Screening across NITV and SBS On Demand in NAIDOC week: 8 - 15 November.
Rabbit-Proof Fence
PG
Australia, 2002
Genre: History, Adventure
Language: English
Director: Phillip Noyce
Starring: Roy Billing, Kenneth Branagh, Jason Clarke, Deborah Mailman, David Gulpilil
What's it about?
Based on the true story of three young Aboriginal girls Molly, Gracie, Daisy (Evelyn Sampi, Laura Monaghan, Tianna Sansbury): in 1931 they were forcibly removed from their families at Jigalong WA and taken to a camp 1500 miles away at Moore River to be trained as domestic servants, all part of official Government policy. Molly leads her younger sister and cousin on a daring escape and in a bid to find her way home, following – on foot – the rabbit-proof fence that cuts across the Gibson Desert and towards Jigalong. But WA’s Chief Protector, A.O. Neville (Kenneth Branagh) does his best to recapture them, with help from black tracker David Moodoo (David Gulpilil).
[link title="Rabbit-Proof Fence Review" url="node/3425"]
[link title="Rabbit-Proof Fence: Cheat Sheet" url="node/39429"]
Rabbit Proof Fence airs on SBS World Movies Friday 13 November at 9:30PM and will be available to stream at SBS On Demand after broadcast.
Source: SBS Movies
Gurrumul
PG
Australia, 2018
Genre: Documentary, Music
Language: English
Director: Paul Damien Williams
Starring: Geoffrey Gurrumul Yunupingu, Sting, Michael Hohnen, Mark Grose
What's it about?
Blind from birth, Dr G Yunupingu found his identity through song and the haunting voice that has already become legend. His debut album introduced Australia to the Songlines and culture of his Elcho Island community, but now Dr G Yunupingu finds himself increasingly torn between city and country, present and past, self and the community to which he owes so much.
Gurrumul airs on NITV Sunday 15 November at 9:05PM and will be available to stream at SBS On Demand after broadcast.
"The passing of any Yolngu person is usually accompanied by strict traditional protocols which preclude the use of the deceased’s name. The immediate family of Gurrumul have been clear that the contribution he made and continues to make to Australian and Yolngu cultural life should not be forgotten. his name and image may be used publicly to ensure that his legacy will continue to inspire both his people and Australians more broadly."
Acclaimed documentary, Gurrumul (Supplied) Source: Supplied
Dark Age
MA15+
Australia, 1987
Genre: Horror, Adventure
Language: English
Director: Arch Nicholson
Starring: David Gulpilil, John Jarratt
What's it about?
A giant crocodile is on the loose in the Northern Territory and it's up to a park ranger and two local guides to face up to the giant creature.
Dark Age airs on NITV Friday 13 November at 9:40PM and will be available to stream at SBS On Demand after broadcast.
Source: SBS Movies
Jedda
PG
Australia, 1955
Genre: Drama, Adventure, Action
Language: English
Director: Charles Chauvel
Starring: Rosalie Kunoth-Monks
What's it about?
An Aboriginal girl is brought up by a white family that adopts her. As a young woman, she is mysteriously drawn to go "Walkabout" as people of her tribe have for hundreds of years.
Jedda airs on NITV Tuesday 10 November at 9:30PM and will be available to watch at SBS On Demand after broadcast.
Source: NITV
Sweet Country
MA15+
Australia, 2018
Genre: Drama, History, Western
Language: English
Director: Warwick Thornton
Starring: Hamilton Morris, Bryan Brown, Sam Neill, Thomas M. Wright, Ewen Leslie, Matt Day, Gibson John, Natassia Gorey Furber, Anni Finsterer, Tremayne Doolan, Trevon Doolan
What's it about?
It’s 1929 on the vast, desert-like, Eastern Arrernte Nation lands that are now known as the Central Australian outback. Sam Kelly, a middle-aged Aboriginal man, works the land of a kind preacher, Fred Smith. After an ill-tempered bully arrives in town and Kelly kills him in self-defence, he and his wife go on the run as a posse gathers to hunt him down.
[link title="Warwick Thornton talks 'Sweet Country'" url="node/155412"]
[link title="Warwick Thornton’s 'Sweet Country' comes to SBS and NITV for a special event screening" url="node/179018"]
Sweet Country airs on NITV Monday 9 November at 9:30PM. Stream now at SBS On Demand.
She Who Must Be Loved
Australia, 2018
Genre: Documentary
Language: English
Director: Erica Glynn
Starring: Freda Glynn
What's it about?
A documentary that tells the epic life story of Alfreda Glynn, 78-year-old Aboriginal woman, stills photographer, co-founder of the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA), and Imparja TV, mother, grandmother, great grandmother, radical, pacifist, grumpy old woman, who in equal measure loves the limelight and total privacy. Part bio-pic, part social history, it details the life of a woman born beneath a tree north of Alice Springs in 1939, her childhood living under the Aboriginal Protection policies and the impact, both good and bad they had on her life.
Source: SBS Movies
The Fringe Dwellers
M
Australia, 1986
Genre: Drama, Race Relations
Language: English
Director: Bruce Beresford
Starring: Kristina Nehm, Justine Saunders, Bob Maza
What's it about?
Bruce Beresford's critically-acclaimed adaptation of the Nene Gare novel tells the story of an Aboriginal family's attempts to forge a new life for themselves within the segregated society. At the urging of headstrong teenager Trilby, the Comeaways relocate from their family camp, to a house in the main town.
[link title="The Fringe Dwellers review" url="node/64149"]
The Fringe Dwellers airs on NITV Thursday 12 November at 10:30PM.
Source: SBS Movies
Ten Canoes
M
Australia, 2000
Genre: Adventure, Comedy, Drama
Language: English,
Director: Rolf de Heer
Starring: Richard Birrinbirrin, Jamie Gulpilil, Crusoe Kurddal
What's it about?
One hundred and fifty spears, ten canoes, three wives... trouble. It is the distant past, tribal times. Dayindi (Jamie 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./ Ten Canoes/ is a surreal tragi-comedy in the Ganalbingu language of the remote Arafura Swamp region of north-eastern Arnhem Land, Australia.
[link title="Ten Canoes Review" url="node/4250"]
Ten Canoes airs on NITV Sunday 8 November at 9:35PM.
Tudawali
M
Australia, 1988
Genre: Biography, Drama
Language: English
Director: Steve Jodrell
Starring: Ernie Dingo, Peter Fisher
What's it about?
Ernie Dingo delivers an outstanding portrayal of Robert Tudawali, the first Aboriginal film star, whose lead role in Jedda is iconic in Australian cinema.
Tudawali airs on NITV Wednesday 11 November at 9:30PM.
Source: SBS Movies
Storm Boy
Australia, 1976
Genre: Drama
Language: English
Director: Henri Safran
Starring: Greg Rowe, Peter Cummins, David Gulpilil, Judy Dick, Tony Allison, Michael Moody, Graham Dow, Eric Mack
What's it about?
Mike is a lonely Australian boy living in a coastal wilderness with his reclusive father. In search of friendship he encounters an Aboriginal native loner and the two form a bond in the care of orphaned pelicans.
[link title="Storm Boy: Cheat Sheet" url="node/101202"]
Storm Boy airs on NITV Friday 13 November at 8PM and is available to stream now at SBS On Demand.
The Song Keepers
PG
Australia, 2017
Genre: Documentary
Language: English
Director: Naina Sen
What's it about?
Central Australia’s answer to The Buena Vista Social Club, The Song Keepers tells the uplifting story of women from the world’s oldest culture preserving some of the world’s oldest sacred songs, connecting Germany to Indigenous history in the process.
[link title="The remarkable true story behind 'The Song Keepers'" url="node/193081"]
The Song Keepers airs on NITV Sunday 15 November at 7:35PM and will be available to stream at SBS On Demand after broadcast.
The Central Australian Aboriginal Women’s Choir in action. Source: Potential Films
Looky Looky Here Comes Cooky
Australia, 2020
Genre: Factual
Language: English
Director: Steven McGregor
Starring: Steven Oliver
What's it about?
Presenter, co-writer and slam poet Steven Oliver takes the audience on an incredible and scenic journey across Australia from the cliffs of Kurnell to the Torres Strait. As he travels the land interrogating Cook’s legacy, he poses the question - in 2020, does Australia have a blurred history of Cook?
Looky Looky Here Comes Cooky airs on NITV Sunday 8 November at 8:35PM. Stream now at SBS On Demand.
