National Film and Sound Archive celebrates 20 years since the release of Shine, a watershed moment for Australian cinema

By Jane Freebury
Updated July 30 2016 - 12:23am, first published 12:00am
Scott Hicks and Geoffrey Rush on the set of Shine. Photo: Supplied
Scott Hicks and Geoffrey Rush on the set of Shine. Photo: Supplied
Geoffrey Rush in a scene from Shine Photo: Supplied
Geoffrey Rush in a scene from Shine Photo: Supplied
Noah Taylor in a scene from Shine Photo: Supplied
Noah Taylor in a scene from Shine Photo: Supplied
Scott Hicks, Noah Taylor and John Gielgud on the set of Shine. Photo: Supplied
Scott Hicks, Noah Taylor and John Gielgud on the set of Shine. Photo: Supplied
Armin Mueller Stahl in a scene from Shine. Photo: Supplied
Armin Mueller Stahl in a scene from Shine. Photo: Supplied
Geoffrey Rush and Lynn Redgrave in a scene from Shine Photo: Supplied
Geoffrey Rush and Lynn Redgrave in a scene from Shine Photo: Supplied
Geoffrey Rush in a scene from Shine Photo: Supplied
Geoffrey Rush in a scene from Shine Photo: Supplied
Noah Taylor and John Gielgud in a scene from Shine Photo: Supplied
Noah Taylor and John Gielgud in a scene from Shine Photo: Supplied

When Geoffrey Rush was up for a best actor award at the Academy Awards in 1997 for his performance as a troubled concert pianist in Shine, the fellow nominees were daunting company, as they usually are. There was Ralph Fiennes (a cartologist-adventurer in The English Patient), Billy Bob Thornton (a murderer with intellectual disability in Sling Blade), Tom Cruise (a slick sports agent in Jerry Maguire) and Woody Harrelson (pornography publisher in The People vs Larry Flynt). Movie acting establishment, every one of them.

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