The Ubu Film Group emerged in Sydney in 1965. Initiated by Albie Thoms, David Perry and Aggy Read, Ubu was pivotal for the ndevelopment of underground film iand independent cinema. This group evolved into the Sydney Fillmmakers Co-op in the late 1960s.

Many of the films made and exhibited by the group were adventurous and experimental, challenging the notion that audiences were conservative and only interested in commercial cinema. According to Alex Gerbaz "Some of their films were handmade, by making scratches directly onto the film’s surface, like Bluto. This was not only innovative in Australian cinema, but it was also an international first. While filmmakers had already experimented with scratching techniques, it had always been done to create recognisable images. Albie Thoms’s film was the first abstract scratch film."1

• 1. http://www.naa.gov.au/collection/publications/papers-and-podcasts/social-history/gerbax-transcript.aspx