MEDIA RELEASE Thursday June 11, 2009
MESSAGE STICKS INDIGENOUS FILM FESTIVAL (1OTH ANNIVERSARY)
2009 NATIONAL TOUR
Takes the next wave of Black Filmmakers around the country from July to September 2009.
From Cannes to Cairns Indigenous Cinema is hot!
This year’s tour includes Warwick Thornton’s Samson & Delilah which won the Camera d’Or at the
Cannes Film Festival, 7 premieres of short films by new Indigenous directors including directorial
debuts by Deborah Mailman & Leah Purcell, and Fire Talker a new documentary about the life and
times of Charles Perkins directed by Ivan Sen.
from short film Jacob by Dena Curits
Message Sticks Indigenous Film Festival National Tour is curated by award winning filmmakers Rachel
Perkins and Darren Dale from Blackfella Films. It is the only festival in this country which is solely
committed to presenting films made by Indigenous people, and all screenings are FREE.
"The Message Sticks Indigenous Film Festival provides audiences with a fantastic opportunity to immerse
themselves for free in work from Australia's leading Indigenous filmmakers," said Sally Riley, manager of
Screen Australia's Indigenous Branch.
In addition to Warwick Thornton’s Camera d'Or-winning romance Samson & Delilah this year’s tour will
include a retrospective of his best short films including Greenbush, Mimi and the much-loved
awardwinning Nana.
Thornton has a close association with the festival with all his past short films being
screened at Message Sticks.
Ivan Sen’s latest (and rumoured to be last) documentary Fire Talker: The Life and Times of Charlie
Perkins will be another highlight of this year’s program. Sen’s exclusive use of archival footage from early
1960s to 2001 builds an intimate and honest portrait of a man’s life bound inexorably with the most
dramatic political shifts in Australian Indigenous policy.
A highlight of the festival promises to be
The New Black, a new generation of Australian
filmmakers whose work will be showcased in a series of seven 10-minutes dramas from emerging
Indigenous writers, directors and producers which had their world premiere at Sydney Opera House
Message Sticks in May.
The New Black is the latest drama initiative from the Indigenous Branch of Screen Australia and features
stories from Far North Queensland, Bourke, Alice Springs, South Coast NSW, inner west and western
Sydney The projects were financed with production support from the ABC, NSWFTO and the Pacific Film
and Television Commission.
Writer-director Adrian Wills’ beautiful film Bourke Boy follows a man (Andrew McFarlane) taking his
troubled adopted son back to his birthplace where they try to say the right words to each other before it’s
too late. Michelle Blanchard’s The Party Shoes highlights the difficult relationship between nine-year-old
Jenny and her flawed, occasionally attentive mother Patsy.
Deborah Mailman makes her directing debut with the charming Ralph, co-written with Wayne Blair.
Infatuated with Karate Kid star Ralph Macchio, 10-year-old Maddie finds out it takes more than just
dreaming to survive, it takes a friend.
Written by Angelina Hurley and directed by Leah Purcell, the funny Aunty Maggie and the
Womba
Wakgun is the tale of a hungry family, disgruntled neighbours and a rooster with attitude. Writer-director
Romaine Moreton tracks the story of a girl who sees her ancestors and her mother’s efforts to avoid
revealing the truth of the past in The Farm.
Set in the 1940s, Jacob by Dena Curtis tells how the joy of a young boy’s birth quickly disintegrates when
his obvious fair skin reveals a rape by a white man. Nia’s Melancholy is writer-director Sio
Tusafa’aaefili’s tale of a young girl’s descent into melancholy and her journey of redemption following her
sister’s suicide.
The Message Sticks National Tour is presented by Blackfella Films in association with Screen Australia
The National Film and Sound Archive, Sydney Opera House and SBS TV.
NATIONAL TOUR DATES AND VENUES
MESSAGE STICKS INDIGENOUS FILM FESTIVAL 2009
Thursday 9 July & Saturday 11 July
Monday 17 August & Tuesday 18 August
Friday 21 August & Saturday 22 August
Wednesday 26 August & Thursday 27 August
Saturday 29 August, Sunday 30 August, Monday 31 August & Tuesday 1 September
Melbourne - Bunjilaka, Aboriginal Cultural Centre at Melbourne Museum
Thursday 3 September & Friday 4 September
Sunday 6 September
Wedesday 9 & Thursday 10 September
Thursday 17 September & Friday 18 September
Wednesdsay 23 September & Thursday 24 September
Emma Collison Publicity (02) 9362 9700 / 0418 584 795 emma@emmacollison.com
BLACKFELLA FILMS
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