Image from Killer Native via miff.com.au
Dark Place is an anthology of short, horror films by Australian Indigenous filmmakers and it’s an indictment of Australia that they don’t need to exaggerate reality much for it to be horror. Continue reading
Image via miff.com.au
“Compromise is part of being colonial. You have to compromise to survive.” This underlying message, spoken by filmmaker and director Hepi Mita’s mum, Merata Mita, plays out in this lovingly constructed homage to whanau (family), Maori culture and Merata. Continue reading
Image via miff.com.au
I can’t get this film by Jennifer Kent (The Babadook) out of my head. I went to it with some trepidation after tales of mass walkouts at the Sydney Film Festival. Continue reading
Image via miff.com.au
I loved Maya Newell’s Gayby Baby (2015). She has a knack of removing herself from the frame and immersing us in the intimate world of family. It can seem like a commonplace tale until you slowly realise that she is personalising key social concerns, allowing us a window into the impact of prejudice, racism and institutionalised apathy. Continue reading
Image via http://www.lonelyplanet.com
The film that should have won the best picture Oscar, Alfonso Cuarón’s sublime meditation on the life of an indigenous maid in 1970s Mexico city is filmmaking at its best. Continue reading
Image via miff.com.au
Unrolling like a gentle dream, Beatriz Seigner’s Los Silencios takes the serious subject of the displacement of Colombian refugees and tells it in a lyrical and ethereal way. Continue reading
Image via miff.com.au
This Kiwi creation takes you into the world of aspiring rugby player 18-year-old Hemi. His dream to play for New Zealand is tempered by a need for him to be able to connect with his Maori culture and fully understand and engage with the Haka before he can be ready for such a step. Continue reading
Image via miff.com.au
This 20 minute Virtual Reality short takes you on a journey of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander dance. Continue reading
Image via miff.com.au
Sparse and visually poetic, Milko Lazarov’s Ága immerses us in the spartan life of elderly Yakut reindeer herders, Nanook (Mikhail Aprosimov) and Sedna (Feodosia Ivanova), living a harsh and contented life in the Siberian tundra. Continue reading
Image via http://www.if.com.au
I like Warwick Thornton’s vision. It is an uncomfortable one for a non-Indigenous person like myself but his film should be obligatory viewing for all of us. Continue reading
