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Indigenous Filmmaking in Australia

Peter Thomas

2 March 2004 - In Australia there is a real expectation that Aboriginal people should be making films about Aboriginal people, that they should take the initiative in steering the rest of the Australian filmmaking community in how indigenous people are represented on the big and small screen.

It's fair to say that this wasn't the case 10 years ago as no indigenous filmmakers previously saw telling their own stories as their special territory. Happily, today indigenous stories are being told in various forms and many indigenous filmmakers are lobbying the Australian government to establish an indigenous television network. A national indigenous network is now a long term strategy for Aboriginal people as funds are desperately sought from government to generate a whole range of programming so that when a network begins there will be programs available and people to work at the network and continue to produce.

Imparja, a commercial television network in Alice Springs, Central Australia is owned and operated by indigenous people. Its area of influence is largely the remote desert region that constitute nearly a third of the Australian continent. Its programming mandate, however, apart from a few hours of specifically indigenous production, is not very different from other commercial stations around the country.

Australia has a lot of catching up to do. Canada, comparable in population and geographic size, has an indigenous network. New Zealand, a nation of 3 million people, begins a Maori television service in March 2004.

Australia has a growing number of outstanding indigenous actors and directors. There is, however, a noticeable lack of gaffers, grips, costume designers, production designers, production assistants, film accountants and other key film and television personnel. Rachel Perkins, Chairperson of Indigenous Screen Australia, the collective of national filmmakers that works with government bodies to develop Indigenous film and TV policy hopes to see a burgeoning number of skilled indigenous personnel emerging in the next few years.

Source: World Catholic Association for Communications - SIGNIS (Pacific)

related links:

• Indigenous filmmakers honoured
  21 May 2002 - Indigenous stars of film and television have been honoured in a prestigious awards ceremony at the Sydney Opera House.
• Aboriginal Stories Enrich AFI Entries
  18 September 2002 - An unprecedented four feature films competing in this year’s AFI Awards tell stories centred on Aborigines or Aboriginal themes, including one, Beneath Clouds, written and directed by Aboriginal filmmaker Ivan Sen (pic), enriching and expanding the body of Australian film making.
• Great black hope
  June 2002 - Ivan Sen has been hailed as the Great Black Hope of Australian cinema - the indigenous director most likely to follow in the footsteps of Peter Weir, Fred Schepisi and Baz Luhrmann.
• Just don't call me an Aboriginal artist
  16 April 2001 - Meet Tracey Moffatt and you sense it straight away: beneath the chatty, congenial veneer, a manic gleam, a taste for mayhem. Her photographs, which have made her easily the best-known Australian artist in the world toda
  
• Dream time for our film-makers
  28 January 2001 - Some of Australia's finest film directors are scrambling to make films of Aboriginal stories. And now many predict the ailing local film industry could be in for an Aboriginal-led recovery.
  
• In black and white
  Certain to collect a few Australian Film Industry (AFI) awards later this year – possibly even best film – The Tracker is a powerful new Australian drama set deep in South Australia, circa 1922.
• Rabbit-Proof Central: all our info

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