30 Facts About Martha Ansara

Martha Ansara is a US-born Australian documentary filmmaker, writer, oral historian, and educator.

Martha Ansara was born in the United States, where her father was a leading figure in the Syrian-Lebanese community and her mother an educator specialising in dyslexia.

Martha Ansara migrated to Australia in 1969, becoming involved in the Sydney Filmmakers Co-operative.

Martha Ansara started making films with other young filmmakers through the co-operative, but at that time professional cinematography was dominated by men and it was difficult to get work.

Martha Ansara was one of the first women in Australia to work as a cinematographer, and is known for her social documentaries.

Martha Ansara began writing reviews and articles on film for Filmnews, the monthly newspaper of the Sydney Filmmakers Co-operative, and then for a range of publications.

Martha Ansara admired Dutch documentary filmmaker Joris Ivens, whom she met in 1996, and wrote about in Filmnews'.

Martha Ansara worked extensively as an assessor of projects for government film bodies and was involved in promoting the development of women's filmmaking through the Sydney Women's Film Group, established in 1973, along with Jeni Thornley and Margot Nash.

Martha Ansara was involved in the Women's Film Fund of the Australian Film Commission.

Martha Ansara was involved in the anti-Vietnam War movement and joined the Association for International Disarmament and Co-operation, which became People for Nuclear Disarmament.

Martha Ansara subsequently worked with PND as an organizer of the Pacific Peacemaker project.

Martha Ansara was a foundation member of the Rank and File Movement within the union which came to power briefly in the late 1980s.

In 1976 Martha Ansara was introduced to the realities of Aboriginal Australians through community activist and singer Essie Coffey.

Martha Ansara subsequently photographed Coffey's film My Survival as an Aboriginal, which she co-produced with Coffey Coffey and Ansara later collaborated again to make a sequel, My Life As I Live It.

In 1978, Martha Ansara made Secret Storm, about a young woman who questions her role as mother.

In 1983, Martha Ansara photographed Lousy Little Sixpence, a documentary about the Stolen Generations made by Alec Morgan, Aboriginal media pioneer Lester Bostock and his brother, Gerry Bostock.

Martha Ansara worked in Western Australia with Aboriginal activist Robert Bropho to photograph Munda Nyuringu and Always Was, Always Will Be, a documentary on the Swan Brewery Dispute, which she and Bropho made together.

Martha Ansara was a founding convenor of the Film and Broadcast Industries Oral History Group, which was founded in April 1991 "as an independent body in response to the growing concerns of oral historians and Australian filmmakers that the National Film and Sound Archive was no longer doing enough to encourage the recording and dissemination of the oral histories of film and broadcast industry veterans".

Martha Ansara gained a master's degree in Applied History from the University of Technology Sydney in 1994.

Martha Ansara was involved with the Balmain Resident Action group.

In 2002, Martha Ansara produced the documentary Ordinary People, directed by Jennifer Rutherford and narrated by Tara Morice, which follows One Nation candidate Colene Hughes over two years and two elections.

In 2003, Martha Ansara joined other documentary-makers, including Jeni Thornley, Pat Fiske, and Mitzi Goldman, in forming Ozdox, the Australian Documentary Forum.

Martha Ansara retired from filmmaking, but continues to distribute a small number of her DVDs via Ballad Films.

Martha Ansara is a full member of the Australian Cinematographers Society.

Martha Ansara is a life member of the Australian Directors Guild and a founding member of Ozdox, the Australian Documentary Forum.

Martha Ansara is a member of the Society of Australian Cinema Pioneers.

Martha Ansara has been appointed as a selector and juror for film awards and festivals; has acted as a project assessor for film funding; and has been a film valuer for the Cultural Gifts Program.

Martha Ansara has worked as a film lecturer in Australian film history and Aboriginal history, and as an oral historian.

Martha Ansara has written about film, and been active in the trade union, women's, and peace movements.

Martha Ansara was inducted into the ACS Hall of Fame in 2015.