Films

Find movies created or inspired by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Storytelling is an important aspect of passing knowledge from one generation to another. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have long used storytelling to share their culture and many great stories have been captured on the big and small screen.

This chapter includes a number of movies, documentaries and short stories that will entertain and educate.

Filter results by
Tall man Drama
The Sapphires Comedy
Mad Bastards Drama
Toomelah Drama
The Turtle Drama
Too Late Drama
Samson and Delilah Entertainment
Two Big Boys Drama
Wind Drama
Yellow Fella Documentary
A Dying Shame Documentary
Liyarn Ngarn Documentary
Beyond The Dreamtime Documentary
Blackfellas Drama
Coolbaroo Club Documentary
Dead Heart Drama
Deadly Drama
How The West Was Lost Documentary
Jedda Drama
Kanyini Documentary
Freedom Ride Documentary
Hush Comedy
Jackie Jackie Comedy
Kwatye Comedy
My Brother Vinnie Documentary
Bran Nue Dae Entertainment
Radiance Drama
Tall man Drama

Tall man

Film

Year
2011
Duration
57
Director
Tony Krawitz
Producer
Darren Dale
Writer
Tony Krawitz

This is the story of Palm Island, the tropical paradise where one morning Cameron Doomadgee swore at a policeman and forty-five minutes later lay dead in a watch-house cell. This is also the story of that policeman, the tall enigmatic Christopher Hurley who chose to work in some of the toughest and wildest places in Australia, and of the struggle to bring him to trial. The Tall Man is a story in luminous detail of two worlds clashing – and a haunting moral puzzle that no viewer will forget.

Source: IMDB – The Tall Man

The Sapphires Comedy

The Sapphires

Film

Year
2012
Duration
103
Director
Wayne Blair
Producer
Rosemary Blight
Actors
Deborah Mailman, Jessica Mauboy, Shari Sebbens, Miranda Tapsell
Writer
Tony Briggs, Keith Thompson

1968 was the year that changed the world. And for four young Aboriginal sisters from a remote mission this is the year that would change their lives forever. Around the globe, there was protest and revolution in the streets. Indigenous Australians finally secured the right to vote. There were drugs and the shock of a brutal assassination. And there was Vietnam. The sisters, Cynthia, Gail, Julie and Kay are discovered by Dave, a talent scout with a kind heart, very little rhythm but a great knowledge of soul music. Billed as Australia’s answer to ‘The Supremes’, Dave secures the sisters their first true gig, and flies them to Vietnam to sing for the American troops. Based on a true story, THE SAPPHIRES is a triumphant celebration of youthful emotion, family and music.

Source: IMDB – The Sapphires

Mad Bastards Drama

Mad Bastards

Film

Year
2010
Duration
94
Director
Brendan Fletcher
Producer
Brendan Fletcher
Actors
Dean Daley-Jones
Writer
Brendan Fletcher

TJ’s quest to find the son he’s never known, takes him on a journey across the remote and stunning Kimberley landscape. On the road, TJ questions his life of violence… he meets a host of amazing characters who open up a way of life infused with music and hunting and community.

Source: IMDB – Mad Bastards

Toomelah Drama

Toomelah

Film

Year
2011
Duration
106
Director
Ivan Sen
Producer
David Jowsey
Actors
Daniel Connors
Writer
Ivan Sen

In a remote Aboriginal community, 10 year old Daniel yearns to be a gangster, like the male role models in his life. Skipping school, getting into fights and running drugs for Linden, who leads the main gang in town.

Source: IMDB – Toomelah

Redfern Now Drama

Redfern Now

TV Series

Year
2012
Director
Catriona McKenzie, Rachel Perkins
Producer
Darren Dale
Actors
Wayne Blair
Writer
Steven McGregor

Stars: Wayne Blair, Aaron Davis, Leon Stripp, Rhimi Johnson Page, Richard Green, Mark

Produced by Blackfella Films (Mabo, First Australians) the 6×1 hr series, to screen on ABC1, is a collaboration between some of Australias most celebrated creatives.

Directed by Rachel Perkins (Mabo, Bran Nue Dae) and Catriona McKenzie (Satellite Boy), and Wayne Blair (The Sapphires, Wish You Were Here) and Leah Purcell (Somersault, Jindabyne, Lantana) both starring in and directing one of the stories.

With internationally-acclaimed British writer Jimmy McGovern (The Street, Cracker, The Lakes) working closely with the scriptwriters, the series tells the powerful stories of six inner city households whose lives are changed by a seemingly insignificant incident.

Source: IMDB – Redfern Now, ABC

Sharpeye Drama

Sharpeye

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
2007
Duration
5
Director
Aaron Fa'aoso

Another film which is based on a true story. Sharpeye tells how 11-year-old Whalen spots a dinghy of the Special Forces which is part of an exercise. They plan a surprise attack on a community but are outdone by the whole community springing into action.

The film is a tribute to all Indigenous peoples serving in the world wars.

Director Aaron Fa’Aoso about his film: “In the early nineties an Army exercise took place in the Northern Peninsula communities of Bamaga and Seisia, between the local Torres Strait/Aboriginal ‘Charlie Company’ reservists and the SAS.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/sharpeye#ixzz2CLSQMk4m

Stolen Generations Documentary

Stolen Generations

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
2000
Duration
55
Director
Darlene Johnson

Stolen Generations is told by the survivors of the Stolen Generations, a policy of Australia which began in the 20th century and lasted until the 1970s.

You will hear from people, who, as children, were brutally removed from their families, rounded up and transported from one side of the country to the other. You will also hear stories of resistance – how mothers smeared their children with black clay to make them more ‘black’, hid them in trees, behind sand dunes, in hollow logs, or were constantly on the move to avoid ‘The Welfare’. Passing for white also became a common strategy for survival.

Stolen Genenerations also documents the long-term effects—the unresolved trauma and grief, the alcoholism and suicide, and the loss of Indigenous identity, culture and language. It will also tell the stories of reunion between stolen children and surviving parents – both joyous and painful.

Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/stolen-generations#ixzz2CLUhrz78

The Djarn Djarns Drama

The Djarn Djarns

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
2004
Duration
26
Director
Wayne Blair

Eleven-year-old Frankie Dollar is the leader of the Djarn Djarns, a group that performs traditional Aboriginal dances. There’s always plenty going on at the cultural centre where the dancers often perform and they seem to be very much in demand on this particular day. But Frankie’s really in the doldrums because one year ago to the day, his father died. Now he needs his friends more than ever.

The Djarn Djarns is the story of a young Aboriginal boy who, in the course of one day, negotiates grief and friendship, loyalty and betrayal. Hunter Page-Lochard, who plays the lead role of Frankie, manages this challenging mix of emotions with charm and strength.

Frankie’s journey is set against contrasting worlds: the razzle-dazzle showbiz of the Dreamtime Centre where Frankie is a traditional dancer – or djarn djarn – and the dark domestic history of the death of Frankie’s father, the absence of his mother and Frankie’s subsequent sexual abuse by his mother’s white boyfriend.

The link between these worlds in Frankie’s life is the love of his fellow djarn djarns. It is that mateship between boys that makes The Djarn Djarns, despite its difficult dramatic terrain, a hopeful film that is, by turns, poignant, disturbing, satirical and funny.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/the-djarn-djarns#ixzz2CLWJOMgT

The Turtle Drama

The Turtle

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
2007
Duration
5
Director
Kelli Cross

Jason’s mother sends the 13-year-old on a vacation to his grandfather, the only role model for the boy she can think of.

Jason is very reluctant to part from his iPod and rap music, but eventually agrees to go on a fishing trip which will change his life. The two spot a turtle and Jason starts to discover the traditional ways of life his grandfather knows so much about.

Director Kelli Cross says about his film: “The inspiration for this film came from those young kids you see on the news that are always up to no good.

“Recently, a carload of young fullas rolled their car during a chase just behind my house, and these kids just scattered. Eventually the police actually caught two of them right across the road. We were standing at the letterbox looking at these kids who were on their knees, heads down, skinny little wrists handcuffed behind their backs. They couldn’t have been any older than 13.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/the-turtle#ixzz2CLWnY62x

Too Late Drama

Too Late

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
2007
Duration
5
Director
Michael Longbottom

Ben comes home late one evening. He finds his wife acting as if he wasn’t there and his son being more interested in watching TV. Nothing Ben tries to catch his wife’s attention is successful.

It is not before he watches her have dinner with his son that suddenly in a moment of shocking discovery he realises that his efforts to win her back and be a better man are too late – he had died in a car accident.

Director Michael Longbottom writes about his film: “Too Late is a fictional story but a chilling reminder of the impact of peer pressure and the importance of family commitments for young men.

“When I was writing this film I felt the need to reach out to our younger generation living amongst the pressures of today’s constantly evolving society, where peer pressure can often override family commitments.

Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/too-late#ixzz2CLXS2TxL

Samson and Delilah Entertainment

Samson and Delilah

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
2009
Duration
101
Director
Warwick Thornton

Released in 2009 and directed by Warwick Thornton, Samson and Delilah tells the love story of two teenagers living in an isolated community in the Central Australian Desert. The film was immensely popular in Australia and has also been well received internationally. In 2009 it won over 20 awards nationally and internationally, including the Camera d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival.

Two Big Boys Drama

Two Big Boys

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
2007
Duration
5
Director
Jon Bell

Two brothers drive up at a drive-through and face a little crisis about dignity. As their car breaks down their relationship is put to a test – who is the stronger one, who can accept the other one as he is? Jon Bell manages to tell this story in a compellingly funny way.

Two Big Boys is not only the name of the burgers they order but also describes the two brothers as they grow into, well, two big boys. The story is based on a true event.

Director Jon Bell writes about his film: “In Two Big Boys the universe is out of whack. The youngest brother is least capable of making wise decisions and therefore least capable to lead, however he is the driver of the car that embodies both brothers.

“Nick (the oldest, wisest and most effective decision-maker) is the passenger. The film is about Nick’s liberation from this – his birth almost. The car cannot be pushed by either of the boys single-handedly and, in fact, no longer serves a purpose for either of them.

Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/two-big-boys#ixzz2CLY5Eg2g

Vote Yes for Aborigines Documentary

Vote Yes for Aborigines

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
2007
Duration
52
Director
rances Peters-Little

Vote Yes for Aborigines is a documentary about the 1967 Referendum and the fight for Aboriginal citizenship rights.

Frances says of her film: “I couldn’t really make a film without mentioning that it’s been a long, hard haul and it’s going to continue.”

Vote Yes for Aborigines marks the 40th anniversary of the referendum, celebrating its historical significance and contemporary relevance. ‘Vote Yes for Aborigines’ covers the 100-year-plus lead-up to the referendum, revisits those involved with the 1967 Referendum and the social attitudes and influences that led to the event.

The film questions the success of the referendum and features former Prime Ministers, politicians, historians and campaigners.

More than just marking a time in history, Vote Yes for Aborigines interrogates the success of the Referendum and addresses current debates about what is meant by Australian citizenship and values and how they relate, if at all, to Aboriginal history, identity and culture.

Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/vote-yes-for-aborigines#ixzz2CLYbAt3d

Wind Drama

Wind

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
1999
Duration
35
Director
Ivan Sen

1857, Australia. In the cold, bleak terrain of the high country, a young black tracker and his elderly sergeant move on the trail of a killer.

Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/wind#ixzz2CLZmjrFq

Yellow Fella Documentary

Yellow Fella

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
2005
Duration
25
Director
Ivan Sen

Yellow Fella looks at the life of Tom Lewis, specifically at his quest to find the resting place of his father.

In this documentary we accompany Tom on his journey and vividly witness how he’s going through mixed emotions, disappointments or phases where only sarcasm seems to keep him going.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/yellow-fella#ixzz2CLaK4Woj

A Dying Shame Documentary

A Dying Shame

Film by Non-Indigenous director

Year
1997
Duration
56
Director
Paul Roy

A Dying Shame examines the desperate situation of Aboriginal health in Australia.

Aboriginal health has always been an area neglected by Australian governments. Millions of dollars are needed to bring Aboriginal people on par with other Australians. A Dying Shame reveals the human tragedy behind the shocking health statistics in Australia.

A Dying Shame is a documentary that tells personal stories of families and individuals within the remote Aboriginal community in Borroloola (Northern Territory).

The movie was shot over nine months and documents the struggles of Aboriginal people and their families who have to cope with poor health and an ineffectual health system, said to be ‘one of the most inequitable health services in the Western world’.

A Dying Shame is also a story of hope and courage of individuals fighting against the odds.

Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/a-dying-shame#ixzz2CGM2Agb9

Aborignial Rules Drama

Aborignial Rules

Film by Indigenous director

Year
2002
Duration
55
Director
Liam Campbell (co-director) Francis Kelly (co-director)

Aboriginal Rules offers a rare behind-the-scenes look at the grassroots Aboriginal football experience that you may have heard about, but never seen before.

Aboriginal Rules follows a year in the life of the Yuendumu Magpies Football Team as they battle it out in the red dirt of the Central Australian Outback. Yuendumu is about 300km north-west from Alice Springs in the Northern Territory.

The dust, hard knocks and chaos of a bush footy game are all part of the complicated inter-tribal rivalry that is played out when any two teams meet. If you were in Melbourne you’d see a counsellor in a room. In Yuendumu you go hunting and then play a good match of footy.

Aboriginal Rules is an invitation to discover what it means to be a young Warlpiri Warrior fighting for a place in the team, and what it means for the coach to keep the team together, to get players attend training and ultimately to achieve their goal of winning.

Football is the new dreaming that holds the balance in young men’s lives.

Aboriginal Rules was made primarily for Aboriginal people by Aboriginal people in their own voice and on their own terms.

Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/aboriginal-rules#ixzz2CGP1r2y0

Babakiueria Comedy

Babakiueria

Film by Non-Indigenous director

Year
1986
Duration
30
Director
Don Featherstone

The film Babakiueria shows how Aboriginals are represented in society through taking a sarcastic look at racial stereotypes.

It starts with a boat approaching a barbeque area and a group of Aboriginal people taking possession of this area and all “Babakiuerians”. It continues to present many Aboriginal issues with the roles swapped: White people are a minority, white kids are taken from their families or white people being moved to a void place because the black government needs their home for “something”.

Aboriginal people who have watched this film state that it was a good film as it did represent the truth about how they are politically represented, but it could have been better if it was written by an Aboriginal instead of a white person, as they would have presented the film using Aboriginal culture instead of using the whites’ controlling methods of a society.

Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/babakiueria-barbecue-area#ixzz2CGPmghpU

Backroads Drama

Backroads

Film by Non-Indigenous director

Year
1977
Duration
60
Director
Phillip Noyce

Backroads tells the story of an aimless white drifter Bill who has a chance encounter with Aboriginal man Gary. They steal a car and petrol and supplies as they need it.

As they travel they pick up another Aboriginal man on the run from an unsuccessful marriage and the bored white wife of a service station owner. A French backpacker joins them for a short while.

Always on the run from police, boredom and guns turn into a deadly combination.

Backroads is a raw movie packed with powerful political content in the dialogues between Bill and Gary. You learn a lot about Aboriginal culture and white concepts as you travel with the movie’s characters.

However, Backroads is sometimes too lengthy for my taste. It might go well with the aimlessness of the main characters, but might as well be a result of Backroads being the first feature film of director Phillip Noyce.

Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/backroads#ixzz2CGRm19G4

Benny and The Dreamers Documentary

Benny and The Dreamers

Film by Non-Indigenous director

Year
1993
Duration
53
Director
Ivo Burum

The extraordinary story of the Pintupi peoples’ first meeting with the white world.

In Benny and the Dreamers a small group of Pintupi living in west Central Australia today can remember their first meeting with a white man, their first impressions of the white man’s world and their expectations of what the white world had to offer.

Benny and the Dreamers reveals for the first time on film the Australian Aboriginal peoples’ version of their first contact with white culture in the 1930s which was to change their traditional way of life forever. For some it was a terrifying experience, for others a fascinating view of a world which made little sense. But for all Aboriginal people, white contact brought the end of a nomadic way of life which had lasted for at least 40,000 years.

As a boy, Benny Tjapaltjarri lived in a traditional aboriginal society with no contact with the outside world. In Benny and the Dreamers, he and other Pintupi elders tell their stories of life before and after “whitefellas”. Through the use of rare archival footage, their journey is recreated from the central western deserts to their transformation from traditional nomad in a hunter gatherer society to sedentary consumer of white flour and sugar.

Through dramatic retelling of the stories, Benny and the Dreamers weaves its way into the nightmare of assimilation that became Papunya, the killing fields of alcohol, to the eventual rejection of European life and the return of Aboriginal land at Kintore.

Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/benny-and-the-dreamers#ixzz2CGSQAah4

Liyarn Ngarn Documentary

Liyarn Ngarn

Film by Non-Indigenous director

Year
2007
Duration
70
Director
Martin Mhando

“Liyarn Ngarn”, in the Yawuru language of the West Kimberly region around Broome, means “Coming Together of the Spirit”. Liyarn Ngarn represents a thirty year long mission of Indigenous leader and Yawura man, Patrick Dodson, to bring about a lasting and true reconciliation between the original owners and the immigrants.

Liyarn Ngarn is a compelling documentary that tells of the devastation and inhumanity bought upon Indigenous people in every aspect of their daily lives. Personal stories of injustice are recounted by renowned English actor Pete Postlethwaite, as told to him by Patrick Dodson and Bill Johnson, an old English school friend, whose Indigenous son Louis died tragically.

Respected songman, Archie Roach, adds his powerful lyrics and voice to this often painful, yet inspiring, journey of strength.

Liyarn Ngarn aims to change peoples’ perception and attitude to Indigenous people and to assist with the process of true and lasting reconciliation. It is also offers some kind of meaningful epitaph to the Indigenous lives lost through sheer inhumanity.

Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/liyarn-ngarn#ixzz2CMkFvR7V

Beyond The Dreamtime Documentary

Beyond The Dreamtime

Film by Non-Indigenous director

Year
1994
Duration
54
Director
John Lind

The title Beyond The Dreamtime comes from a very successful book series by Ainslie Roberts and Charles P. Mountford. While Mountford wrote the texts (mainly Aboriginal myths) Roberts delivered “vibrant surrealist images” of “enchanting richness and awesome power” (Ronin Films). Published originally in 1965/1966 the series was republished due to its extraordinary success until way into the 80s and sold over a million copies in Australia alone. See below for more information on titles.

Beyond The Dreamtime is a documentary on Ainslie Roberts’ work, a film of visual beauty, bringing to life the haunting imagery of dozens of Ainslie Roberts’ major works, weaving them into the artist’s personal life and illuminating his love of the land.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/beyond-the-dreamtime#ixzz2CGTHjFkR

Black And White Drama

Black And White

Film by Non-Indigenous director

Year
2002
Duration
102
Director
Craig Lahiff

In late 1958, in the remote town of Ceduna in South Australia, a nine year old white girl was brutally raped and bludgeoned to death in a beach cave.

Shortly thereafter, in the presence of six local police officers, a full confession was signed by Max Stuart, an itinerant, alcoholic Aboriginal man of mixed descent, and his conviction and subsequent hanging for the crime seemed inevitable.

Craig Lahiff’s Black and White is a powerful dramatisation of Stuart’s ensuing trial and numerous appeals, in a case which divided a nation, and exposed for the first time the rotten foundations on which Australia’s most important institutions were built.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/black-and-white#ixzz2CGU4jL9H

Blackfellas Drama

Blackfellas

Film by Non-Indigenous director

Year
1993
Duration
95
Director
James Ricketson

Based the book The Day of The Dog by Archie Weller, who co-wrote the script with the director, Ricketson’s film tells of an part-Aboriginal (John Moore) caught between his allegiance to his “people” and his aspirations to escape the cycle of abuse and self-destructive behaviour in which they live in the name of “brotherhood”.

On one side is his life-long friend, the charismatic but feckless “Pretty Boy” (David Ngoombujarra), and the girl to whom he is attracted, Polly (Jaylene Riley). On the other there is his white mother (Julie Hudspeth) and the values and material comforts of white man’s civilization.

Although the script tends to rely overmuch on a conventional narrative trajectory, for the most part it convincingly depicts the incompatibilities of Aboriginal and Anglo-Australian world views and the realities of the Aboriginals’ marginalized lives (the Nyoongah people whose homeland is now occupied by Perth where this story is set contributed to the film).

Using a largely untrained cast, the performances by Moore and Riley do lack rhythm at times and Ricketson’s direction, particularly of action sequences can lack finesse but David Ngoombujarra, who won an AFI Best Supporting Actor, exudes a natural charisma whilst overall the film resonates with a trenchant truthfulness that makes it well worth watching.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/blackfellas-day-of-the-dog#ixzz2CGUjBs7b

Bush Mechanics Comedy

Bush Mechanics

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
2001
Duration
26
Director
David Batty (co-director) Francis Kelly (co-director)

Aboriginal people always had the talent to come up with ingenious solutions to problems which could be fatal in the desert. This has not changed in modern day Australia. The four Bush Mechanics documentaries show how a group of Aboriginal men goes about resurrecting or fixing cars none of us would have thought could move another metre.

The four episodes approach this ingenuity in a humorous way. The repairs are never the only focus but form stunning highlights in each episode.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/bush-mechanics#ixzz2CGVY8c6B

Coolbaroo Club Documentary

Coolbaroo Club

Film by Non-Indigenous director

Year
1996
Duration
36
Director
Roger Scholes

This hour-long documentary gives an astonishing insight into the life of an East Perth dance club—the Coolbaroo Club—run by the Nyoongar Aboriginal community and for all Aboriginal people and their (few) white supporters between 1946 and 1960.

The film gives a very good background to the situation for Aboriginal people in Perth in the post-World War II years. Aboriginal people, excluded from white social clubs and venues, began organising their own dances at a hall in East Perth —the Coolbaroo Club.

The hugely popular dances were attended by Aboriginal people from all over the area. The Coolbaroo Club also attracted black musicians from around the world, including Nat ‘King’ Cole, Harold Blair and the Harlem Globetrotters, who could not perform for Aboriginal people in any other venue.

Although best-remembered for the hugely popular Coolbaroo dances attended by hundreds of Aboriginal people and their white supporters, the Coolbaroo League, founded by club members, ran a newspaper and became an effective political organisation, speaking out on issues of the day affecting Aboriginal people.

Overall the documentary is powerful and inspiring, capturing an episode of Aboriginal history that is barely known.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/coolbaroo-club#ixzz2CGWGIaiF

Dead Heart Drama

Dead Heart

Film by Non-Indigenous director

Year
1997
Duration
106
Director
Nick Parsons

This gripping Australian drama contains similar themes as a western as it chronicles the unending struggle between Aboriginal people and ever-encroaching Europeans.

Set in the arid red-rock desert west of Alice Springs, a region called Dead Heart by the whites and hailed as a sacred place by the Aboriginal people, the story centers on the travails of Ray Lorkin the local lawman who sees that Australian laws are obeyed in the tiny village of Wala Wala where he is one of only seven whites.

The story itself unfolds via flashback as told by the Aboriginal village elder Poppy. The trouble begins in the town jail when an Aboriginal prisoner is discovered dead. More trouble brews when Aboriginal bootlegger Ray Tony takes the schoolteacher’s bored wife Kay out to a particularly sacred area for an illicit tryst. Later, Kate finds Tony dead. Strangely, his body shows no signs of violence. Despite the lacking evidence, Lorkin suspects a murder and demands justice. His investigation leads him down a dangerous, winding path that culminates in a tense and surprising manner.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/dead-heart#ixzz2CGWuAeb0

Deadly Drama

Deadly

Film by Non-Indigenous director

Year
1992
Duration
99
Director
Esben Storm

This tense and dramatic thriller deals frankly with the subject of Aboriginal deaths while in police custody.

Deadly is set against a backdrop of simmering racial tension in a remote Australian outback town.

Tony Bourke, a young street-wise cop, used to fighting underworld crime in Sydney, is moved to a desk job after he accidentally shoots and kills an innocent bystander during a chase. Given the chance to earn back his old job, Bourke is dispatched to Yabbabri to file a routine report on the death in custody of local Aboriginal man Jimmy Bryant.

His orders are clear – keep the affair away from the media and close the case in twenty-four hours. Despite his instruction, Bourke discovers disturbing irregularities in the circumstances that surround Jimmy’s death in the local gaol following a drunken and violent argument.

Although his enquiries are met with hostility from the Aboriginal community and growing suspicion by the white locals, he is determined to continue his investigations.

Bourke is spurred on by his growing interest in Daphne, a beautiful Aboriginal woman who owns the local motel. Although at first suspicious of Bourke, Daphne recognises that he is her only hope of seeing justice done, and helps him to win the trust of Jimmy’s brother Eddie, who was Jimmy’s cell-mate on the night of his death.

As the town’s unrest escalates and press interest is stirred, The Deputy Commissioner demands Bourke’s immediate resignation. Realising that he has uncovered a cold-blooded crime, Bourke risks everything to reveal the true cause of Jimmy Bryant’s death.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/deadly#ixzz2CGXjtm70

How The West Was Lost Documentary

How The West Was Lost

Film by Non-Indigenous director

Year
1987
Duration
92
Director
David Noakes

On 1 May 1946, 800 Aboriginal station workers walked off sheep stations in the north-west of Western Australia, marking the beginning of a carefully organized strike that was to last for at least three years, but never officially ended.

The strike was more than a demand for better wages and conditions. It was, in the words of Keith Connolly in the Melbourne Herald, ‘a well- considered statement by a grievously exploited people, standing up for their rights and dignity’.

In late 1942, a secret congress was organized by Pilbara Elders Dooley Bin Bin and Clancy McKenna, with many of the tribes in Western Australia attending – over a dozen interpreters were present to deal with 23 languages. The meeting, which lasted six weeks, was also attended by a long-time supporter of the desert people, prospector Don McLeod. The congress decided to organize a strike in the Pilbara region in order to demand better wages and conditions, and to draw attention to the treatment generally of Aboriginal people in Western Australia.

Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/how-the-west-was-lost#ixzz2CGYjm9Pk

Jedda Drama

Jedda

Film by Non-Indigenous director

Year
1955
Duration
101
Director
Charles Chauvel

Determined to tell a story that could be told only in Australia by Australians, Charles Chauvel made Jedda—-the first Australian feature film to use Aboriginal actors in the lead roles and the first to be filmed in colour.

Set in the Northern Territory, it is the tragic story of a young Aboriginal girl of the Arunte tribe, adopted by a white woman, Sarah McCann, as a surrogate for her own baby who has died. She names the baby Jedda after a wild bird and raises her as a white child, isolating her from Aboriginal contact. But when Marbuck, an Aboriginal man seeking work arrives on the station, Jedda is fascinated by him.

Marbuck takes the half-willing teenage girl as his captive, returning to his tribal lands, only to find he is rejected by his tribe for breaking the marriage traditions. The two are hounded from the tribe and chased by the men from Jedda’s home station, until Marbuck is driven mad, and falls over a cliff to his death, together with Jedda.

Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/jedda#ixzz2CGZEeQDD

Kanyini Documentary

Kanyini

Film by Non-Indigenous director

Year
2006
Duration
53
Director
Melanie Hogan

Kanyini is a captivating story told by Bob Randall, an Aboriginal man from Uluru (Ayers Rock) in Central Austalia.

anyini follows the typical story-telling pattern of Aboriginal people. We see Bob sitting in an armchair telling us about his life. Theses images are blended with contemporary and historical material showing Aboriginal life around the Aboriginal settlement at Mutitjulu (from the name of the permanent water source at Uluru).

Bob takes us on a journey to not only discover Aboriginal culture, but also to discover the shocking pain white culture has imposed on his life and the life of all other Aboriginal people.

Bob’s soft voice and his matter-of-fact story-telling style are a stark contrast to what he is telling us. How he has suffered the loss of his “Kanyini”, his belief-system, spirituality, his land and his family.

You want to see this movie again. And you’ll walk away with a confused feeling of pain, guilt, admiration and inspiration for action. I recommend you to get the DVD and show it to as many people as you can.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/kanyini#ixzz2CGd2wlHx

Rabbit Proof Fence Drama

Rabbit Proof Fence

Film by Non-Indigenous director

Year
2002
Duration
100
Director
Phillip Noyce

This movie’s topic is rarely brought to the public with such intensity: The Stolen Generations. Introductory text guides you into the proper mood, however, if you don’t know what a “half-caste” is you’ll have to wait a while before it is explained. The film has beautiful pictures all the way through and if you have an eye for it you’ll appreciate their colours and moods.

Some plots of the book are missing, for example the journey by boat or the bath of all children in the river. The script had to be streamlined, but Rabbit Proof Fence does not suffer from it. A rare occasion where watching the movie after reading the book complements the experience.

Molly, the main actress in the film, rarely smiles, but this is totally appropriate. This is not a fun movie, the topic is a hard one which is still affecting the lives of scores of thousands of Aboriginal people.

Accordingly, the music supports the movie’s dramatics. Composed by Peter Gabriel it remains in the background but subconsciously conveys what it means to be pursued by an Aboriginal tracker, always on guard, fighting against hunger and thirst.

More details on the Stolen Generations issue are provided at the end of Rabbit Proof Fence. It leaves you with an intense feeling of pain or sadness. You feel that something appallingly wrong was perpetrated and you cannot comprehend that it was going on well into the 70s of this century.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/rabbit-proof-fence-long-walk-home#ixzz2CGg2NJXO

September Drama

September

Film by Non-Indigenous director

Year
2007
Duration
85
Director
Peter Carstairs

September is set in the Australian wheat belt in 1968 where two young boys who share a passion for boxing are firm friends. Sixteen-year-old Ed is the son of a white wheat farmer whilst Paddy is the son of an Aboriginal farm hand who works on the property.

The two boys have been friends for as long as they can remember. Their friendship is to be tested, firstly when Amelia comes to their town but even more so when new laws state that Indigenous workers must be paid the same wage as whites and Ed’s father can’t afford to do so.

 
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/september#ixzz2CGgiTVko

Serenades Drama

Serenades

Film by Non-Indigenous director

Year
2001
Duration
96
Director
Mojgan Khadem

Set in the 1890s in the central desert region of Australia, Seremades tells the tale of Jila who is conceived when her Afghan cameleer father wins her Aboriginal mother in a card game.

Raised initially in an Aboriginal community, Jila, on the death of her mother, is moved to a nearby Lutheran mission where she befriends the pastor’s son Johann. Jila’s father, keen to reunite with his daughter, trades with the Lutheran Minister who exchanges Jila for the price of a pig (which the Afghan, a follower of Islam, is loathe to transport).

Jila reaches adulthood under the strict mores of her father’s remote Islamic community. On the brink of an arranged marriage to a significantly older holy man in the Ghan Camp, Johann reappears in Jila’s life and the battle for Jila’s freedom begins.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/serenades#ixzz2CGhDbN37

Sisters, Pearls and Mission Girls Documentary

Sisters, Pearls and Mission Girls

Film by Non-Indigenous director

Year
2003
Duration
56
Director
David Batty

In 1907, Mother Antonio O’Brien and nine young Sisters of St John of God set sail from Perth on a journey to Broome on the remote Kimberley coast, in the far north west of Australia.

This epic story of Irish and Australian nuns is set against the rich and tragic history of the Kimberley region and the government policies of the day. Using rare archival material, re-enactments and contemporary anecdotes the shared experiences of the Aboriginal people and the Sisters create a compelling story of loss, determination and survival.

Thee Sisters of St John of God were barely of adult age when they set out on their quest to “civilise” and evangelise the “natives” of the North West. Like many 20th century tales, theirs is a story of religious faith, cultural imperialism, commercial exploitation and political incompetence.

This one-hour documentary tells the story through the eyes of the Sisters – what they encountered on their mission in Beagle Bay, what they achieved and their attempts today to reconcile the part they played in the troubled and complex history of the region.

Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/sisters-pearls-and-mission-girls#ixzz2CGhmIPbx

Storm Boy Drama

Storm Boy

Film by Non-Indigenous director

Year
1976
Duration
85
Director
Henri Safran

Storm Boy tells the story of a 10-year-old boy, called Mick by his father Tom, and Storm Boy by the Aboriginal loner Fingerbone he befriends. This boy is growing up in an isolated corrugated iron shed next to a wildlife sanctuary. He lives with his father, who supports them by fishing alone. He is not attending school; he is illiterate and ignorant.

Mick’s father resents any intrusion of their secluded life, be it a washed-up radio or a mob of idiot bird shooters who kill a number of birds before they are scared off by Fingerbone.

Amongst the dead are some pelicans whose chicks are still in the nest. The boy brings them home to care for. His father isn’t keen, but permits it. Three pelicans become a lot to feed when they reach maturity, so his father insists on releasing them. Two are never seen again, but one, Mr Percival, keeps coming back.

Another intruder is the new primary school teacher, brought by the park ranger. She is concerned about the boy’s education, and pushes hard for him to be sent to school, or at least to do schoolwork by correspondence. She means well, but she is resented by the father – he doesn’t want anything to change in their reclusive life.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/storm-boy#ixzz2CGidOAib

Ten Canoes Drama

Ten Canoes

Film by Non-Indigenous director

Year
2006
Duration
92
Director
Rolf de Heer

Ten Canoes is different in many ways. Forget Hollywood, action or predictable stories, even forget fast-paced entertainment. Ten Canoes is a quiet film, a film about how Aboriginal life has been 1,000 years ago and maybe even before that.

Be also prepared to see lots of (mainly male) nudity, listen to jokes about farting or see a speared man dying.

This excellent film tells two stories, differentiated by telling one in colour and the other in black and white, but blended in the beautiful environments of the swamps of northern Arnhem Land.

It is the distant past, tribal times. Dayindi (played by Jamie Gulpilil, son of the great David Gulpilil) covets one of the wives of his older brother. To teach him the proper way, he is told a story from the mythical past, a story of wrong love, kidnapping, sorcery, bungling mayhem and revenge gone wrong.

In English storytelling (by David Gulpilil) and subtitled Ganalbingu language, this is a film unlike any you have ever seen.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/ten-canoes#ixzz2CGjC1KRr

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith Drama

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith

Film by Non-Indigenous director

Year
1978
Duration
100
Director
Fred Schepisi

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith is a shocking indictment of the racism inflicted on the Indigenous people of Australia.

Jimmie is a half-white, half-Indigenous young man raised by a Methodist minister. Feeling outcast among the Aboriginal people, Jimmie moves to the city and gets a job working for a white family.

When a white serving girl at the estate becomes pregnant, everyone is convinced that Jimmie is the father; to spare the girl’s honor, Jimmie marries her and is allowed to live with her on the estate.

But after the child is born, everyone realizes that the father was a white man, not Jimmie; he is still willing to accept the child and stand beside his wife, but his employers now feel that he married a white girl under false pretenses, and they bar him from the estate.

Forbidden to see his wife and fired without receiving his pay, Jimmie finally explodes in a fury of violent revenge.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/the-chant-of-jimmie-blacksmith#ixzz2CGjjgcFx

The Life of Harry Dare Drama

The Life of Harry Dare

Film by Non-Indigenous director

Year
1995
Duration
90
Director
Aleski Vellis

In this lighthearted Australian comedy-thriller, an Aboriginal man becomes a detective after his beloved VW Kombi van is stolen.

Harry Dare, after a troubled youth during which his father mysteriously disappeared, is seen as a young married man watching as the wrecked old van is hauled from Adelaide Harbor. He acquires it and becomes so obsessed with restoring it that his wife leaves him.

When it is finally finished, he drives it to work where it is promptly stolen. So begins his quest to find it. Harry is assisted by Jim, his estranged son. Together they end up getting entangled with a drug ring and with the people who were with Harry’s father the night he so mysteriously disappeared.

 

Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/the-life-of-harry-dare#ixzz2CGkMY6PB

The Fringe Dwellers Drama

The Fringe Dwellers

Film by Non-Indigenous director

Year
1987
Duration
98
Director
Bruce Beresford

Australian Bruce Beresford returned to the austerity of his first Australian films with The Fringe Dwellers. Kristina Nehm stars as an Aboriginal woman named Trilby, who along with her people lives on the fringes of ‘accepted’ Australian society. Trilby’s mother (Justine Saunders) urges her family to remove themselves from squalor and move up to a fashionable all-white suburb.

With the snobbery of her new neighbors and an onslaught of visiting relatives, Trilby never has a moment of happiness. She seeks solace in the arms of her boyfriend (Ernie Dingo), but this only results in an unwanted pregnancy. Her ‘escape’ to a better life is an indirect result of her newborn child’s death.

Bruce and Rhoisin Beresford adapted the script of The Fringe Dwellers from the novel by Nene Gare.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/the-fringe-dwellers#ixzz2CGkoNaGM

The Naked Country Drama

The Naked Country

Film by Non-Indigenous director

Year
1993
Duration
90
Director
Tim Burstall

Based on a novel by Morris West, The Naked Country is a classic American cowboy tale set in Australia’s exotic outback, with the Aboriginal people pitted against a rancher, Lance Dillon because he is on their land.

After a renegade Aboriginal man, Mundara, kills Lance’s newly purchased Brahma bull and a ranch hand who gets involved, Mundara spears the fleeing Lance in the shoulder but does not catch up with him to finish the job.

The story of Lance’s survival is the focus of The Naked Country, along with a parallel story of his wife Mary temporarily falling for Lance’s opposite, Sgt. Neil Adams. Incredibly, the wounded Lance manages to fend off and kill three healty Aborginal men.

The characters of Lance, Adams and Mundara are contrasted against a setting of conflict that escalates out of control.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/the-naked-country#ixzz2CGlXzzID

The Tracker Drama

The Tracker

Film by Non-Indigenous director

Year
2002
Duration
98
Director
Rolf de Heer

In 1922, the tracker has the job of tracking an Aboriginal suspected of murdering a white woman and leads a police office (the fanatic), his offsider (the follower) and a seconded assistant (the veteran) across the outback.

The journey descends into an acrimonious and murderous trek that shifts power from one man to another, challenged by the indigenous people they come across – as well as each other.

What I like best is that during violent scenes a painting is shown. You can still hear the scuffles, but you never see the violence. Great technique.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/the-tracker#ixzz2CGlxk52f

Walkabout Drama

Walkabout

Film by Non-Indigenous director

Year
1971
Duration
100
Director
Nicolas Roeg

The contrast between modern, urban civilization and life in the natural world lies at the heart of Nicolas Roeg’s visually dazzling drama Walkabout.

In broad outline, the plot might resemble a standard fish-out-of-water tale: two city children become stranded in the Australian outback, and struggle to find their way back to civilization with the help of a friendly Aboriginal boy.

But Roeg and screenwriter Edward Bond are concerned with far more than the average wilderness drama, as a shocking act of violence near the story’s beginning makes clear. This is particularly true in regards to the relationship between the white children and the Aboriginal boy, who ultimately develops a troubled romantic attraction towards the older sister.

Obviously intended as a statement on the exploitation of the natural world and native cultures by European civilization, the film nevertheless maintains an evocative vagueness that usually – but not always – favors poetry over didacticism.

Most importantly, the film’s justifiably acclaimed cinematography is likely to sway even those who find fault with the film’s narrative and message. The shift between the sterile city images and the truly stunning, beautifully composed Australian landscapes provide the film’s single best argument, making the film a vivid and convincing experience.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/walkabout#ixzz2CGnxOPE8

Where the Green Ants Dream Documentary

Where the Green Ants Dream

Film by Non-Indigenous director

Year
1984
Duration
98
Director
Werner Herzog

In a slightly padded but well-acted and relevant drama, an Australian mining company and a group of Aboriginals go to court to settle a dispute over sacred land that the company wants to mine.

When the Ayers Mining Company sets out to begin construction of its mine with bulldozers and earth-movers, the Aboriginals physically block the work because the site is exactly where the green ants will gather to dream (a 40,000-year-old legend) and it cannot be disturbed.

The company tries the usual means of getting their way — through bribes and arguments — but nothing budges the men who came to defend the land. Once in court, it is quickly apparent that tribal laws and customs and beliefs are very different than Western laws — and how the issue will be resolved is sticky indeed.

 

Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/where-the-green-ants-dream-wo-die-gruenen-ameisen-traeumen#ixzz2CGoXeyPy

Wrong Side of the Road Drama

Wrong Side of the Road

Film by Non-Indigenous director

Year
1981
Duration
71
Director
Ned Lander

Port Adelaide to Point Pearce. Cars, cops, cattle stations and driving rock and reggae. Two days in the lives of Aboriginal bands, “Us Mob” and “No Fixed Address”.

Wrong Side of the Road opens with scenes of police breaking up a performance of the two groups, arresting a band member and his subsequent escape from a police vehicle. It continues with run-ins between the musicians and the establishment.

The racism encountered when the bands turn up at a gig and the white hotel manager discovers they are black, the insensitivity of the police and bureaucrats, and the difficulties in tracing one’s family after being adopted out (“Stolen Generations” issue), reflect the problems encountered by many urban Aboriginal people. “Wrong Side of the Road” reveals the injustices Aboriginal people constantly face.

The thread that runs through Wrong Side of the Road is the story played by Les Graham in the film, of a boy looking for his mother. We constructed the script out of life stories that we recorded from members of the bands, and people around the bands and at the Centre for Aboriginal Studies in Music.

They weren’t necessarily playing themselves — Les was in fact playing someone else’s story in the film.

But if you look today — here in 2000 twenty years later — at the significance of the Stolen Generation and the way that that has become part of the whole public debate — it wasn’t in those days, but that’s what that story was about. It was about a kid who had been taken away from his family, and in fact right through the seventies that was still happening.

There was many ways that those sort of situations came about, obviously there were instances of kids being forcibly removed from parents, and also instances of kids being removed for a whole range of other reasons. But always with the same consequence, which was the fragmentation of family, and the dislocation of family, and of kids trying to reconnect with both their blood family and their broader community. (Ned Lander in an interview with The Aboriginal)
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/wrong-side-of-the-road#ixzz2CGp4r7HS

Yolngu Boy Drama

Yolngu Boy

Film by Non-Indigenous director

Year
2001
Duration
88
Director
Stephen Johnson (III)

Caught in a collision between the brave new world of rap, football, street cred and the oldest living culture on earth, Lorrpu, Botj and Milika are three Yolngu teenagers who once shared a childhood dream of becoming great hunters together.

However, things change, dreams become harder to attain. Botj is “walking on the wild side” a lost soul in search of a place. Milika is more interested in football, chicks and hot tracks than any of the traditional knowledge he is being taught. And only Lorrpu seems to care about the dream any more. Their paths are diverging, and he is the only one who can see it.

When Botj goes too far and finds himself on the wrong side of black and white law, Lorrpu must weigh up his own future against saving the future of his friend. He persuades the boys to trek to Darwin to argue Botj’s case with Dawu, a tribal leader. Leaving behind their kinship and community, the boys journey through the unforgiving wilderness of North East Arnhem Land to Darwin.

To survive, Lorrpu, Milika and Botj must draw on a combination of the ancient bush knowledge they were taught as boys, Botj’s unique street instinct, and most importantly, on the bonds of their friendship.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/yolngu-boy#ixzz2CGpVzVj1

Back Seat Drama

Back Seat

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
2007
Duration
5
Director
Pauline Whyman

Back Seat is a film inspired by Pauline Whyman’s own life experiences. It tells the story of 12-year-old Janine, a young Aboriginal girl which her foster parents take for the first visit to her biological family.

Janine discovers that she has 8 siblings who all live with her mother. She is at a loss and cannot really comprehend what is going on. While her foster parents exaggerate her school performance her siblings can’t work out how to integrate her. Overwhelmed Janine escapes to the back seat of her foster parent’s car and locks it.

Director Pauline Whyman says about her film: “Inspired by true events, Back Seat is set in the late 70s. It’s not so much a coming of age film, but I think 12-year-old Janine finds strength in herself during the film.

 
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/back-seat-backseat#ixzz2CL0gr9t7

Bedevil Drama

Bedevil

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
1993
Duration
80
Director
Tracey Moffatt

Bedevil is the first feature directed by an Australian Aboriginal woman. With this film, Moffatt challenges racial stereotypes in Australian society.

She presents a narrative that consists of three ‘ghost stories’ which belong to Aboriginal and Anglo/Celtic relatives. These stories are told via a playful bending and blending of generic conventions which provides a meta-narrative of how indigenous and non-indigenous Australians understand and live with each other.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/bedevil#ixzz2CL1eSdyR

Beneath Clouds Drama

Beneath Clouds

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
2002
Duration
87
Director
Ivan Sen

Lena has an absent Irish father she longs to see and an Aboriginal mother she finds disgusting. When she breaks away, she meets up with petty criminal Vaughn who’s just escaped from low security prison to reluctantly visit his dying mother.

Blonde and light-skinned, Lena remains in denial about her Aboriginal heritage; Vaughn is an angry young man with a grudge against all whites. An uneasy relationship begins to form as they hit the road heading to Sydney, taking them on a journey that’s as emotional as it is physical, as revealing as it is desperate.

Initially the two reluctant travelling companions are suspicious and wary of each other, but their journey, mostly by foot and the odd life, builds an understanding between them.

Ivan Sen’s masterstroke is casting first time actors Dannielle Hall and Damian Pitt, who perfectly reflect their character’s youthful honesty yet guarded emotions, making the slow thaw of their tough exteriors all the more tender.

Eloquent, rich in humanity and deeply affecting, Beneath Clouds is a profound Australian film by an authentic and strong new voice in world cinema.

Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/beneath-clouds#ixzz2CL2Ms4bw

Bit of Black Business Documentary

Bit of Black Business

Film by Indigenous Directors

Year
2007
Duration
75
Director
various

Bit of Black Business is a compilation of Aboriginal Australian short films which premiered on the Indigenous Film Festival 2007 in Sydney.

The shorts cover a broad range of topics. Some cover earnest, serious topics like relationships (Custard, Too Late, Two Big Boys, The Turtle), Indigenous unemployment (Days Like These) or the Stolen Generations (Back Seat, Bloodlines). Other are more humourous and tell of super-grandmothers (Nana), ‘special’ businesses (Done Dirt Cheap, Hush) or racial reservations (Jackie Jackie).

Bit of Black Business is a balanced compilation of movies by 13 Indigenous filmmakers from around Australia. If you are interested in a snapshot of contemporary Aboriginal themes this DVD is for you.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/bit-of-black-business#ixzz2CL3T7nb5

Black Chicks Talking Documentary

Black Chicks Talking

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
2002
Duration
52
Director
Leah Purcell

Black Chicks Talking is a compilation of interviews with five women, interviews during which they reveal memories of their pasts as well as their future aspirations.

They come from different walks of life and are an actress, a netballer, a dancer, a businesswoman, a mother, a lawyer, a community police warden or even a former Miss Australia.

The interviews are casual in tone, but they do reveal depths of truth. While the discussions reflect current political and social issues, they offer, just as strongly, a series of real and personal insights into uncomfortable aspects of Australian history.

In doing so, these women’s personal stories reveal a wide range of emotions. Experiences such as losing siblings and children to foster homes, and living with alcoholism and domestic violence bring forth tears, while childhood antics, travelling tales and general ‘gabbing on’ lighten the load. Each woman’s story does, however, reveal a pride for heritage, although this is heavily laced with the sense of searching for a lost culture.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/black-chicks-talking#ixzz2CL5dt8g8

Bloodlines Drama

Bloodlines

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
2007
Duration
5
Director
Jacob Nash

Josh lives in an urban flat. He’s a member of the Stolen Generations and has never met or talked to his mother.

This day, however, he’s got the possibility to call her, a step which is not easy to take. A thought-provoking film.

Director Jacob Nash about his film: “Blood Lines, an autobiographical story, is about the moments in life when you are in a state of flux, a state of limbo, a state of waiting. You have put yourself into a position of no return and what will happen after that point is left open only to fate.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/bloodlines#ixzz2CL6USEH0

Case 442 Drama

Case 442

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
2005
Duration
50
Director
Mitch Torres

Frank Byrne was forcibly removed from his mother Maudie at the age of 5 and has been searching and yearning for her almost all of his life. After 60 years, the old man Frank has finally found her amongst the patient case records of Perth’s Claremont Mental institute where she was incarcerated and eventually buried in an pauper’s grave.

Frank’s determination and need for closure, sees him promise and prepare to have Maudie’s remains exhumed and returned back to her country for the burial she deserves.

Case 442 intimately follows Frank’s painful struggle and the final laying to rest of his mother. An emotionally moving story highlighting an unbreakable mother-son bond and why harsh Government Removal policies have left so many Australians like Frank with a scarred and fragmented identity.

Frank attended the world premiere in Sydney. It took him three years to gather all the data to Case 442. This movie is an urgent example of the Stolen Generations, those Aboriginal people who were forcibly removed from their families by the Australian authorities.

Frank says about this struggle: “All the’ve done was wreck my life and my mother’s life.”—“I’ve cried through the years. I don’t know if I’ve any more crying in me.”—“The person who took me away had no heart. I’ve got no hate, but I have anger. It will never go away from me.”—“I didn’t ask for that [black] skin. It’s because of my skin that they took me away from my mother.”

In the course of his investigations he discovered that Frank’s uncle was in fact his father. Suddenly, cousins became siblings. And there are many similar stories all around the country. As Mitch says, “You never know your family, you can walk past them in the street.”

Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/case-442#ixzz2CL82rxAK

Crocodile Dreaming Drama

Crocodile Dreaming

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
2007
Duration
27
Director
Darlene Johnson

Crocodile Dreaming is a film who tells a traditional Aboriginal story, similar to Ten Canoes. A stone holding the stories and songs of the ancestors has been stolen from its proper location and subsequently causes the death of two children. It must be found and brought back to restore the right order. The local Aboriginal mob cannot carry out this task alone and calls for Burrimmilla (David Gulpilil) who is an urbanised Aboriginal man working as a model (very reminiscent of Michael Jackson).

As Burrimmilla meets his brother Charlie (Tom E. Lewis) he realises that Charlie still lives the traditional way. Both brothers mistrust each other and take some time to tackle the task together. Eventually they succeed in communicating with the spirit of their mother in an impressive scene where the swamp is set on fire. They retrieve the stone from the water and bring it back to the special creation place, restoring the natural order.

Crocodile Dreaming is a very unusual film in that it uses traditional storytelling together with modern-day special effects. That Darlene Johnson’s favourite genre is horror shines through in a bloody camp scene which led to the M rating. A great film with a cast of great, well-known Aboriginal actors.

Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/crocodile-dreaming#ixzz2CL8UdaRK

Custard Drama

Custard

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
2007
Duration
5
Director
Michelle Blanchard

Custard tells the story of a young Aboriginal woman who visits her grandmother after the death of the grandfather. She is looking for answers to her many questions.

Although a sad film it is not without humour when the granddaughter reads out a ‘modified’ death certificate where the old man died of an overdose of custard.

Custard is based on a true story and set on beautiful Stradbroke Island in Queensland, home of the director Michelle Blanchard.

Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/custard#ixzz2CL93DtIN

Days Like These Drama

Days Like These

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
2007
Duration
5
Director
Martin Leroy Adams

With Days Like These Martin Leroy puts the viewer into the shoes of Dan, a young Aboriginal man trying to find work. As we follow him through the day we get a feeling of what it means to be black and to cope with disappointments and social stereotyping.

Filmed in Sydney and Redfern, Days Like These is a compelling snapshot of urban Aboriginal life and its daily challenges.

Director Martin Leroy Adams says about his film: “This film is to highlight the struggles Aboriginal people face due to institutional racism and how that can result in a lack of opportunities. Many Australians don’t believe they are racist, but many still hold true to their racial stereotypes of other cultures.

Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/days-like-these#ixzz2CL9bcqno

Done Dirt Cheap Drama

Done Dirt Cheap

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
2007
Duration
5
Director
Debbie Carmody

In a pub in Kalgoorlie, the mining capital of Western Australia, Lenny, an unsuspecting tourist walks into a conversation between Amos, a gold digger, and two miners. He purchases a nugget from the digger for what he thinks is a bargain price.

What he is not aware of is the ingenious way Amos makes money – he spray-paints ordinary pieces of rocks into nuggets and engages the two larrikin miners to help him sell his ‘gold’.

Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/done-dirt-cheap#ixzz2CLA5FYRv

Fly, Peewee, Fly Drama

Fly, Peewee, Fly

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
2005
Duration
10
Director
Sally Riley

Six year old Robbie lives with his white grandmother and his Koorie father (when he is around). Sick and tired of his father and grandmother arguing over his identity, Robbie walks outside to climb his favourite tree only to find that his friend, the peewee bird, has been mauled to death by his cat.

Angry with himself for not protecting the peewee, Robbie stays in the tree for hours. When Robbie explains to his father why he is disappointed with himself, Robbie’s father realises how much he has let his son down by failing to fulfill his role as a father.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/fly-peewee-fly#ixzz2CLAn1fC9

Freedom Ride Documentary

Freedom Ride

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
1993
Duration
55
Director
Rachel Perkins and Ned R Lander

Freedom Ride is part of a four-episode documentary by Rachel Perkins and Ned Lander. It tells a chapter of Charles Perkins’ life, the father of Rachel. He grew up in Alice Springs in the late 1930s at a time when segregation was the rule.

During his education at the Technical School in Adelaide and the University of Sydney in the early 1960s he became increasingly aware of the injustices perpetrated against Australian Aboriginal people. In 1965, the year he graduated as the first Aboriginal man from university, Charles Perkins led the “Freedom Ride”

The Freedom Ride was a bus load of concerned white and black people, mostly university students, who visited several towns in rural and outback Australia to escalate the level of public awareness of racial intolerance in Australia.

This film documents their journey and talks to those who were part of the Freedom Ride, charting one of the most significant civil rights campaigns in Australian history.

Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/freedom-ride#ixzz2CLBhb8cj

Hush Comedy

Hush

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
2007
Duration
5
Director
Dena Curtis

Ethel and her friend Mary are pensioners who meet regularly to play cards. But do they really play cards?

Hush takes you into Mary’s house and lets you observe what really happens. The revelation starts slowly when it is revealed that one of the seniors has subscribed to an erotic magazine. But that is just the start.

Ethel’s daughter Jo is horrified when she finds out that her mum is by no means playing cards. Instead she and her friend run an erotic phone service, groan lustfully into the microphones and turn electric toothbrushes into vibrators.

Director Dena Curtis says about her film: “I wanted to explore the role reversal between the mother and daughter and how sometimes the daughter, with all the right intentions, can become overbearing and forget that her mother is actually quite capable of looking after herself and that maybe keeping a sense of independence is very important to her.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/hush#ixzz2CLC88uj3

Jackie Jackie Comedy

Jackie Jackie

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
2007
Duration
5
Director
Adrian Willis

Jinaali, a chubby young Aboriginal woman, works at a supermarket and is constantly bullied by her boss. He does not merit her ‘equal opportunity line’ initiative or forgive the mistakes she does.

When Jinaali watches television she sees an advertisement for a Jackie Jackie doll which is promised to deliver the right message to its new owner. This is her chance!

The film is set in a 70s-like wonder world of uniform checkout chicks, dancing female customers and serves heavily all the stereotypes you can think of. But beyond the comedy is a true core which alludes to the mistreatment of Aboriginal people by the white society.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/jackie-jackie#ixzz2CLDgQVDo

Kwatye Comedy

Kwatye

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
2007
Duration
5
Director
Trisha Morton-Thomas

A man wakes up hungover on the sofa from his previous night. Unwilling to move he lets his wife pick up the remote control and his 3-year-old daughter get him a glass of water with an aspirin.

It’s the girl’s birthday, yet the father seems to be oblivious of joining his wife’s birthday preparations. The girl resorts herself to a special form of revenge. When the father is sick of her bringing him glass after glass of water he inquires where that water came from because it has a strange taste attached to it.

The revelation made the theatre roar in laughter…

Director Trisha Morton-Thomas writes about her film: “I got the idea for the film from a story my cousin told me. She had been sick with the flu and her two-year-old daughter kept bringing water into the room for her to drink. After a while my cousin called out to her mother to stop giving the baby glasses of water and then she got a nasty surprise.

“When I wrote Kwatye I decided to use a young couple in their late teens/early twenties, struggling to maintain their relationship and raise their child, because I don’t believe there are enough stories in the Aboriginal community about this age group.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/kwatye#ixzz2CLF8feZm

My Bed Your Bed Drama

My Bed Your Bed

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
1998
Duration
17
Director
Erica Glynn

In an isolated desert community, Della and Alvin are promised under the traditional laws of marriage. Their time has come. They move in together. One house, two swags, a guitar… no idea.

Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/my-bed-your-bed#ixzz2CLHol6LG

My Brother Vinnie Documentary

My Brother Vinnie

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
2006
Duration
25
Director
Steven McGregor

Aaron and Vinnie Pedersen are two brothers who have been each others shadow. Aaron, 35, has established a successful career as an actor, all the while being responsible for the care of Vinnie, 34, who has mild intellectual disabilities and cerebral palsy.

This responsibility is a big challenge in the absence of professional support. “They just don’t write books on this stuff,” says Aaron.

The documentary is written by Aaron, who has been the principal carer for Vinnie since early childhood. Aaron frankly recalls the burdens when he remembers nightmares of domestic violence. Life with Vinnie hasn’t always been easy, says Aaron, and “sometimes in the heat of the battle you don’t see the beauty,” he admits.

But the film also celebrates the strength of the bond that the two brothers share and have come to rely on since the death of their grandmother.

My Brother Vinnie is not a story specifically about Indigenous people. It intimately explores a relationship full of humour and charm, the characters will touch you with their wit and honesty as they could in any other relationship.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/my-brother-vinnie#ixzz2CLIkSdXo

Nana Documentary

Nana

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
2007
Duration
5
Director
Warwick Thornton

Who wouldn’t agree that when we’re little our grandparents are super heroes who know and can do everthing. Nana tells us one of these stories, told from the perspective of a little girl.

She follows here nana as she goes on a bush tucker hunting tour. Not only kills nana two lizards but also a wallaby and a kangaroo. Nana sells her drawings to white people who can’t see that she paints just one story over and over again. At night Nana patrols the fringes of their Aboriginal community and easily beats up several male drunkards and destroys their booze.

Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/nana#ixzz2CLJKeYjB

Nigger Lovers Documentary

Nigger Lovers

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
2007
Duration
27
Director
Rhonda Hagan

Nigger Lovers is not only a story of enormous strength, of determination and persistence, it’s also a story of a man being challenged to his limits, receiving death threats and bringing his family close to bankruptcy.

Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/nigger-lovers#ixzz2CLKgD98V

Night Cries: A Rural Tragedy Drama

Night Cries: A Rural Tragedy

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
1990
Duration
17
Director
Tracey Moffatt

A middle aged Aboriginal woman nurses her old white mother. During her tending of the old woman we feel her frustrations of duty, her suppressed anger, her own need for warmth and love, her personal loneliness. Her memories and dreams invade her nerve fraying routine until the old woman dies and we share the daughter’s immense sense of loss.

Shot entirely in a studio, the power of Night Cries: A Rural Tragedy lies in the artificially treated vibrantly coloured landscape and carefully constructed soundscape. The environment contributes another personality… an unbending, unchanging force.

Inspired by ‘Jedda’, Moffatt resurrects the two primary characters and propels them 30 years into the future, transforming the relationship between child and mother into carer and invalid.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/night-cries-a-rural-tragedy#ixzz2CLLxAE27

One Night the Moon Drama

One Night the Moon

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
2001
Duration
54
Director
Rachel Perkins

The Australian Outback – 1932. Entranced by the moon, a young girl steps out of her bedroom window. When her parents check on her, she is gone. The police suggest aboriginal tracker Albert lead the search, but the father revolts – insisting – no black-fella is to set foot on his land.

Instead, he gathers together as many white men as he can find, and conducts a line search across the desolate plains in search of the child. Albert watches helplessly as her every trace is stamped to dust.

Sometime later, the daughter is still missing, and the mother makes a decision to take responsibility into her own hands, to reconcile the loss of her child. She goes to find Albert.

One Night The Moon tells the story of a young, white girl who got lost in the outback and died due to her parents’ refusal to allow an Aboriginal tracker on their land. With a boldness that catches the breath, Perkins has made a film whose originality lies in its operatic form, its refusal to obey the accepted rules of mainstream cinema concerning verisimilitude and realism, and its focus on the white family’s tragedy.

Initially, the story was that of the black Tracker Riley but Perkins changed the focus to the white mother. This disconcerts those in the audience who expect a black focus from an Arrente filmmaker.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/one-night-the-moon#ixzz2CLNSuHvo

Plains Empty Drama

Plains Empty

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
2004
Duration
26
Director
Beck Cole

When Sam and her husband move to a remote mining camp in the desolate outback, she finds herself struggling to cope with the lonely existence. Eventually, she questions whether she is really alone.

Plains Empty takes the old standard of a restless spirit and infuses new life into it by setting the action in a deserted outback mining camp. When a woman is left alone on the edge of nowhere, she begins seeing visions of a ghostly young girl and starts seeking more information about her identity.

Punctuated with stunning landscape shots that emphasize our protagonist’s sense of isolation, Cole has put together a haunting and effective story.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/plains-empty#ixzz2CLOGvpLs

Bran Nue Dae Entertainment

Bran Nue Dae

Film

It’s the summer of 1969 and young Willie is filled with the life of the idyllic old pearling port Broome, in the North of Western Australia –fishing, hanging out with his mates, and when he can, his girl Rosie. However his mother Theresa has great hopes for him and she returns him to the religious mission in Perth for further schooling. After being punished by Father Benedictus for an act of youthful rebellion, Willie runs away from the mission. But to where? He’s too ashamed to go home – it will break his mother’s heart.

 

Down on his luck he meets an old fella, who he calls ‘Uncle’ Tadpole, and together they con a couple of hippies, Annie and Slippery, into taking them on the 2,500 km journey through spectacular landscape back to Broome. Willie learns the hard and funny lessons he needs to get home, all the while pursued by Father Benedictus.

 

Bran Nue Dae features Rocky McKenzie, Jessica Mauboy, Ernie Dingo, Missy Higgins, Geoffrey Rush, Deborah Mailman and Dan Sultan. It won the Audience Award for Top Feature of the 2009 Melbourne International Film Festival, and was an official selection at 6 international film festivals.

Radiance Drama

Radiance

Film by Indigenous Director

Year
1998
Duration
83
Director
Rachel Perkins

Three sisters reunite after some years apart, for their mother’s funeral.

Cressy, the eldest of the three, is a diva — an opera singer who is reluctant to visit the past and definitely doesn’t want to share it with her sisters.

Mae, has stayed behind looking after mum, and believes that Cressy hasn’t shared enough.

Nona, the youngest and the party girl, just wants them to all be one happy family. She may even help grow the family if her pregnancy test is accurate.

Deep and dark family secrets and personal conflicts start to unravel, but not all is gloom.
Read more: https://www.creativespirits.info/resources/movies/radiance#ixzz2CLOp77hM