Indigenous Aussies embrace filmmaking
March 10, 2006
Ninemsn, Australia
More indigenous Australians are turning to filmmaking to tell their stories, Aboriginal director Catriona McKenzie says.
McKenzie's script for Satellite Boy has been named one of five to be featured in the NSW Film and Television Office (FTO) Aurora script workshop.
"There's more awareness and more willingness to give us a go," said the Sydney-based filmmaker, who most recently directed SBS series RAN.
"A whole host of institutions are coming in and there have been a couple of waves of filmmakers coming through that."
Others involved in the Aurora scheme are Lynne Maree Danzie and Susan MacKinnon for Under The Dash; Alexandra Long, Samantha Lang and Jeremy Sims for The Roseville Story; John O'Brien, Rowan Maher and Daryl Robinson for Girl; and Karen Borger and Sarah Nicholls for Borrowed Light.
The scheme was established in 2002 with the aim of developing feature films, from script development through to production investment, by matching industry advisors with filmmaker teams at intensive workshops.
Previous films developed through the scheme include Somersault and Little Fish.
McKenzie said her script was about a young indigenous boy called Pete.
"Pete is a street kid, an orphan, and he has this dream to be an astronaut when he grows up," she said.
"It is an impossible dream but it speaks to everyone out there who has a dream ... to follow their heart."
Well-known indigenous actor Leah Purcell has also been named as one of four people to be included in the NSW FTO's new feature film writers program.
The program helps writers develop a feature film script by matching them with script advisors and providing a seven week training course.
Purcell is writing the second draft of her first feature film script, Netball.
"I write from my personal experiences," said Purcell, most recently seen in The Proposition with Guy Pearce.
"Netball was a massive thing for me. In the bush, it was something that kept us sane."
The other writers in the scheme include Claire Bonham for Get Wet, Flip Wooten for The Salesman, and Naomi Lamont for Familiar Strangers.
"We now have to fine tune our drafts to give to the FTO," said Purcell from Adelaide where she is performing in The Good Body theatre production.
"Then whatever happens. I am going to go out and start chasing some money because my dream is to get this film up."