First Nations (11/14)

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,

SAMMY BUTCHER: Out of the Shadows [from the CAAMA Collection]

2004 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 24 min

A portrait of Sammy Butcher [Warumpi Band], one of the leading figures in the contemporary Indigenous music scene. more

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SATELLITE DREAMING [from the CAAMA Collection]

1991 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 52 min

A film of considerable historic importance, this documentary narrates the emergence of Indigenous media in Australia, and discusses its role in preserving Indigenous languages and culture. more

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SECRET AND SACRED

2008 (G) 53 min

A documentary detailing the anthropological and historical story of the Badtjala people of the Hervey Bay and Fraser (K'Gari) Island region. more

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SERPENT AND THE CROSS, THE

1991 (G) 55 min

In several outback Australian communities Aboriginal artists are consciously seeking an expression that builds bridges between Aboriginal spirituality (the Dreaming) and the Christian religion of their invaders. A look at these artists' thinking and dreaming which provides a rich, privileged look at the artwork, beautifully... more

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SHADOW PANIC

1989/2020 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 25 min

The feminist classic from 1989, now restored from original 16mm film materials. An innovative film by Margot Nash (director of VACANT POSSESSION and THE SILENCES) based on "the idea of structuring a film via the female gaze". more

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SKIN OF OTHERS, THE

2020 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 91 min

A story of modern Australia told through the extraordinary life of Aboriginal WW1 soldier Douglas Grant (c.1885-1951), an intellectual, a journalist, a soldier and a bagpipe player with a fine Scottish accent. Featuring the acclaimed Indigenous actor Balang Tom E. Lewis in his final performance (as Douglas Grant) and guest... more

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SOMETHING OF THE TIMES [from the AIATSIS Collection]

1985 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 41 min

The story of Aboriginal and white buffalo hunters in the remote wetlands of the Northern Territory in the 1930s. more

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SONS OF NAMATJIRA [from the AIATSIS Collection]

1975 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 47 min

A group of celebrated Aboriginal artists and their relationship with the outside world. more

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SPEAR IN THE STONE [from the AIATSIS Collection]

1983 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 34 min

An age-old tradition of making spear-heads from special stones in Arnhem Land. more

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SPECIAL TREATMENT- Locking Up Aboriginal Children

1991 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 56 min

Australia imprisons almost as many black children as are imprisoned in South Africa. Today 45% of all juveniles in NSW jails are Aboriginal, though they form less than 2% of the population. Made by a crew of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal Australians, this documentary asks why police are under-using alternative procedures... more

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SPIRITS OF TASI TOLU, THE

2025 (M) 29 min

THE SPIRITS OF TASI TOLU investigates the impact of a controversial tourism development in Tasi Tolu, the site of a series of massacres during Indonesia's occupation of Timor-Leste (1975-1999). more

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STILL OUR COUNTRY

2015 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 88 min

A poetic celebration of country and culture, Still Our Country documents the swiftly changing lives of the Yolngu people of Ramingining in the Northern Territory. This evocative carnival of images and sounds makes a bold declaration of identity and offers a hopeful promise of a future. more

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STOCKMAN'S STRATEGY [from the AIATSIS Collection]

1984 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 51 min

An insight into the transfer of knowledge and experience on the Collum Collum cattle station in north-eastern New South Wales. more

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STOLEN GENERATIONS

2000 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 52 min

The removal of Aboriginal children in Australia was a deliberate government policy and forms part of the history of dispossession of the country's original inhabitants. Every Aboriginal family in Australia has directly or indirectly been affected and the effects have lasted over generations. Many have called this genocide. more

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STONE COUNTRY

2006 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 26 min

Stone Country is a snapshot of a remote Indigenous community of Ngukurr in northern Australia. more

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STRONG MEN OF NGUIU

2007 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 24 min

Nguiu (known as Wurrumiyanga today) is a community on Bathurst Island, Northern Territory. There the "strong men" have been striving to restore cultural traditions among the youth on the island. Leading by example, they are steering the next generation away from substance abuse and crime to become leaders of tomorrow. more

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SUNNY AND THE DARK HORSE [from the AIATSIS Collection]

1987 (PG) 86 min

Country folk know of pleasures that townsfolk never know ... The story of an Aboriginal stockman and his family and their growing passion for "picnic racing" on bush tracks in New South Wales. more

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SUNSET TO SUNRISE [from the CAAMA Collection]

2006 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 24 min

By the light of a comforting campfire, Rupert Max Stuart, a 77-year old Arrernte Mat-utjarra Elder and a custodian of the Alice Springs area, offers poignant words of wisdom to a younger generation. more

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SURFING THE HEALING WAVE

1999 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 55 min

In this documentary, Kyle Slabb, a young Aboriginal surfer, takes us to the annual indigenous surfing contest at Fingal on the Northern New South Wales coast. Along the way, he offers us insights into traditional ways, dances and ceremonies and an understanding of his struggle to preserve those values in his modern life. more

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TAKEOVER [from the AIATSIS Collection]

1979 (PG) 87 min

The story of an Aboriginal community under threat from a distant bureaucracy. A film by David and Judith MacDougall. DIGITALLY RE-MASTERED FROM ORIGINAL FILM MATERIALS! more

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