Margaret Fink (b. 1933), film producer, was a key figure in the renaissance of Australian cinema in the 1970s. Born in Sydney, she worked as a high school art teacher in the early 1950s and around this time decided that she wanted to make films. ‘That was an unusual decision for anyone in Australia, boy or girl’, she recalls. She married businessman Leon Fink in 1961, placing her creative ambitions on hold while raising her three children. In 1971, she saw a production of David Williamson’s The Removalists in Kings Cross and decided to make a film of it. With a cast including Jacki Weaver, Kate Fitzpatrick, and Chris Haywood, the film appeared in 1975. Her collaboration with young director, Gillian Armstrong, on My Brilliant Career (1979) launched the careers of both Armstrong and its lead actor, Judy Davis. The film won Best Picture at the Australian Film Institute (AFI) Awards in 1979. Fink also produced For Love Alone (1986), based on the novel by Christina Stead, and the well-received television series Edens Lost (1988) which in 1989 won an AFI Award and a Penguin Award. She also produced Candy (2006), the last Australian film to star the late Heath Ledger.
Collection: National Portrait Gallery
Gift of the artist 2003
Donated through the Australian Government's Cultural Gifts Program
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