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First Nations (9/13)
Films about the First Nations peoples of Australia and the Torres Strait Islands, including many films by First Nations filmmakers. Stories range across issues relating to identity and the diversity of histories and cultures both before and after the arrival of Captain Cook, including the "Stolen Generations," art, anthropology, archaeology and politics,
NOT JUST NUMBERS
2019 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 53 min
Not Just Numbers is an inspiring documentary about the Tangentyere Women's Family Safety Group in Alice Springs. They believe in talking straight about the violence in their communities and are working on the front line in prevention. So often reduced to statistics, these heroes have banded together to fight for their... more
NYIRR-MARIE [from the CAAMA Collection]
2010 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 24 min
Evelyn Hall (Nyirr-Marie), a leader of her community in the campaign for land rights, returns to her country to say goodbye for the last time. more
OCCUPATION: NATIVE
2017 (PG) 52 min
The Aboriginal story is often buried deep beneath the accepted 247-year Australian historical narrative. It's not that the Australian story is wrong, it's just that it's a wee bit one-sided. Aboriginal filmmaker Trisha Morton-Thomas, bites back at Australian history in this inspired satire. more
OCHRE AND INK
2011 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 27 min
OCHRE AND INK tells the extraordinary story of artist Zhou Xiaoping and his inspiring 23 year collaboration with Indigenous artists in the Maningrida area in the heart of Arnhem Land, Northern Territory. A film by James Bradley, with co-producer Rachel Clements. more
OLD MAN AND THE INLAND SEA, THE [from the CAAMA Collection]
2005 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 20 min
Norman Hayes Jagamarra gives us a unique Aboriginal perspective on greed, alcohol and the importance of maintaining your pride and self-sufficiency through a working life. more
ON THE EDGE
2010 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 338 min
Over a two month period, a group of Indigenous teenagers take a physical, emotional and spiritual journey to discover who they are. It's an emotional roller-coaster ride with the group dynamics that constantly change. Featuring the work of mentor Fran Dobbie. more
OONDOORRD: Married Turtle [from the CAAMA Collection]
2009 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 22 min
The hunt for the special Oondoorrd or female turtle in the mating season, in the ocean off the West Kimberley region of Western Australia. more
OUR COMMUNITY
2006 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 24 min
An exploration of the concept of 'community' in the far northwest of NSW - an intimate expedition through the townships of WALGETT, LIGHTNING RIDGE and SHEEPYARD. more
OVER THE EDGE
2015 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 56 min
Teenagers in the series ON THE EDGE reunite 5 years later as young adults facing a turbulent world. This film explores how their choices have determined their present circumstances. Some are working, some in jail, and three are parents. Every one of them is living an extraordinary life and coming to terms with their world. more
PANTHER WITHIN, THE
2016 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 54 min
Filmmaker Edoardo Crismani and his mother Barbara embark on a search to unravel the mystery surrounding Barbara's father, Joe Murray, an Indigenous boxing champion who danced and sang in vaudeville shows, and married a blue-eyed blonde white woman in 1930s Australia. more
PEACE PILGRIMS
2021 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 28 min
In September 2015, five peace activists penetrated the 'Joint Facility' Pine Gap, just outside Alice Springs to protest and lament victims of American drone strikes. They were arrested and faced 7 years jail. A documentary by John Hughes, based on Peace Crimes, Kieran Finnane (UQP 2020) more
PETYARRE and ATNANGKERE (Our Cave) (From the CAAMA Collection)
2016-7 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 40 min
Two related short documentaries by Viviana Petyarre, featuring artist Gloria Petyarre and her family's search for a cave to which they are culturally connected. For millennia, the Atnangkere Cave has been a Dreaming centrepiece for the Alyawarre people of Atneltye (Boundary Bore), Utopia, north of Alice Springs in central... more
PIONEERS OF LOVE
2005 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 110 min
An epic story of Immigrant and Indigenous experiences in far north Queensland spanning across the 20th century. more
PITJIRI: The Snake That Will Not Sink
1986 (G) 48 min
In 1936 on a remote outpost in the Northern Territory, nine Aboriginal Elders appeared before Ruth Heathcock, who they believed was a member of their tribe before the Dreaming. Fifty years later, Sister Ruth returns and describes the psychic phenomena that she experienced and how this changed her perception of the human... more
PLEAD GUILTY, GET A BOND
1991 (G) 30 min
A young Aboriginal woman has been charged with wounding her husband during a domestic argument. It is expected by all concerned that she will simply plead guilty and receive a good behaviour bond. The inexperienced legal aid lawyer is outraged by this expectations and persuades Amy to plead her innocence. more
PORTRAITS OF US
2021 (PG) 82 min
An intimate portrait of the life and work of iconoclastic New Zealand artist Geoff Dixon. See GEOFF DIXON - PORTRAITS OF US: more
PRISON SONGS
2015 (M) 56 min
The inmates of a Darwin prison are shown in a new light in Australia's first documentary musical. Incarcerated in tropical Northern Territory, over 800 inmates squeeze into the overcrowded spaces of Berrimah Prison, and share their experiences in the most extraordinary way – through song. more
PUTUPARRI and the Rainmakers
2015 (M) 97 min
Against the backdrop of Australia's tangled colonial and Indigenous history, Putuparri and the Rainmakers explores one man's struggle to fulfill his destiny. more
QUEST OF JIMMY PIKE, THE
1989 (G) 51 min
Jimmy Pike lives an extraordinary and idyllic life hunting and painting in a harsh and primitive environment in the Great Sandy Desert. He first learnt to paint whilst in prison serving a life sentence for murder. As a young boy, he had come out of the Great Sandy Desert and saw white men for the first time. Now he wants... more
REDFERN STORY, THE
2014 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 57 min
In Redfern, in inner Sydney, a group of determined visionaries pioneered the National Black Theatre at a turbulent time for Indigenous politics in the 1970s. The Theatre left a lasting legacy on national politics, social welfare and the Australian arts scene. more