![[the-house-opening--Film-list-image]](/wp-content/plugins/rai-films/uploads.php?file=uploads/cover/8486736dce95609352fb897ffb9bd07dd805f1c3.png&w=800&h=auto)
1980 / 45 minutes
- Directed by
- Judith MacDougall
- Country of production
- Australia United States
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’ ceremony — creatively mingling Aboriginal, Torres Strait and European elements — has evolved to deal with death in the midst of new living patterns. Although sometimes suggesting a party, its underlying purpose is serious. This film records the opening of the house and Geraldine’s feelings about it in her informative and personal commentary.
![[the-house-opening--Film-list-image]](/wp-content/plugins/rai-films/uploads.php?file=uploads/cover/8486736dce95609352fb897ffb9bd07dd805f1c3.png&w=1053&h=auto)
- Language and subtitles
- English (no subtitles)
- Region
- Australia
- Country
- Australia
- Keywords
- Ritual Indigenous peoples / First Nations peoples Death