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Dance (1/2)
Dance and dancers, from traditional ballet to modern dance, profiling individual dance performers, and including historical and contemporary stories about Indigenous dance in Australia.
BUTOH: Piercing the Mask
1991 (PG) 49 min
This documentary pierces the mystery and mystique of a dance movement adored by the West and largely ignored by the Japanese. It uses archival and modern footage of leading Butoh performers and interviews Butoh specialists to throw light on the essential Butoh themes of darkness, violence and eroticism to get to the core... more
COOLBAROO CLUB, THE
1996 (G) 55 min
A portrait of the Coolbaroo Club, an Aboriginal-run dance club which operated in Perth from 1946 - 1960. The film is delivered via the memories of those involved, stills, archive and extensive dramatisation. An award-winning documentary on post-war race relations in Australia. more
DANCE ON YOUR LAND
1991 (G) 28 min
In 1988 fifty Aboriginal people from Mornington Island and Borroloola made an 8000km journey to 15 communities in the remote Kimberley Region of WA over a 5 week period. The aim of the journey was to strengthen Aboriginal cultural identity through performances of dance and song which carry the stories that are unique to... more
ETCHED IN BONE
2018 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 73 min
When the Smithsonian Institution in Washington DC agrees to repatriate stolen human bones from northern Australia, an Aboriginal elder creates a ceremony that restores his ancestors' spirits to their homeland. more
GOODBYE OLD MAN
1977 (G) 66 min
At the request of a dying Tiwi man and his family on Melville Island, this film was made of the pukumani (bereavement) ceremony to follow his death. A film by David MacDougall. more
![GOOD-BYE OLD MAN [from the AIATSIS Collection]](/images/small/7348.jpg)
GOOD-BYE OLD MAN [from the AIATSIS Collection]
1977 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 66 min
A Tiwi Island Bereavement Ceremony. more
LIFE'S BURNING DESIRE
1992 (G) 51 min
LIFE'S BURNING DESIRE follows the rise of Paul Mercurio, the star of STRICTLY BALLROOM, as an internationally acclaimed actor, dancer and choreographer. more
![LOCKHART FESTIVAL [from the AIATSIS Collection]](/images/small/9052.jpg)
LOCKHART FESTIVAL [from the AIATSIS Collection]
1974 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 33 min
A classic documentary about an Aboriginal dance festival organised by the Lockhart River community in far north Queensland. more
![MAKE IT RIGHT! [from the AIATSIS Collection]](/images/small/10115.jpg)
MAKE IT RIGHT! [from the AIATSIS Collection]
1988 (G) 21 min
MAKE IT RIGHT! is a unique record of the landmark 1988 Barunga Festival of Aboriginal Sport and Culture at which Prime Minister Bob Hawke made commitments (unfulfilled) to negotiate a treaty with Aboriginal people. more
MY MOTHER'S VILLAGE and the Sri Lanka series
2014 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 256 min
In the late 1970s, anthropologist Sharon Bell and cinematographer Geoff Burton made three landmark documentaries about village life in Sri Lanka, observed over a two-year period, released in 1980. Decades later their son, Aaron Burton, reconnects with the communities to share experiences and aspirations with the next generation. more
NOTHING RHYMES WITH NGAPARTJI
2010 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 56 min
Acclaimed Pitjantjatjara actor, Trevor Jamieson, sets out on a daunting personal journey to bring his hit show home to country ... but can he bridge these two worlds, two languages and two cultures? 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
RED BOWMEN, THE
1978 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: PG) 58 min
The record of a ceremony called Ida which is performed every year by villagers of the Waina-Sowanda district of West Sepik Province of Papua New Guinea. A film by Chris Owen. more
RINGBALIN - BREAKING THE DROUGHT
2014 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 32 min
A powerful documentary about the healing of Australia's greatest river and its diverse peoples through ancient ceremony of culture and spirit. more
SEX, DRUGS AND STRING QUARTETS
2003 (M) 27 min
The Landau String Quartet comes together to rehearse. Each player has travelled a very different path to become a musician. In this dramatised documentary, the musicians reveal the story of that journey. more
STEPPING OUT
1981 (G) 54 min
In November 1979, forty extraordinary people took to the stage. Labelled by society as mentally handicapped, isolated and hidden away in institutions since early childhood, they came to the Sydney Opera House and gave a performance that held audiences spellbound. This film tells the joyous story of that event. more
URBAN CLAN
1997 (Classification Exempt - Ronin Recommends: G) 55 min
A documentary portrait of three brothers: choreographer Stephen Page, composer David Page, and performer Russell Page, who together form the creative core of the Bangarra Dance Theatre, one of Australia's most exciting and internationally acclaimed contemporary dance companies. more