in the film club Opunka—where he played the lead in its first movie, The Hard Word—and served as vice-president of Dramsoc, the drama society, where he entrepreneurially organized plays and revues.

Early career

Journalism, television, and Tracks magazine

During his final year at university, David Elfick taught English at a Catholic school in Marrickville before continuing into journalism. He established the Sydney office of the pop music newspaper Go-Set in the late 1960s, writing stories about the local music scene, covering gigs, liaising with record companies, selling advertisements, and delivering copies to newsagents; under his involvement the Sydney edition soon outsold the original Melbourne version. From 1969 to 1974 Elfick worked on the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's youth-oriented music program GTK (Get To Know), where he served as a talent interviewer and contributed as a director and editor of short films broadcast on the show; he later described this period as his "film school." In 1970 Elfick co-founded Tracks, an alternative surf magazine, with John Witzig and Alby Falzon. Produced initially from a rented house at Whale Beach on newspaper stock rather than glossy paper, the magazine positioned itself as cheeky, topical, and deeply connected to the emerging counter-cultural surf scene, deliberately competing with existing surf publications by offering faster, more relevant coverage. Tracks gained an immediate following among young readers through its humour, strong emphasis on reader engagement including a vibrant letters page, and ability to reflect the links between surfing, travel, music, and alternative lifestyles. The magazine succeeded in establishing itself as a central voice in Australian surf culture and remains in publication more than fifty years later.

Surf films

Morning of the Earth and Crystal Voyager

David Elfick entered the realm of surf filmmaking with Morning of the Earth, which he co-produced in 1972 alongside director Alby Falzon. The documentary captured surfing across relatively untouched locations in Australia, Bali, and Hawaii, emphasizing a spiritual and countercultural view of the sport in harmony with nature. It stood out for its innovative structure, driven primarily by a music soundtrack rather than traditional narration or voiceover, with music produced by G. Wayne Thomas. The film achieved commercial success and contributed to the growing recognition of surf culture in Australia. Building on this momentum from his work with Tracks magazine and Morning of the Earth, Elfick took on a more directorial role with Crystal Voyager in 1973, which he produced and directed in collaboration with Alby Falzon and George Greenough. The film centered on surfer, cinematographer, and innovator George Greenough, showcasing his groundbreaking techniques, including custom camera rigs that captured unprecedented point-of-view footage from inside tubing waves. Its most celebrated segment featured 23 minutes of Greenough's wave-riding imagery set to Pink Floyd's "Echoes" from the album Meddle, creating a hypnotic, extended sequence that amplified the film's psychedelic and transcendent quality. Elfick personally secured permission from Pink Floyd to use the track by offering them rights to incorporate Greenough's footage into their live performances. Crystal Voyager premiered at the Sydney Opera House in 1973 and later screened at the Cannes Film Festival, where it gained international distribution and was often double-billed with the animated feature Fantastic Planet. The film proved a major commercial success, particularly in the United Kingdom, where its London run lasted six months and grossed £100,000. It also earned over A$100,000 in Australia and is regarded as one of the most successful Australian surf films of its era.

Breakthrough film

Newsfront (1978)

**David Elfick originated the project that became Newsfront (1978), initially conceiving it as a documentary blending archival newsreel footage with a fictional narrative about two brothers involved in news gathering. This concept evolved into a dramatised feature exploring the transition from cinema newsreels to television news and the broader cultural changes in post-war Australia. Elfick co-conceived the original story with Philippe Mora, and the screenplay was ultimately credited to Bob Ellis, Phillip Noyce, and others, with Elfick contributing significantly to the story development and revisions. As producer through his company Palm Beach Pictures, Elfick brought in the then-unknown Phillip Noyce to direct, marking the start of their long-term professional collaboration. Script development proved challenging, with Bob Ellis delivering very long early drafts—some reaching 200 foolscap pages—that required extensive cuts and rewrites by Elfick and Noyce to fit a six-week shoot and $500,000 budget. A notable incident occurred when Ellis, upset by the revisions, stormed off with the only copy of the final script; Elfick retrieved the pages after chasing him up a hill. Further tensions led to Ellis being banned from the set, though he was paid and his credit was retained after negotiations. Elfick also appeared in a small acting role as the "Rocker". Production involved innovative techniques to integrate actors with archival footage, including the construction of a large set recreating Maitland's main street during the 1955 floods, built on Narrabeen Lake to enable seamless cuts to genuine newsreel material. Crucial distribution support came from Roadshow, whose executive Greg Coote provided significant encouragement and resources. The film achieved major critical and commercial success, winning Best Film (credited to Elfick), Best Director (Phillip Noyce), and Best Screenplay (Bob Ellis) at the 1978 Australian Film Institute Awards, among other honours. It stands as a landmark of the Australian New Wave for its innovative use of archival material and reflection on national identity.

Producing career

Feature films from the 1980s to 1990s

David Elfick produced a variety of narrative feature films during the 1980s and 1990s, contributing to a total of 13 features since Newsfront (1978). These projects, directed by others, included musicals, comedies, and dramas, often reflecting his ongoing interest in Australian stories and emerging talent. In 1982, Elfick produced Starstruck, a high-camp musical comedy directed by Gillian Armstrong and written by Stephen MacLean. The film presented challenges as one of the first Australian musicals, with Elfick and MacLean drawing on their music journalism background to select pop songs, many produced by Molly Meldrum. It achieved respectable box office in Australia and was later re-cut for U.S. release under Armstrong's supervision, which Elfick considered superior to the original version. Elfick followed with Undercover in 1983, a frothy comedy directed by David Stevens about Fred Burley, the inventor of the Berlei bra, set in the 1920s. He then produced Emoh Ruo in 1985, a domestic comedy directed by Denny Lawrence, in which Elfick also appeared in a small uncredited role as a "Suitor". Around the World in 80 Ways, released in 1988 and directed by Stephen MacLean, was another comedy that, like Emoh Ruo, did not strongly connect with audiences. In the 1990s, Elfick produced Blackrock in 1997, directed by Steven Vidler in his feature directorial debut and adapted by Nick Enright from his own stage play, which drew inspiration from tragic real-life events in Newcastle. The production was managed sensitively amid local opposition and concerns over exploiting the tragedy, with filming conducted discreetly, local talent prioritized, and no direct references to the actual case due to ongoing legal matters. The film marked Heath Ledger's first movie role.

Directing career

Feature films and television projects

David Elfick directed several feature films and television projects starting in the late 1980s, beginning with the popular television miniseries Fields of Fire II (1988) and Fields of Fire III (1989), which marked his work behind the camera on a larger scale. He followed this with the feature film Harbour Beat (1990), a police drama set in Sydney. In 1993, Elfick directed the comedy Love in Limbo, notable for featuring an early comedic performance by Russell Crowe as a young man navigating cultural and romantic challenges in 1950s Perth. The film was produced while he was simultaneously working on his next project. Elfick directed No Worries in 1994, a family drama centered on a rural Australian family forced to relocate due to drought, presented as a British-Australian co-production that highlighted themes of resilience and change. The film won the Crystal Bear award at the Berlin International Film Festival's Kinderfilmfest. He returned to television with the 1998 telemovie Never Tell Me Never, which dramatized the true story of Australian skier Janine Shepherd's paralysis and subsequent recovery after a near-fatal accident. In the early 2000s, Elfick directed two documentaries: Crystal Voyager: Gliding with George - A Conversation with George Greenough (2003), revisiting hang-gliding themes connected to his earlier work, and Combat Women (1999), which examined the roles played by Vietnamese women during the Vietnam War. In most of these projects, Elfick also served as producer through his company, Palm Beach Pictures.

Major collaborations

Phillip Noyce and Rabbit-Proof Fence

**David Elfick maintained a long-term professional collaboration with director Phillip Noyce that spanned more than two decades, built on mutual loyalty and creative trust that Elfick described as unbreakable: “you could never get between us, because we were loyal to each other.” Their partnership began with Newsfront (1978) and endured through subsequent projects, with Elfick noting that any doubt between them would have ended the working relationship. Elfick served as executive producer on Noyce’s Rabbit-Proof Fence (2002), a film Noyce initiated after reading Christine Olsen’s screenplay adaptation of Doris Pilkington Garimara’s book Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence. Noyce asked Elfick to raise the financing for the $8 million production, and Elfick secured international sales through his longtime collaborator Jeremy Thomas at HanWay Films. Production presented significant challenges, particularly working with three young Aboriginal girls who had no prior acting experience. After initial shooting yielded unsatisfactory performances due to frequent interruptions and the children’s difficulty maintaining concentration, Noyce shifted to a handheld camera approach with larger film magazines to minimize setups and intensify communication. This change drove the shooting ratio to 50:1, far exceeding the budgeted 20:1 and the standard feature film ratio of around 12:1, with the additional cost initially absorbed from the music budget. After principal photography, Noyce, Elfick, and Thomas reviewed a cut and agreed it lacked sufficient sense of journey, isolation, vast distance, and emotional strength at the beginning and end. They undertook two major pick-up shoots: reshoots of the emotional ending in Kuring-gai National Park, where the now more confident girls performed better, and panoramic desert shots in Western Australia using helicopter footage, stand-ins, and digital addition of the rabbit-proof fence. Elfick successfully argued for additional funding of approximately $2 million from the Film Finance Corporation and Showtime Australia to cover these reshoots and to commission Peter Gabriel’s score. Rabbit-Proof Fence achieved $7.5 million at the Australian box office, becoming one of the rare Australian films to enter profit and the first feature on an Indigenous subject to attain significant commercial success. It marked a cultural breakthrough as a serious, moving film about Indigenous experience that broad Australian audiences wanted to watch, contributing to wider understanding of the Stolen Generations and serving as a landmark in national reconciliation.

Legacy

Impact and views on producing

David Elfick has enjoyed an enduring career as one of Australian cinema's most respected producers, spanning more than four decades and marked by his ability to identify emerging talent, secure financing, assemble strong creative teams, and steer productions through logistical and financial difficulties. His contributions have helped shape the landscape of Australian film since the 1970s, particularly through his work on landmark projects that captured national identity, surf culture, and Indigenous experiences. Elfick has produced 13 feature films since Newsfront, along with four miniseries and several documentaries, while also directing four features himself. In reflecting on his approach to producing, Elfick stresses the importance of collaboration and loyalty to the director's vision, describing it as essential to offer constructive questioning without undermining authority, remain flexible for reshoots or changes, and employ cunning scheduling to optimize budgets and secure additional funds when crises arise. He has expressed regret that, when directing his own films, he often lacked the support of equally capable producers to handle those demands. Elfick is recognized as a key figure in the Australian New Wave for his role in revitalizing local storytelling, a pioneer in the surf film movement through his early documentaries, and a contributor to greater visibility for Indigenous narratives via Rabbit-Proof Fence. He continues to stay active in the surfing community in Bondi.
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