edna.edu.au

Indigenous film either portrays Indigenous people, issues and stories or is film made by Indigenous Australians. This page highlights some significant films and study guides where available.

Indigenous film
http://www.cultureandrecreation.gov.au/articles/indigenous/film/
This article from the Culture Portal provides a historical overview of the portrayal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders from the silent era of the 1920s to the blossoming of the Australian film industry in the 1970's to the Indigenous films of the 2000's. (see also the section on 'Bringing them Home - Stories in film' on the page on Sorry Day and the Stolen Generations  http://australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/sorry-day-stolen-generations )

Indigenous film and television
http://aso.gov.au/titles/indigenous/written-directed/
Australian Screen provides this list of film and television titles written and directed by an Indigenous person.

First Australians
http://www.sbs.com.au/firstaustralians/
The seven-part documentary series 'First Australians' chronicles the birth of contemporary Australia as never told before, from the perspective of its first people. The story begins in 1788 in Sydney, with the friendship between an Englishmen (Governor Phillip) and a warrior (Bennelong) and ends in 1993 with Koiki Mabo's legal challenge to the foundation of Australia. The SBS website provides a preview of the series, a search for people, places and events, the opportunity for Aboriginal people to upload their own story, and a video playlist.
Study guides are available for: Episode 1, Episode 2, Episode 3, Episode 4, Episode 5, Episode 6, Episode 7.

Bran Nue Dae: study guide
http://www.metromagazine.com.au/pdfs/studyguides/BranNueDae.pdf
The musical "Bran Nue Dae" reveals much about the relationship between Indigenous and non-indigenous cultures in Australia. This study guide explores many of the issues and is aimed at middle to upper secondary school levels.

Samson & Delilah: study guide
http://www.metromagazine.com.au/pdfs/studyguides/SGSamsonandDelilah.pdf
Samson & Delilah is suitable for middle and senior secondary students studying: Australian History, English, Studies of Society and Environment / Human Society and its Environment / Social Education, Indigenous Studies, Media Studies. Given the Central Australian location of the film and its remoteness to the majority of viewers geographically and personally, this study guide has been written to enhance understanding of a world that is more often than not glossed over or misconstrued or subject to sometimes reductive conclusions via newspaper and television news reports in the large cities where most Australians live.

Contact
http://www.aiatsis.gov.au/asp/aspbooks/clearedoutcontact.html
This film which explores the first contact between a group of 20 Aboriginal women and children and European Australians in the Western Desert in 1964, won the Prime Minister's Prize for Australian History 2010.

Rabbit Proof Fence: study guide
http://enhancetv.com.au/shop/product.php?productid=12653912&cat=0&page=1
This study guide is free to download but requires registration first and then add it to the shopping cart for checkout.
In addition to the specific focus on the issue of the Stolen Generation, Rabbit-Proof Fence explores themes such as Aboriginal spirituality, relationships with the land, family bonds, courage, determination and faith.
Rabbit-Proof Fence: the question of 'intent' in history
http://www.hyperhistory.org/index.php?option=displaypage&Itemid=455&op=page
This article examines the question of historical accuracy drawing on excerpts from historical documents.

Ten Canoes
http://www.tencanoes.com.au/tencanoes/
Ten Canoes: study guide
http://enhancetv.com.au/shop/product.php?productid=12667759&cat=0&page=1
This study guide is free to download but requires registration first and then add to shopping cart. Ten Canoes provides an excellent resource for studying two aspects of Indigenous culture:
1: A study of the film offers us a way of exploring the rich depiction of the traditional Indigenous culture, lifestyle and language of Arnhem Land
2: A study of the making of the film offers us a way of exploring change and continuity in that culture in modern times.
Twelve Canoes
http://www.12canoes.com.au/
Twelve canoes is a website and DVD presentation of twelve linked short audio-visual pieces, some companion short videos to these twelve stories, photographs and art pieces, that together paint a portrait of the people, history, culture and place of the Yolngu people.

Yolngu Boy
http://www.yolnguboy.com/
The story of the film 'Yolgnu Boy' is about three Yolngu teenagers caught in a collision between the brave new world of rap, football and street cred, and the oldest living culture on earth. Themes include: rites of passage, search for identity, friendship, rules and responsibilities, culture.

Kanyini: study guide
http://www.enhancetv.com.au/shop/product.php?productid=12668645&cat=0&page=3
Kanyini is a story told by an Aboriginal man, Bob Randall, who lives beside the world's greatest monolith, Uluru, in central Australia. Based on Bob's own personal journey and the wisdom he learnt from the old people living in the bush, Bob tells the tale of why Indigenous people are now struggling in a modern world and what needs to be done for them to move forward. Suitable for secondary school students. (Study guide  is free to download)

My survival as an Aboriginal
http://www.enhancetv.com.au/shop/product.php?productid=106560&cat=0&page=1
'My Survival as an Aboriginal' delves beneath surface appearances to reveal a strong resistance to assimilation and loss of identity, as the late Essie Coffey, a Muruwarri woman, takes us into the Aboriginal struggle for survival. (Study guide  is free to download)

Aunty Connie
http://aso.gov.au/titles/documentaries/aunty-connie/
Short clips from the film Aunty Connie are presented. The film uses voice-over narration, historical photographs and contemporary interviews with Aunty Connie McDonald, an Indigenous woman who was born with weak bones, and whose first steps broke both her legs. Accompanying Teachers' Notes identify and describe the educational value of topics including: overcoming hardships; legislative controls exercised by the WA Government over Indigenous people in the early to mid-1900s; the effects of osteogenesis imperfecta; changes in medical treatment; the strength of Indigenous Australian kinship systems; importance of the Royal Flying Doctor Service to remote and isolated Australian communities; Indigenous film director Ivan Sen.

Harry's War
http://aso.gov.au/titles/shorts/harrys-war/
The site provides a synopsis of the film, curator's notes, and three video clips from the film. It is the story of Harry Saunders, an Aboriginal man who fought for his country in the Second World War, hoping that fighting along side the white citizens of Australia would eventually help Indigenous people to win citizenship also.

Dream and the Dreaming: study guide
http://www.abc.net.au/programsales/studyguide/StGd_Dream_Dreaming.pdf.pdf
This documentary film focusses on a significant part of Australian history - the role of Christian missions in the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Aboriginal People in the Gibson Desert (1966)
http://dl.nfsa.gov.au/module/1198/
This digital resource includes an online video and a set of classroom activities suitable for Years 7 & 8. The film was recorded in 1966 and looks at the nomadic lives of Indigenous women in Australia's Gibson Desert.

An outback policeman's life
http://dl.nfsa.gov.au/module/1546/
This digital resource includes an online video and a set of classroom activities suitable for Years 9 & 10. This film from the 1950's looks at early outback policemen and indigenous stockman.

More free downloadable study guides are available from Metro Magazine http://www.metromagazine.com.au/studyguides/study.asp

The Black List: Film and TV projects since 1970 with Indigenous Australians in key creative roles
http://www.screenaustralia.gov.au/about_us/pub_blacklist.asp
The Black List is an important reference material on Indigenous filmmaking in Australia, cataloguing the work of Indigenous Australians with credits as producer, director, writer, or director of photography on screen productions. Listings go back as far as 1970 for feature films and telemovies, to 1980 for documentaries and mini-series, and to 1988 for shorts and series. Titles are indexed by year and by filmmaker, and the book also features a statistical summary and timeline of key titles and events. Free to download.

Looking Forward/Looking BLAK: Indigenous identity in Australian cinema
http://www.unisa.edu.au/hawkecentre/events/2011events/BAFF_forum.asp
Listen to the podcast of the forum including panel members Tom E Lewis (Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith), directors Beck Cole (Here I Am) and Rolf de Heer (Ten Canoes) and Dr Brenda Croft.  They explore, from a range of vantage points, the rapidly changing landscape of Indigenous representation and identity in Australian cinema.