CAAMA Collection (2/3)

Ronin Films is very pleased to be working in association with CAAMA Productions to promote and market their outstanding catalogue of documentaries and dramas on Indigenous subjects.

Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) is an organisation founded in 1980, and owned by the Indigenous peoples of Central Australia. It is dedicated to the social, cultural and economic advancement of Indigenous peoples, and accordingly it has a mandate to promote Indigenous culture, language, dance, and music while generating economic benefits in the form of training and employment. The Association is responsible for a diverse range of media products that engender pride in Indigenous culture, and informs and educates the wider community of the richness and diversity of the Indigenous peoples of Australia.

CAAMA Productions is the largest Indigenous production house in Australia. The company is based in Alice Springs and was established by the CAAMA Group in 1988, to perform the function of a commercial film and television production house for the newly established Imparja Television, a remote area commercial broadcast service, also based in Alice Springs. As a professional film, television and creative facility, CAAMA Productions supports Indigenous producers, directors, camera crews and editors and has close ties with local Indigenous peoples and communities.


The successful documentary series, NGANAMPA ANWERNEKENHE is a collaboration between CAAMA Productions and Imparja Television, and between 4 and 6 short documentaries were made annually for the series over many years. This remarkable series, which celebrated its 21st birthday in 2008, served as a showcase for Indigenous filmmaking talent, with contributions from such filmmakers as Warwick Thornton, Ivan Sen, Beck Cole and Priscilla Collins.

CAAMA Productions has produced documentaries for national and overseas networks including the Seven and Nine Networks, the ABC, SBS, National Geographic, Channel 4 and CBC.

CAAMA has also collaborated on numerous feature films by Indigenous directors, including Warwick Thornton's first feature, the award-winning SAMSON AND DELILAH.

"I have often argued that these CAAMA titles represent the most exciting body of documentary filmmaking in Australia over the last few years. It's a body of work that has emerged from a unique collaborative production base with filmmakers working on each other's productions, and a cultural ethos that differs remarkably from the aesthetics that drive TV documentary elsewhere. Here we have films that are character-driven and content-driven, in a style that is simple and clear, embodying respect for Elders and their stories, and allowing them time to speak in their own way, in their own language, and in their own time.

"The films have a distinctive social function that ties them strongly to the community and gives them an importance that is far removed from the ephemeral "entertainment" nature of much TV documentary made elsewhere.

"In fact, if there are academics reading this note, I'd love to see a post-grad scholar somewhere taking up this collection as the focus for a serious study of their unique style and content: such a study would have wide relevance in documenting a viable model of documentary production that has lasting social and cultural relevance". - Andrew Pike, April 2013