latest news
James Cameron Loses Long Time Australian Collaborators
Producer Andrew Wight and cinematographer Mike deGruy lose their lives in a helicopter crash.
Tropfest Finalists Announced For 2012
Fifteen filmmakers have been shortlisted for the country’s biggest short film festival...
Inaugural AACTA Award Winners Announced
'Red Dog', 'Snowtown' and 'The Slap' proved the big winners of the night.
Aussie Films at the Box Office in 2011
See how our host of local flicks fared at the box office last year...
search the site
newsletter
Enter your email address below to receive the weekly Filmink newsletter
Film Festival Goes Walkabout
After its Sydney berth, the Message Sticks Indigenous Film Festival tours around Australia.
Cities around Australia have well and truly been swept up in the excitement of Film Festival season and there's more to come with the 2009 Message Sticks Indigenous Film Festival ready to tour the country in July.
In its 10th anniversary, the Festival will tour both metropolitan and rural cities around the country exhibiting films from the next wave of Indigenous filmmakers. This year's Festival will be headlined by Warwick Thornton's Samson & Delilah which was the recipient of the coveted Camera d'Or at Cannes this year.
Highlights of the Message Sticks Indigenous Film Festival include the premiere of seven short films including directorial debuts from actresses Deborah Mailman (Radiance, Rabbit-Proof Fence, Secret Life Of Us) and Leah Purcell (Jindabyne, The Proposition).
The Message Sticks Indigenous Film Festival National Tour is curated by award winning filmmakers, Rachel Perkins (One Night The Moon, Radiance, the upcoming Bran Nue Dae) and Darren Dale from Blackfella Films. This festival remains the only one in Australia committed to presenting films made my Indigenous people and screening them for free.
"The Message Sticks Indigenous Film Festival provides audiences with a fantastic opportunity to immerse themselves for free in work from Australia's leading Indigenous filmmakers," said Sally Riley, manager of Screen Australia's Indigenous Branch.
Samson & Delilah won't be Warwick's only film being screened on the tour with a special retrospective of his short films on show as well. Featured in the retrospective are his short films Green Bush, Mimi and Nana, which have all been screened at previous Message Sticks festivals.
Acclaimed filmmaker Ivan Sen's latest (and possibly last) documentary, Fire Talker: The Life and Times of Charlie Perkins (pictured) will be yet another highlight of the tour. Sen exclusively uses archival footage from the early ‘60s to 2001 to produce an intimate and honest portrait of Charlie Perkins, a respected Aboriginal activist, and father of Rachel. Sen's prior films include Yellow Fella and Beneath Clouds which won several awards in Australia and the Berlin Film Festival in 2002.
Deborah Mailman's Ralph was co-written with Wayne Blair (The Djarn Djarns) and is the charming story of a young girl obsessed with Karate Kid star Ralph Macchio (who isn't?!) who finds out it takes more than just dreaming to survive... it takes a friend. The Funny Aunty Maggie and the Womba Wakgun is directed by Leah Purcell and written by Angelina Hurley which tells the tale of a hungry family, disgruntled neighbours and a rooster with attitude.
‘The New Black' is a promising feature of this year's festival, showcasing a new generation of Australian filmmakers. A series of seven 10-minute dramas from emerging Aboriginal directors, producers and writers will be screened on the tour. This is the latest drama initiative from the Indigenous branch of Screen Australia and will feature stories from Far North Queensland, Bourke, Alice Springs, South Coast NSW, Inner West and Western Sydney. Films to be screened include Bourke Boy from Adrian Wills, which follows a man (Andrew McFarlane) who takes his troubled adopted son back to his birth place where they try to say the right words to each other before it's too late. Michelle Blanchard's The Party Shoes highlights the difficult relationship between a young girl and her occasionally attentive mother. And Romaine Moreton tracks the story of a girl who sees her deceased ancestors and her mother's attempts to hide the truth of the past in The Farm.
The National Message Sticks Indigenous Film Festival takes place from July - September, starting at Canberra and will tour the major cities and a selection of rural towns.
The dates and venues are as follows:
Thursday 9 July & Saturday 11 July
Canberra - Arc Cinema www.nfsa.gov.au
Monday 17 August & Tuesday 18 August
Darwin Festival - Deckchair Cinema www.deckchaircinema.com
Friday 21 August & Saturday 22 August
Broome - Sun Pictures Outdoor Cinema www.sunpictures.com.au
Wednesday 26 August & Thursday 27 August
Cairns - Jute Theatre www.cct.com.au
Saturday 29 August, Sunday 30 August, Monday 31 August & Tuesday 1 September
Melbourne - Bunjilaka, Aboriginal Cultural Centre at Melbourne Museum www.museumvictoria.com.au/bunjilaka
Thursday 3 September & Friday 4 September
Adelaide - Mercury Cinema www.mercurycinema.org.au
Sunday 6 September
Brisbane - Powerhouse www.brisbanepowerhouse.org
Wednesday 9 September & Thursday 10 September
Lismore - Star Court Theatre www.norpa.org.au
Thursday 17 September & Friday 18 September
Perth - Cinema Paradiso www.luna.com.au/
Wednesday 23 September & Thursday 24 September
Hobart - The Peacock Theatre, Salamanca Arts Centre www.salarts.org.au
Visit the venue websites for further information.