The Australian First Nations Film Festival 2024 will take place at Eurospace (Shibuya, Tokyo) on 3 February 2024.
This one-day film festival will bring together five works created by a range of Australian Indigenous directors. This will be the first screening of these films in Japan.
The film festival will be a hybrid event, available both in-person at the venue and online (for people resident in Japan).
- About the Australian First Nations Film Festival
- Program
- Venue Tickets
- Online Tickets（https://peatix.com/event/3778545/）
- Films
About the Australian First Nations Film Festival
Australia’s First Nations Peoples – the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders – have lived in Australia for over 60,000 years and are custodians of the world’s oldest living culture.
European colonisation since the 18th century dealt a heavy blow to their way of life. Despite this, their culture has survived, and is expressed to this day through spirituality, a connection to country and a range of other artforms.
As a culture based on oral history, the growth of television into our living rooms from the 1960-70s saw the movement for Indigenous civil rights coalesce with the first attempts by Indigenous people to create their own films as a new form of expression.
The 90s saw a wave of Indigenous filmmakers come onto the space through initiatives by the Australian screen agencies, creating the surge of Indigenous filmmakers making the artform their own.. Today, Indigenous directors, such as Warwick Thornton, Rachel Perkins and Leah Purcell, are active across the world.
The Australian First Nations Film Festival brings together works created by a range of Indigenous directors. We hope that this festival is an opportunity for you to engage with the stories from First Nations people who are continuing the cultural storylines of their ancestors through the artform of light that is film.
Program on 3 February 2024
Program A
13：30-
Opening
Introductory Talk “The Magic of Australian First Nation Films” by Prof Keiji Sawada, Waseda University (language: Japanese)
“Finke: There and Back” (92 minutes)
Short film “Green Bush” (27 minutes)
Short film “My Bed Your Bed” (17 minutes)
Short film“Nulla Nulla” (6 minutes)
*There will be short breaks between films
16：50 End of Program A
Program B
17：35－
“The Drover’s Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson” (109 minutes)
Panel Discussion with Leah Purcell, Director and Bain Stewart, Producer
20：05 End of Program B
Venue Tickets
Venue： Eurospace（http://www.eurospace.co.jp）
Program A / Program B: 500 yen each (ticket issue fee, reserved seating, each ticket valid for one program only)
※Discounts not valid for this program
※Tickets will be on sale from 0.00am on Satuday 27 January on the venue webpage (reserved seating).
In-person sales will be available at the ticket box office at the venue at open-of-business on 27 January.
※Guests and programs may change without notice.
Online Tickets
The Australian First Nations Film Festival is available online.
※Free
※The online component is available only to people resident in Japan.
※Some program elements may not be available online
※Online viewing tickets will be available from 12 January on the following Peatix page: https://peatix.com/event/3778545/
Films
Finke: There and Back
2018 / 92 minutes / Australia
Director: Dylan River
Cast：David Walsh, Isaac Elliott, Daymon Stokie, Gareth ‘Scruff’ Hamill, Luke Hayes
Narration: Eric Bana
◆Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Awards (2019 Nominee for Best Cinematography in a Documentary)
◆Screen Producers Australia Awards Finalist Feature Documentary of the Year
The FINKE Desert Race follows the high-speed journey and passion of those dedicated to holding the title of ‘King of the Desert’ in this entertaining documentary.
For the riders, the spectators and the town of Alice Springs, the Finke Desert Race is more than a race.
Finke: There and Back delves below the surface to uncover what makes them tick, what drives them to put their lives on the line when they strap their helmets on.
Paraplegic Isaac Elliott is attempting to complete the race that he started a decade earlier. Scruff Hamill, who lives in a shed full of bikes in Sydney, makes the trip to tick off a bucket list event. Meanwhile, the factory race teams at the head of the field fight for pride and to be named King of the Desert.
Green Bush
Photo Credit: David Page as Kenny
2005 / 27 minutes / Australia
Director: Warwick Thornton
Cast: David Page, Ted Egan Jangala, Audrey Napanangka Martin, Leo Wayne Jampijinpa
◆Berlin International Film Festival (2005 Winner Panorama Short Film Award)
◆AFI Fest (2005 Winner Short Award)
DJ Kenny realises that his job at an Aboriginal community radio station is about more than playing music.
Local DJ Kenny realises his job at the community radio station is about more than just playing music. Kenny jokes that his Green Bush show is broadcast to a ‘captive’ audience – namely the local prison. While taking requests from those on the inside and out, Kenny has to cope with the results of a wild night outside and learn his place in the circle of violence.
Green Bush is a celebration of an era of music, working for the cause and getting things done. But not in the way you would expect.
My Bed Your Bed
1998 / 17 minutes / Australia
Director： Erica Glynn
Cast: Ursula Yovich, Trevor Jamieson
◆Best short Fiction, Dendy Awards, Sydney Film Festival 1998
◆Cork Festival, UK
This comedic love story explores a contemporary take on the Indigenous ancient ritual of promise marriage between two strangers through wordlessness and music.
In an isolated community, a man and woman are promised under the traditional laws of marriage. The time has come for Delia and Alvin to move in together. Things don’t turn out as smoothly as they might. My Bed, Your Bed explores notions of Aboriginal identity through an examination of the ways that Aboriginal people living in Central Australian bush communities adopt values from both contemporary and traditional works.
Nulla Nulla
2014 / 6 minutes / Australia
Director：Dylan River
Cast：Wayne Blair, Khan Chittenden, Audrey Martin, Pamela Sampson
◆Berlin International Film Festival (2015 Nomination for Generation 14 plus Best Short Film
◆Australian Academy of Cinema and Television Arts (AACTA) Awards (2015 Best Short Fiction Film)
Fresh out of the academy, a young white cop is exposed to the complexities of Aboriginal community life at the urging of his seasoned Aboriginal policeman counterpart.
Nulla Nulla is the story of a young white police officer's first contact with an Aboriginal community. With good intentions, his conventional approach exposes his naivety as he is confronted by two elderly nanas. The Film presents itself as light comedy with a hint of western.
The Drover's Wife The Legend of Molly Johnson
2021 / 109 minutes / Australia
Director and Writer: Leah Purcell
Producer: Bain Steward, David Jowsey, Angela Littlejohn, Greer Simpkin, Leah Purcell
Cast: Leah Purcell, Rob Collins, Sam Reid, Jessica de Gouw, Benedict Hardie
◆Asia Pacific Screen Awards (2021 Winner for Jury Grand Prize)
◆Australian Directors Guild Awards (2022 Winner for Best Direction in a Debut Feature Film)
A thrilling exploration of racism and misogyny, a lonely bush woman fights for her family and her identity as she forms an unlikely bond with a fugitive.
In 1893 on an isolated property, a heavily pregnant woman named Molly Johnson (Leah Purcell) and her children struggle to survive the harsh Australian landscape; her husband is gone, droving sheep in the high country. Molly then finds herself confronted by a shackled Aboriginal fugitive named Yadaka (Rob Collins). As an unlikely bond begins to form between them, secrets unravel about her true identity. Meanwhile, realizing Molly’s husband is missing, new town lawman Nate Clintoff becomes suspicious and sends his constable to investigate. The deadly encounter between Molly, Yadaka and the constable results in a tragic chain of events with Molly becoming a symbol of feminism and anti-racism.
Australian First Nations Film Festival 2024
Organiser:Australian Embassy Tokyo
Co-host: Eurospace
Advisors: Pauline Clague, Penny Smallacombe, Keiji Sawada, Kyoichiro Murayama, Yoshihiko Yatabe
Supported by: Jungle Music, Screen Australia
PR Design: 100KG
PR: Daifuku