Roland Beckett was an unsung champion of the rebirth of the Australian film industry. In the mid-to-late 1960s he was a key figure in the growing ranks of activists who urged the federal and New South Wales governments to give the industry their legislative and financial support.
After six days of debate, the committee recommended the establishment of a national film school and federal government encouragement for the film and television industries. Also in 1968, Beckett and future producer Tony Buckley formed the Australian Film Council to, in Buckley’s words, “bring together an extraordinary group of eclectic and disparate unions, guilds and associations who worked together harmoniously for nearly 10 years fighting for the same cause”.
His first industry job was with the Melbourne-based Shell Film Unit which produced and screened documentaries around Australia. In his four years with the unit, Beckett directed and edited films includingKeen about cinema in all its forms, he joined the Melbourne Film Society, attended Australia’s first film festivals in Olinda and Melbourne and was a founder of the Melbourne Repertory Film Unit.