by Dov Kornits
“There have been many films, particularly by First Nations creatives, with great depth and insights into First Nations lives,” Penelope McDonald responds humbly when we praise the insight of her return to directing with the intimate feature documentary Audrey Napanangka, after producing and administering for the past 30 years.
“Audrey as a senior woman has a deep understanding of what it means to be Warlpiri. She gave us fantastic access to her life, and aspects of Warlpiri culture and of the issues that affect her, living as she does away from her lands, and in a colonised world. I feel privileged to know her and play a role in amplifying her life story.
“Throughout my career, I’ve worked alongside and been inspired by some of Australia’s established and emerging First Nations filmmakers which have helped inform my worldview. I feel blessed to have had these experiences and call some of these filmmakers my family.
“My daughter Rona Glynn McDonald was an EP on the film and is the founder of Common Ground, an organisation established to amplify First Nations voices, perspectives, and cultures through storytelling. She, alongside many others, are paving the way for a bright future.
“There, however, have been challenges since 1788, with ongoing oppression and displacement of First Nations people and extraction of Country. We are where we are now, and I am optimistic that more Australians are beginning to listen deeply to First Nations voices and perspectives. As a nation, we need to stop and make space to centre First Nations perspectives on how we can best work together in shaping futures individually and collectively that creates and holds space for First Nations self-determination and sovereign storytelling.
“The ongoing statistics and experiences faced by First Nations communities are something we should all be ashamed of. First Nations incarceration rates, children still being removed from their families, all these things can be turned around, but only if solutions are led by First Nations people, from the grass roots upwards, not the other way around.”
Co-writing and shooting some footage on the film was another member of McDonald’s family, her son Dylan River, a highly acclaimed and prolific cinematographer and director in his own right.
“My son and I have worked on several projects together. I produced his first funded documentary Buckskin a decade ago. As with anyone that you know well, you develop a shorthand of communication, and can work well together. His input and support throughout the making of this project has been pivotal to its realisation. He also knows Audrey well, which helped with the intimacy of this documentary.
“I remember when Dylan was 4 years old, after staunchly refusing to go to childcare he joined Audrey and I one night on the set of the Erica Glynn short drama My Bed Your Bed. We were filming in a beautiful location in the riverbed at Honeymoon Gap just outside of town. When the young girls starring in the film were sitting next to the fire to be painted up with their dreamings by Audrey, he insisted that he wanted to be painted too. Audrey kindly put some white ochre on his chest. Dylan was learning from her then and continues to do so. Since he became a filmmaker, he has cast Audrey as an actor in two of his films and one series.
“Dylan got cheeky to me a few times, as any son does with his mother, while making the film but never to her. He respects her greatly so also wanted the film to be the best it could be.”
What’s your personal relationship with Audrey? What was it that inspired you to make a film about her?
“I have known Audrey for close to 40 years, for most of my adult life, since first meeting her in the remote community Lajamanu at the top of the Tanami Desert where we were both living. Our friendship has withstood the depths of time, and we have been through many personal highs and lows together. I have always been inspired by Audrey’s resilience and sense of humour. She lives with warmth, generosity, and a positive mental attitude.
“I recruited Audrey for acting roles beginning in 1992 and since then she has had roles in many films including Rabbit Proof Fence, Green Bush, Samson & Delilah, Nulla Nulla, Kings in Grass Castles, Robbie Hood and Monsters We Met.
“She knows my children as I know her extended family. We’ve laughed and cried together. I’ve seen the way she navigates life, and embraces everyone, and I thought showing her life would be an interesting subject for a documentary.
“Early on, the working title was called ‘one woman two worlds’, as I was and am humbled by the deft way in which Audrey navigates her life embracing the responsibilities of First Nations Warlpiri woman and living away from her country in Mparntwe (now the town of Alice Springs) with a Sicilian partner, and all that colonisation means for her life.”
How was it getting back in the filmmaker chair?
“Getting back into the filmmaker’s chair has been terrific and has taken me back to my roots. I began exploring telling stories through images as a young child. The first thing I remember saving up and buying was a little box brownie camera, and I began seeing the world in framed images taking photographs of what interested me from then. My family travelled with a super 8 camera. That is where my love of filming began. I was always in front of or behind the camera. This continued throughout my early years.
“I love telling stories. I’ve worked in and around the screen industry for over 35 years. That has involved making films as a director or producer and stepping out of the industry to lead the establishment of the government screen agency in the Northern Territory. As a single mother with two children, I needed the regularity of income, as well as a regular home life, to support them, so I stepped away from being directly involved with production for those years, until they were young adults. Once I felt that Screen Territory was well established, I was very happy to step back into production.
“And stepping back into production was thrilling from the start. For this project, at first, I carried a small camera in my handbag, so that whenever I visited Audrey, I could document what was happening. I shot the first images in that way, and Audrey and her family got used to me filming. Then the final shots for the documentary were filmed by me on Super 8, once we were nearly finished the edit, and knew exactly what we wanted, which was a nice circle back to the beginning of where filmmaking began for me.”
Do you think your age now makes you a better filmmaker than when you started out?
“I am a different filmmaker now than when I began, because of life experiences that have shaped me and matured the way that I view the world. The stories that I will tell now will be approached differently to the ones that I was making in my 20s.
“I’m more patient than I was and have more psychological stamina. Whereas when I started out my physical stamina was greater. I have more tools in my kit on all levels.
“This one was a complex story to tell and challenging in many ways. Filming took place over many years, sometimes using the camera myself, and at other times teaming up with cinematographers. As Audrey’s life and that of her family evolved, so did the documentary. At the end of filming, we had over 150 hours of material, which meant the editing took a very long time. When I started out as a filmmaker, most projects were made in a much shorter time frame.”
You’ve mostly produced, how was it jumping in the director’s chair?
“I’ve really enjoyed returning to directing. I began in the industry as a director and specialised in directing during my studies. With this documentary, I have been able to be intimate with the storytelling – directing the process of what we filmed and when and how – through to the selection of the sequences, and down to the frames of the edit.
“It was a joy to work with different people in front of and behind the camera. It was terrific to know that my co-producers Rachel Clements and Trisha Morton-Thomas, who came on the project a few years ago, believed that Audrey’s story was an interesting one. I feel very blessed by the talented and generous people who have been on this journey with me, from the subjects through to the collaborators who have been many, and I thank them all. Being able to see my vision realised on the screen, through pictures and sound and music, has been terrific.
“The version of Audrey’s story that is this film, could only have been directed by me, because of my close friendship with Audrey. I was able to make it in close collaboration with Audrey, the key subject, who has been there every step of the way. I would not have been able to make this documentary without Audrey and her sharing her story and life with me for decades. I feel very privileged to be able to tell her story, and travel with her on this journey over a decade.”
Was there a stop date on the film; I understand that it was 10 years in the making. How did you know when to say stop?
“I recently was reminded of a quote attributed to Leonardo da Vinci ‘Art is never finished, only abandoned’. In a sense I feel like this about this documentary. We could have kept on filming, and editing, but we had found a shape and way of telling Audrey’s story that I am happy with. That is when I knew to stop.”
How do you feel about the film being released now, with the new government, which seems to be taking First Nations people more seriously?
“It is a great time to be launching this documentary. It speaks to the resilience of Audrey, and many others like her. I hope that it speaks in a positive way into the debate that will surround the upcoming referendum. If viewing it gives insight to those who watch it so that change can be made at an individual, state, and national level, I will be happy.”
You went to film school [AFTRS, Bachelor of Arts, Producing and Directing] back in the day… what is it that inspired you to do so, and what did you get out of the experience?
“Going to film school was a great way for me to fast track my knowledge of how to make films and television. We had some fabulous teachers, and the opportunity to work on lots of different productions. One of the main benefits of going to film school was the friendships I developed with others starting out in the screen industry, many of whom remain close friends and professional colleagues today. It is exciting to see many First Nations people going to film school now. It would be great, however, if such high level training were more accessible to those living in remote communities.”
Would love to connect with Penelope re an Indigenous story we are working on.
Awesome Penny, Audrey and others, I look forward to seeing all your hard work on the big screen soon I hope.