Films

Film list

[aeroplane-dance--Film-image]
Aeroplane Dance 1994 58'
    Directed by Trevor Graham .
December 1942: US bomber ‘Little Eva’ was returning to base after a bombing raid over New Guinea. It hit a storm and crashed at Moonlight Creek in Australia’s far north. Aeroplane Dance
Australia Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples War / Conflict / Reconciliation Memory
[camels-of-the-pitjantjara--Film-image]
Camels of the Pitjantjara 1969 45'
  Directed by Roger Sandall .
From the 1920s onwards, when motor vehicles displaced camels as a mode of supply in central Australia, camels gradually went feral. As this film shows, however, in the 1960s, the Pitjantjara were
Australia Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples Infrastructure / Transport Animals
[collum-calling-canberra--Film-image]
Collum Calling Canberra 1983 59'
    Directed by David MacDougall Judith MacDougall .
An account of Aboriginal people steering their way through the often frustrating processes of official decision-making, as it is seen from their viewpoint far away from Canberra. Gordon Smith, head
Australia Law and Legislation / Bureaucracy Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
[conversations-with-dundiwuy-wanambi--Film-image]
Conversations with Dundiwuy Wanambi 1984 50'
    Directed by Ian Dunlop Philippa Deveson .
A series of interviews with Dundiwuy Wanambi, shot over twelve years. They reveal the struggles of one man in the face of the huge changes brought about by the coming of a mining project, and
Australia Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples Health / Health care / Healing Social Change
[familiar-places--Film-image]
Familiar Places 1980 50'
    Directed by David MacDougall .
Anthropologist Peter Sutton is taken by an Aboriginal family, the Naponans, to map hereditary clan country in northern Queensland where they hope to live one day. To the children it is all new; to an
Australia Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples Land Rights Education / Knowledge Transmission
[good-bye-old-man--Film-image]
Good-bye Old Man 1977 70'
    Directed by David MacDougall .
A last request of a Tiwi man on Melville Island was that a film be made of the pukumani (bereavment) ceremony to follow his death. The film follows his family, from the days of preparation to their
Australia Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples Death Elderly people Film / Photography / Mass media Ritual
[the-house-opening--Film-image]
The House-Opening 1980 45'
    Directed by Judith MacDougall .
When Geraldine Kawanka’s husband died, she and her children left their house at Aurukun on Cape York Peninsula. In earlier times a bark house would have been burnt, but today a ‘house-opening’
Australia Ritual Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples Death
[link-up-diary--Film-image]
Link-up Diary 1997 86'
    Directed by David MacDougall .
The filmmaker goes on the road with Link-Up, an organisation which re-unites Aboriginal families separated in earlier decades by the New South Wales government. As the film shows, being reunited
Australia Resettlement Family / Kinship Collective / Community identity Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
[mabo-life-of-an-island-man--Film-image]
Mabo: Life of an Island Man 1997 87'
    Directed by Trevor Graham .
On June 3rd 1992, six months after Eddie ‘Koiki’ Mabo’s tragic death, the High Court upheld his claim that Murray Islanders held native title to land in the Torres Strait. The legal fiction
Australia Public Figure Colonialism / Postcolonialism Life Story / Life History Political Activists Land Rights Law and Legislation / Bureaucracy
[masks-of-mer--Film-image]
Masks of Mer 2010 37'
    Directed by Michael Eaton .
The film Alfred Haddon made in 1898 in the Torres Straits, lasting for less than a minute, is the world's first example of anthropological cinema. 'The Masks of Mer' tells the extraordinary story of
Australia History of Anthropology Film / Photography / Mass media Archival material / Museum displays Ritual
[namatjira-project--Film-image]
Namatjira Project 2017 87'
  Directed by Sera Davies .
An extraordinary first-hand account of the international battle to reclaim the artwork and heritage of one of Australia’s most important Indigenous figures: Albert Namatjira. Albert Namatjira was
Australia Art / Artists / Artisans Collective / Community identity Colonialism / Postcolonialism Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples Law and Legislation / Bureaucracy Political Activists Race / Racism / Antiracism
[part-of-us--Film-image]
Part of Us 2009 27'
  Directed by Maria Meriwether .
For the Ngarrindjeri people, the living and the dead are connected through shared land and heritage. The preservation of this connection is at the heart of the community’s effort to repatriate the
Australia Death Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples
[ringtone--Film-image]
Ringtone 2014 30'
  Directed by Jennifer Deger Paul Wunungmurra .
Yolngu Aboriginal families offer glimpses into their lives and relationships through their choice of ringtones. From ancestral clan songs to 80s hip hop artists and local gospel tunes, these songs
Australia Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples Music / Ethnomusicology Material Culture
[stockmans-strategy--Film-image]
Stockman's Strategy 1984 52'
  Directed by David MacDougall Judith MacDougall .
A film which explores the philosophy of teaching and learning of Sunny Bancroft, manager of an Aboriginal-run cattle station in northern New South Wales. It also tells the story of Shane Gordon, a
Australia Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples Animals Education / Knowledge transmission
[sunny-and-the-dark-horse--Film-image]
Sunny and the Dark Horse 1986 86'
  Directed by David MacDougall Judith MacDougall .
A true story of a country family’s gradual involvement and growing passion for ‘picnic racing’. Sunny Bancroft is an Aboriginal cattle-station manager in New South Wales. With his
Australia Rural Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples Animals
[takeover--Film-image]
Takeover 1980 90'
  Directed by David MacDougall Judith MacDougall .
On March 13, 1978 the Queensland Government announced its intention to take over management of Aurukun Aboriginal Reserve from the Uniting Church. The people of Aurukun complained bitterly, fearing
Australia Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples Resistance Land Rights Social Conflict
[three-horsemen--Film-image]
Three Horsemen 1982 50'
  Directed by David MacDougall Judith MacDougall .
Bob Massey Pootchemunka has spent most of his life as a stockman and drover. Now over 75, his ambition is to see an all-Aboriginal cattle station operating at Ti-Tree on his traditional clan land.
Australia Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples Herding Animals Land Rights
[to-get-that-country--Film-image]
To Get That Country 1978 70'
  Directed by David MacDougall .
An important historical film of events surrounding early meetings of the Northern Land Council in 1977, where uranium mining, land rights and Aboriginal leadership were the key issues.
Australia Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples Land Rights Social Organisation
[a-transfer-of-power--Film-image]
A Transfer of Power 1986 22'
  Directed by Judith MacDougall David MacDougall .
Replacing the engine in an old car is a familiar rural task, but how people go about it differs. For these Aboriginal men in New South Wales, it’s an occasion for affirming continuing
Australia Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples Education / Knowledge transmission Infrastructure / Transport
[waiting-for-harry--Film-image]
Waiting for Harry 1980 57'
  Directed by Kim McKenzie .
Although the events around which this film was planned were the final mortuary rites for Les Angabarraparra, the subject of the film became interaction. Interaction between the anthropologist Les
Australia Informant-researcher relationship Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples Death Reflexivity