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KULKA: The Life and Times of Gordon Briscoe

Year: 2010

Classification: Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G

Runtime: 52 min

Produced In: Australia

Directed By: Claire Haywood

Produced By: Kingston Anderson, Claire Haywood

Language: English

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The inspirational story of Dr. Gordon Briscoe's life - from his work with legendary eye doctor Fred Hollows, to his days as an activist travelling Australia and telling traditional land owners about their land rights, and everything in between.

KULKA celebrates the life and times of Dr Gordon Briscoe, AO
- a campaigner for basic human rights for Indigenous Australians, an activist, motivator, thinker, researcher, author, teacher and mentor. It is the inspirational story of an institutionalised Aboriginal person, interned in an 'alien' camp during the second World War with very little education, who struggled against the odds to achieve dignity and respect for himself and his people.

His work as co-founder of the Aboriginal Medical Service in Redfern in the 1970s led him to initiate the National Trachoma and Eye Health Program conducted by the late Professor Fred Hollows. This program opened the eyes of the world to the poverty and disease underlying the social problems of Indigenous Australians. As a Land Rights activist and the first Indigenous Australian to stand for federal parliament, Gordon travelled throughout the Northern Territory talking to communities about their rights as traditional owners.

This story of Gordon Briscoe's journey as a boy once labeled a 'ward of the state' to a man who reclaimed his traditional family and sense of cultural identity, is intensely personal and powerful, and resonates with the ongoing struggle for self-determination facing Indigenous Australians today.

KULKA is directed by Claire Haywood whose earlier film, A FRONTIER CONVERSATION, is also available on DVD from Ronin Films.

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