Margaret Pomeranz is on the hustings, trying to raise $25,000 to restore Jocelyn Moorhouse's 1991 film Proof, which launched the careers of Russell Crowe and Hugo Weaving.
Pomeranz, an ambassador for the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia (NFSA), made the first contribution on Pozible.
"I'm making the first donation because it was a bit rich to ask you guys to put money into this campaign, and me just sitting back and saying 'Hey, why don't you do it?'", Pomeranz said.
The veteran critic called Proof "an extraordinary debut feature by Jocelyn Moorhouse and producer Lynda House: two young women that took the Australian film industry by storm."
"It's an intriguing exploration of one man's lack of trust in the world, and how he goes about achieving it. But does he really? Even though it's a story about a man, I don't think it could have been written or made by a man. It’s very feminine perspective on jealousy, love, trust, life."
Moorhouse herself hasn't seen a pristine version of her career breakout for a long time.
"I remember it looked beautiful when it first came out; that's what a lot of people commented on all over the world, so I would love to see it look that beautiful again."
According to Weaving, "Proof marked a before and after in my life, and launched the careers of incredible talents: director Joceyln Moorhouse and my co-stars Russell Crowe and Genevieve Picot."
"25 years later, please join me and help the NFSA restore this classic Australian film, and many others, so they can be seen in digital cinemas and enjoyed by future generations. Any contribution helps."
NFSA CEO Michael Loebenstein said: "We manage our resources in a way that allows us to fulfil our key objectives: collect, preserve and share."
"However, our analogue film collection is vast and digital restoration work is time-consuming and expensive, from $50,000 to $150,000 depending on its condition. We have allocated existing resources to NFSA Restores, but through crowdfunding even more films will be able to be restored per year."
Proof is the latest beneficiary of NFSA Restores, a program to digitise and restore classic Australian films.
Previous NFSA Restores films include Storm Boy (1976), Starstruck (1982), Bliss (1985) and Howling III: The Marsupials (1987).