The story of the 1946 Aboriginal Pastoral Workers' Strike. Eight hundred aboriginal station workers walked off sheep stations in the north west of Western Australia, marking the beginning of a strike which lasted more than three years. The strike was more than a demand for better wages and conditions, it was a struggle for basic human rights.
Jacob OberdooSelfBilly ThomasSelfDon McLeodSelfNarrated by Uncle Jack Charles and seen through the eyes of Indigenous prisoners at Victoria’s Fulham Correctional Centre, this documentary explores how art and culture can empower Australia's First Nations people to transcend their unjust cycles of imprisonment.
50 years on, the Aboriginal Tent Embassy is the oldest continuing protest occupation site in the world. Taking a fresh lens this is a bold dive into a year of protest and revolutionary change for First Nations people.
Lake Mungo is an ancient Pleistocene lake-bed in south-western New South Wales, and is one of the world’s richest archaeological sites. Message from Mungo focuses on the interface over the last 40 years between the scientists on one hand, and, on the other, the Indigenous communities who identify with the land and with the human remains revealed at the site. This interface has often been deeply troubled and contentious, but within the conflict and its gradual resolution lies a moving story of the progressive empowerment of the traditional custodians of the area.
Across a 45-year career ‘The Oils’ helped shape modern Australia with anthems like “US Forces”, “Beds Are Burning” and “Redneck Wonderland”. Featuring unseen footage and interviews with every band member, alongside signature moments including the outback tour with Warumpi Band, their Exxon protest gig in New York and those famous “Sorry” suits at the Sydney Olympics, Midnight Oil: The Hardest Line traces the journey of Australia’s quintessential rock band.
The story of a nation coming together around Indigenous athlete Cathy Freeman who delivered when it mattered on the greatest stage on earth. 20 years on, Freeman sheds light on one of Australia's proudest moments. In 49.11 seconds, Cathy Freeman's win at the 2000 Sydney Olympics brought Australia together as a nation.
The story of Dujuan, a 10-year-old Aboriginal boy living in Alice Springs, Australia, who is struggling to balance his traditional Arrernte/Garrwa upbringing with a state education.
Essie Coffey gives the children lessons on Aboriginal culture. She speaks of the importance of teaching these kids about their traditions. Aboriginal kids are forgetting about their Aboriginal heritage because they are being taught white culture instead.
The raw, heartfelt and often funny journey of adult Aboriginal students and their teachers as they discover the transformative power of reading and writing for the first time.
The story of 95-year-old Aboriginal elder Laurie Baymarrwangga and her work to maintain the language and cultural traditions of the Yan-nhangu people of Murrungga.
The story of a Warlpiri woman, Audrey, and her Sicilian partner Santo as they navigate through colonial systems to keep the children they care for together. Audrey Napanangka was born at a time when the world was changing for the people in the Central Australian Desert. Settler colonisation was permeating the desert and forced changes and the fusion of two worlds shifted Audrey’s life forever. Today, Audrey raises young people to walk in many worlds, by centering culture, language, and Law in their lives alongside mainstream education. The intimate footage filmed over 10 years in Mparntwe (Alice Springs), Yuendumu and Audrey’s Warlpiri country Mount Theo, showcases a heartwarming story about the power of kinship and family in what is known as Australia.
A story of resistance across generations, the power of family and the unrelenting struggle for justice in a country that remains in denial.
The Ripple Effect is a powerful documentary primarily centred around St Kilda legend and proud Noongar Nicky Winmar's generation-defining stand against racism at Victoria Park in 1993.
The epic David vs Goliath battle for justice waged by the families of three Aboriginal children murdered in a small rural town 30 years ago, the system that failed them, and what it reveals about racism in Australia today.
On June 21 2007, the Howard Federal Government launched an intervention into Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. It was one of the most dramatic policy shifts in the history of Aboriginal affairs. Relentless media attention focuses on ideological arguments for and against the Intervention, while the voices of those affected by the policy are rarely heard. For this film more than 40 Alice Springs town camp residents were interviewed in depth over the course of eight months to find out the answer to the question - is it working?
In 1978, Tom Lewis appeared in the Australian feature film, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith. The life of the character he played was hauntingly close to his own, a young, restless man of mixed heritage, struggling for a foothold on the edge of two cultures. Tom's mother is a traditional Indigenous woman of southern Arnhem Land, his father a Welsh stockman who he never really knew. Yellow Fella is a journey across the land and into Tom's past, as he attempts to find the resting place of his father and to finally confront the truth of his most inner feelings of love and identity.
For both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians, Captain James Cook is a figure of great historical significance.
WINHANGANHA (Wiradjuri language: Remember, know, think) - is a lyrical journey of archival footage and sound, poetry and original composition. It is an examination of how archives and the legacies of collection affect First Nations people and wider Australia, told through the lens of acclaimed Wiradjuri artist, Jazz Money.
WORLD PREMIERE: It is the 70th anniversary of the first nuclear test in indigenous Australian territory and the aboriginal communities call on activists from all over the world to carry out a 200 km anti-nuclear walk through the desert. Among them, the directors of this documentary join to record this walk, which seeks to end the extraction of uranium, the mineral with which atomic bombs are produced. What attitude will we take as humanity in the face of the possibility of creation and destruction
At Western Australia’s first Indigenous-run police station, two officers learn language and culture to help them police one of the most remote beats in the world.
After discovering that her home on the Tiwi Islands is at risk from a huge gas project, Antonia Burke mobilises her community creating the first ever Tiwi Women’s Ranger group.