TRANSCRIPT
Ten Canoes is the first feature-length Australian film made in Indigenous languages.
Set in Arnhem Land in northern Australia, the film follows the story of an Aboriginal warrior who joins a group of men in building ten canoes to go into the swamps to hunt goose eggs.
Interwoven in the tale is a story of forbidden love, kidnapping, and revenge gone wrong.
It came about due to constant badgering of director Rolf de Heer by his good friend and legendary actor, the late David Gulpilill.
The director admits he didn't want to make the film because of the difficulties of shooting in a location as extreme as Arnhem Land.
When he suggested it to the studio, he expected it to be rejected.
"And so I said to the office: 'look, how about we do this? We do this film in language in the swamp, with the mosquitoes, the crocodiles.' I rang David that day after I'd spoken to my family and they said: 'no, dad you got to do it. Dad, you've got to do it.' I rang David - and four days later I was up there and speaking with him and his mob, and out of that came Ten canoes."
Rolf de Heer says he was the conduit by which the film was made, but the story came from the Raminginning countrymen.
"I had to make sure that they felt real - and had - real ownership of the process and of the film. The process grew organically out of - and the script grew organically out of - that working process."
Rabbit Proof Fence premiered in 2002, bringing the Stolen Generations to the public consciousness in a way that hadn't been seen before.
The film is loosely based on the true story of three Aboriginal children - Molly Craig, her sister Daisy Kadibill and cousin Gracie Fields - who were forcibly removed from their mothers in 1931 under the Western Australian Aborigines Act.
The policy was one of a number implemented by authorities across Australia that resulted in the forced removal of generations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families.
It's estimated that as many as 1 in 3 Indigenous children were taken between 1910 and the 1970s, affecting most First Nation communities in Australia.
In Western Australia alone, almost half of the population have Stolen Generation links.
Director Phillip Noyce says he had to overcome plenty of negativity to get the film made.
"All of my friends here in Australia said: 'don't do it. You will never get the money. And you will never find the audience. Australians don't want to see stories about Indigenous experience.' And those were fighting words for me. And I was determined to prove them wrong. That we would raise the money, and we would find an audience - not only in Australia, but around the world."
And the film did stir controversy, then government minister Eric Abetz demanded the director apologise over the portrayal of the treatment of Indigenous Australians.
Mr Noyce says the newly-remastered film has left a legacy.
"And the reason we have spent last year bringing this film back to life is for the next generation. The film has now been futureproofed."
Mr de Heer says likewise, Ten Canoes has a resonance and relevance today, nearly two decades after its release.
"It's timelessness is what it is. The whole notion of the storytelling in it was that it was meant - this was what they wanted. It was meant to be effectively a synthesis of their way of storytelling - and our way of storytelling. So that their kids could watch it. But also audiences outside could appreciate and watch it."
Ten Canoes will screen again at the Sydney Opera House on June 29th, and Rabbit Proof Fence will have a national release in July during Naidoc week.
