LibGuides: First Nations Resources: DVDs

DVDs: a selection

Australian Rules
DVD 791.4372 AUS, Glen Waverley

Australian rules is the story of 16 year old Gary Black, average football player, budding wordsmith and reluctant hero. Gary helps his Australian Rules football team win the local championship by accident, but celebrations turn to violence when Gary's Aboriginal best friend, Dumby Red, is denied the "Best and fairest" medal because of the racism of local officials. After this the town is ready to explode.
Fringe Dwellers
DVD 791.4372 FRI, Glen Waverley

This film is an adaptation of the novel of the same title by Nene Gare, about the life of Aborigines in Australia, showing how they survive and ultimately triumph over their environment and enforced lifestyle.
Rabbit-Proof Fence
DVD 791.4372 RAB, Chadstone/Glen Waverley/Moorabbin

In the 1930's in outback Australia, three young Aboriginal girls are snatched from their mothers' arms in Jigalong, Western Australia and sent to a remote settlement at Moore River. Distanced from their mothers and forced to adapt to a strange new world, the girls attempt the impossible and embark on a daring escape. What ensues is an epic journey which tests the girls will to survive and their hope of finding the rabbit-proof fence to guide them home.
Samson and Delilah
DVD 791.4372 SAM, Chadstone/Glen Waverley

The world is a small place when you're Samson and Delilah - an isolated community in the Australian desert. Their silent love for each other takes them on a journey of survival. Lost, unwanted and alone, they discover that life isn't always fair but love never judges.
Satellite Boy
DVD 791.4372 SAT, Glen Waverley

Home is the abandoned outdoor cinema in the outback town of Wyndham. When it is threatened with demolition, Pete sees his world in jeopardy and sets off for the city joined by his best friend, Kalmain. The boys travel through epic and stunning Kimberley country and when they get lost in the bush, Pete has to remember some of the old Aboriginal bush skills his grandfather taught him for them to survive.
Ten Canoes
DVD 791.4372 TEN, Chadstone/Glen Waverley/Moorabbin

Ten Canoes tells the story of the people of the Arafura swamp, in their language, and is set a long time before the coming of the Balanda, as white people were known. Dayindi covets one of the wives of his older brother. To teach him the proper way, he is told a story from the mythical past, a story of wrong love, kidnapping, sorcery, bungling mayhem and revenge gone wrong.
Walkabout
DVD 791.4372 TEN, Chadstone/Glen Waverley

Nicholas Roeg's mystical masterpiece chronicles the physical, spiritual and emotional journey of a sister and brother abandoned in the harsh Australian outback. Joining an Aboriginal on his walkabout - a tribal initiation into manhood - these modern children pass from innocence into experience as they are thrust from the comforts of civilisation into the savagery of the natural world.
Sweet Country
DVD 791.4372 SWE, Moorabbin

Set in 1929 in the sparsely populated outback of the Northern Territory and based on a series of true events, it tells a harsh story against the backdrop of a divided society (between the British settlers and Aboriginal Australians) in the interwar period in Australia.

Contact
DVD 305.8991 CON, Glen Waverley

In 1964 where a group of 20 Martu women and children walked out of the Great Sandy Desert into a new universe of European modernity. The event was only captured on film because scientists were testing the Blue Streak Rocket in the desert at the time. Many of the players on both sides are alive to recreate and tell their story.
Occupation: Native
DVD 994.0049915 OCC, Glen Waverley/Moorabbin

The Aboriginal story has been buried deep beneath the 247-year-old accepted Australian narrative. Now the natives are getting all historical and Aboriginal filmmaker, Trisha Morton-Thomas, bites back at Australian history.
The Tall Man: Life in Paradise, Death in Custody
DVD 364.349915 TAL, Glen Waverley

The Tall Man is a tragic true crime story. It tells the gripping story of the trial, of the complex Senior Sergeant Chris Hurley and of the Doomadgee family as they struggle to understand what happened to their brother.
Who We Are: Brave New Clan
DVD 305.89915 WHO, Glen Waverley

Who We Are: Brave New Clan features six extraordinary young Australians who share what indigenous culture means to them today in contemporary urban Australia. From the bustling streets of Sydney to the aquamarine vistas of the Torres Strait, their stories span a diverse population across the country and yet share common themes of resilience, courage, optimism and success.
Lurugu
DVD 305.89915 LUR, Glen Waverley

Lurugu is the name of an initiation ceremony that had almost died out on Mornington Island (in the Gulf of Carpentaria in North Queensland) after mission contact during World War One. This film records the community's efforts to revive the ceremony after a lapse of 14 years.

Bush Mechanics
DVD 305.89915 BUS, Moorabbin/Glen Waverley

Off-beat, humourous series which provides anecdotes of life in the bush, and sheds light on Warlpiri life, from gathering bush tucker and living in a humpy, to football and rock an roll. In each episode, the five bush mechanics from the remote community of Yuendumu are presented with a new set of challenges - catching a car thief, getting a nephew out of jail, racing to an outback rock concert, and travelling thousands of miles to gather pearl shells for a rainmaking ceremony.
Redfern Now
DVD 791.4572 RED, Chadstone/Moorabbin

Redfern Now is a drama series that explores contemporary inner city Indigenous life. These powerful, moving, funny, and bittersweet stories centre on a diverse group of individuals, exploring their strength, flaws and resilience. Over six episodes we join the households of six different families whose lives are changed by a moment's decision, an accident, or a seemingly insignificant incident. It is a series about extraordinary events in ordinary lives.
Women of the Sun
DVD 305.489915 WOM, Moorabbin

Comprising four separate one-hour episodes, 'Women of the Sun' examines the lives of four Aboriginal women. The first story is set in the 1820s, the second the 1890s, the third the 1930s and the last the 1980s.