Auto Stories

Of all the inventions that have transformed our way of life in the past 100 years, few have done so as profoundly as the automobile. More than just a means of transport, the car has come to dominate our lives. In Australia, there's a car for nearly every man, woman and child. No one, it seems, is immune from its pleasures and dangers and everyone has an auto story to tell.

Auto Stories is a four-part series that explores the passions and the problems of our car-obsesses culture - the responsibility, dependency pride, vanity obsession love and pain. 'Affairs Of The Heart' looks at the car as a status symbol, soul mate and would be home wrecker, while 'Till Death Do Us Part' reveals the hard facts of lie and death in the fast lane.

A Little Inconvenience shows how a minor accident can often ruin more than your day and in 'Wrong Way Go Back' road crews and traffic controllers confront the chaos on our roads and environmentalists take on engineers in an attempt to ease our traffic nightmares.

Funny, fascinating and sometimes challenging, Auto Stories lifts the bonnet on Australians' unique and often curious relationship with the car.

A Film Australia National Interest Program in association with December Films
Produced with assistance of Film Victoria and the Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Executive Producers: Franc di Chiera, Chris Oliver
Producers: Tony Wright, Stuart Menzies
Directors/Writers: Helen Gaynor, Steve Westh, Fiona Hergstrom, Catherine Marciniak

Duration: 4 x half-hour episodes

Reviews

"Westh's film on the great Aussie obsession is a bright and pacy start to Auto Stories that also ventures into the more perplexing territories of the car-crash industry, traffic control and learning to drive. And you've got to watch, if only to see what happens to Marilyn Monaro."

-- Brian Courtis "The Marilyn Monaro Saga"
The Age [Melbourne], 4th January 2000

"Auto Stories, then, is one of those holiday surprises, a quirky, nicely edited programme aimed at anyone who has bought, owned or driven a car."

-- Mike O'Connor "Trusty Little Woman Lives In the Garage"
Courier-Mail [Brisbane], 3rd January 2000

"Most poignant of the Auto Stories "characters" is Richard, the wise young man still recovering from brain injury years after his accident. This is the episode that should be compulsory viewing in all high schools in the next 12 months."

-- Bruce McMahon "Driving With Passion"
Courier-Mail [Brisbane], 29th December 1999

"Over four weeks, Auto Stories looks at our relationship with our hulking metal companions and is by turns amusing, moving and poignant. And its not just for those bitten by the auto bug - anyone not touched by Dennis's reaction when he finally sells Marilyn has no heart."

-- Gordon Farrer
The Age [Melbourne], 30th December 1999

"This is more effective than the TAC horror ads. It has an awful sense of warning and authenticity."

-- Dennis Pryor
The Age [Melbourne], 8th January 2000