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Aboriginal Stories Enrich AFI Entries

18 September 2002 - An unprecedented four feature films competing in this year’s Australian Film Institute (AFI) Awards tell stories centred on Aborigines or Aboriginal themes, including one, Beneath Clouds, written and directed by Aboriginal filmmaker Ivan Sen, enriching and expanding the body of Australian film making.

All four features represent high quality filmmaking, ranging from the two debuts, Sen’s Beneath Clouds and Paul Goldman’s Australian Rules, to the two from established and respected filmmakers, Rolf de Heer’s The Tracker and Phil Noyce’s Rabbit Proof Fence.

Two of the entries are directed by women; two are crime films (The Hard Word, Dirty Deeds) and two are biopics (Molokai, WillFull – though the latter is disguised as a ghost comedy).

Last year the AFI introduced the condition that feature film entries must have a commercial release to be eligible for the Awards. This ensures both voters and the public have the opportunity to see all the films in competition before the Awards Presentation in November.

Clip from urbancinefile

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