Indigenous Language Film Production and Workshops
We embarked on a four-month tour in April and visited nine remote communities where we produced 15 short films. Eight of these films were in endangered First Nations languages including Pitta Pitta, Gangalidda, Adnyamathanha, Kunwinjku, Paakandji, Alyawarr and Wangkangurru. The team worked closely with Elders and senior people in the community to create each film and faithfully represent the Dreaming story they wanted to record. Sometimes the correct person was not available to tell the story, so the team worked with the young people to create a story from their own imagination. The young people in each community benefitted from the drama workshops, storytelling and filmmaking process to boost self-confidence, and the transference of filmmaking skills to empower them to tell their own stories in the future.
Modjarrki dje Barrhbarrh - Freshwater Crocodile and Rainbow Bee Eater
This film is a traditional story told in the Manmoyi outstation in West Arnhem Land. It illustrates how the fire sticks were stolen and fire brought to the Kunwinjku people of this region. The film is spoken in the Kunwinjku language and performed by students from the Nawarddeken Academy.
Wombilla and Ikooura - Possum and Wild Cat
This is a traditional story from the Pitta Pitta people from the Boulia region of central Queensland and shows how the possum got his crooked leg and the wild cat got her spots. The film is spoken in the Pitta Pitta language and performed by Pitta Pitta young people from the region.
Urdlu and Mandya - Red Kangaroo and Euro
This is a traditional story from the Adnyamathanha people of the Flinders Ranges and reveals how the amazing landscape of the Ranges was formed. The film is spoken in the Adnyamathanha language and performed by young people from the region.
Multiple destinations in Northern, Central and North-Western Australia
Our massive 2022 tour took in dozens of locations across Australia, creating projects with kids in remote communities. See some of the highlights below.
West Arnhem Land
We were invited to visit West Arnhem Land and work with three different communities to record Dreaming stories in the Bininj Kunwok languages of the region. It was a very profound time for our team and the experiences we had and people we met will live with us forever. The communities we worked in were Mamadawerre, Manmoyi and Kabulwarnamyo which are all located on the West Arnhem Land plateau. The people were very welcoming and willing to share their music, stories and songs with us during the visit and the results can be seen in the short films below.
Jodi Valluk - Senior Teacher, Nawarddeken Academy West Arnhem Land
Dajarra
The workshops went very well this week with an average attendance of 16+ kids. We played a variety of self-confidence boosting games and began reading and creating the story for the production of How the Birds got their Colours which will be performed next Thursday in the community. The kids really enjoyed making their masks for the different birds and loved the first day of filming!
Watch our performance of How the Birds Got Their Colours below.
Cloncurry
We arrived in Cloncurry and performed The Forgotten Warrior at Cloncurry State School and St Joseph's School. The students at both schools loved the show and offered lots of feedback afterwards including:
The original performance space at St Joseph's was far too bright for the film, but fortunately the local church came to the rescue and offered their space for the show. Have a look at one of the most original performance spaces for our show, yet!
Burketown
We did a week of workshops and created four short films with a great bunch of children at Burketown State School. Listen to some of the feedback below.
Eromanga
At Eromanga we performed workshops and recorded How the Birds Got Their Colours. Here's some feedback on our work from Michelle Moyle, Principal of Eromanga State School.