YELLOW FELLA [from the CAAMA Collection]

YELLOW FELLA is a portrait of the late Balang Tom E. Lewis who as a young man in 1978 was chosen by director Fred Schepisi to star in THE CHANT OF JIMMY BLACKSMITH. The life of the character he played was hauntingly close to his own – a restless young man of mixed heritage, struggling between two cultures to find his own identity.

Tom's mother is an Indigenous woman from southern Arnhem Land who was working as a station hand and cook when she met Tom's father, a Welsh stockman named Hurtle Lewis. Tom's mother refused to marry Hurtle and raised Tom with little knowledge of his real father.

In this beautifully shot and moving film, Balang Tom E. Lewis embarks with his mother on a journey into the outback of the Northern Territory to try to find his father's grave. The journey into his past brings painful memories to Tom and challenges his sense of his own identity, ultimately finding strength in his love for both his white father and his Aboriginal step-father.

This intimate documentary is a distinguished masterwork by Ivan Sen - already acclaimed for short dramas including WIND (available from Ronin Films). Sen went on to direct outstanding feature films such as BENEATH CLOUDS, TOOMELAH (available from Ronin), MYSTERY ROAD and LIMBO.

VIEW TRAILER HERE; vimeo.com/813427066

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Director - Ivan Sen
Producer - Citt Williams
Writers - Tom E. Lewis  & Fleur Parry
Photography - Ivan Sen
Editor - Alison McSkimming Croft
Sound recordist - Kuji Jenkins
Music - Alister Spence

A CAAMA Production

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• preview Click here to download YELLOW FELLA study guide (PDF 335.2 kb)