NITV features one of Australia’s most celebrated Aboriginal actors, the charismatic David Gulpilil, with a special season of films featuring him that start 9.30pm on Sundays throughout the month of March.
Storm Boy
Sunday 2 March at 9.30pm on NITV
Storm Boy lives along the coast of South Australia and finds himself forming an unlikely bond with a pelican.
The special season launches on March 2 with the 1976 classic, Storm Boy. A boy's journey begins when he meets an Aboriginal man and forms a bond with a pelican on the wind beaten coast of South Australia. The film was a great success and picked up Best Film and the Jury Prize at the Australian Film Industry Awards in 1977.
Walkabout
Sunday 9 March at 9.30pm on NITV
Two kids stranded in the outback meet an Aboriginal man on walkabout.
Next up there’s Walkabout, screening on 9 March. Two young children are stranded in the Australian outback and are resigned to their survival skills. While out there, they meet an Aboriginal person on "walkabout", an Indigenous Australian ritual where a person departs from their tribe. Walkabout was well received when it was produced in 1971 by Nicholas Roeg – it was nominated at the Cannes Film Festival that same year.
The Tracker
Sunday 16 March at 9.30pm on NITV
An Aboriginal Australian man who has been accused of murdering a white woman. He is chased by white men and a tracker.
The following Sunday we’re screening an Australian film that features David Gulpilil from 2002 – The Tracker. Set in 1922, the film centres on an Aboriginal Australian man who has been accused of murdering a white woman. The story explores the nature of racism in Australia when he is chased by three white men who have been tasked to capture him with the aid of an experienced Aboriginal navigator, known as “The Tracker”.
Rabbit Proof Fence
Sunday 23 March at 9.30pm on NITV
Three young girls are taken from their families but they escape their new location and head back home while they’re being chased by white authorities and an Aboriginal tracker.
Our month with David Gulpilil ends with another 2002 classic, Rabbit Proof Fence, which will air on 23 March. Rabbit Proof Fence, directed by Philip Noyce, revolves around the policy that caused so much heart break and took Aboriginal Australian children with mixed backgrounds from their parents and families.
This yarn is based on the true story of the mother of Doris Pilkington Garimara, the author who wrote Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence. Three young girls escape their new settlement and start on the long journey back home all the while being chased by white authorities and an Aboriginal tracker, played by Gulpilil.
After an extensive career in film David Gulpilil is now dedicating himself to the cause of social justice, working for government recognition of and compensation for the Stolen Generation – the families who are recovering from the trauma of being forcibly separated from each other.
NITV - Channel 34 Free To Air
