Film & Television with Indigenous content
192 titles - sorted alphabetically or by year prev 1 2 3 4
Film and television titles written and/or directed by a non-Indigenous person.
R (continued)
Radiance feature film – 1998
This is a rare exploration of the emotional interior lives of Indigenous women, in this case, three sisters.
Robbery Under Arms television program – 1985
Before this 1985 version there had been five attempts to tell this story, the best known being the Australian–British feature film of 1957 starring Peter Finch as Captain Starlight.
Rogue feature film – 2007
A US travel writer and a group of tourists on a boat trip in the Northern Territory are menaced by a giant crocodile.
S
Satellite Dreaming documentary – 1991
The creation of CAAMA was designed to produce media that would sustain a strong Indigenous identity with regional variations.
The Secret Life of Us – Now or Never television program – 2001
This final episode of the first season makes reference to the desirable 'trifecta’ of partner, job and home first raised in episode one but adds an unspoken fourth element – friendship.
September feature film – 2007
September is an engrossing film about the economic co-dependency between blacks and whites, made intensely dramatic and personal through the story of a friendship.
Shadow Panic short film – 1989
An experiment in structure, Shadow Panic reflects the influence at the time of French screen theorists on Australian feminist filmmaking.
A Shifting Dreaming documentary – 1982
Ray Barrett stars in this story of Indigenous and non-Indigenous relations spanning from the 1928 Coniston massacre to Land Rights hearings in 1982.
The Shiralee television program – 1987
This miniseries was made during the golden decade of television drama. Its magic lies in the chemistry of Bryan Brown and Rebecca Smart.
The Shiralee feature film – 1957
Arguably there are two major themes in Australian cinema – the problem of the landscape, and the related problem of masculinity – and both are the subject of The Shiralee.
Short Changed feature film – 1985
The script is beautifully weighted so that the political context of the film does not inhibit the personal journey of the characters.
Skippy – Be Our Guest television program – 1968
Clancy wants to make a good impression on her visiting mother. Instead, she gets lost in the bush where she is rescued by a group of Aboriginal men (played by visiting members of the Aboriginal Theatre from Yirrkala, Arnhem Land).
Smiley feature film – 1956
A mischievous boy in a small town tries to reform himself, in order to earn a bicycle.
Snakes and Ladders documentary – 1987
An account of the achievements and setbacks of a ‘shifting landscape’ as Australian women attempt to gain equality in education in the 20th century.
The Squatter’s Daughter feature film – 1933
Flammable nitrate film fed the fires in the spectacular bushfire finale to Ken G Hall’s The Squatter’s Daughter. The fires rapidly got out of control during filming but no one was hurt.
State of Shock documentary – 1991
Alcoholic Alwyn Peter traces the events in his life – dysfunction experienced by an Indigenous family within a frame of dispossession and loss of cultural practice.
Storm Boy feature film – 1976
Seamlessly woven into this story about one boy’s love of a pelican, are such themes as race relations, ecology, and family breakdown.
Strangers in Paradise documentary – 1989
On the eve of bicentennial celebrations, Strangers in Paradise looks at Australian culture through the eyes of tourists on a ‘Dreamtime’ tour.
The Sundowners feature film – 1960
The Sundowners is remarkable for the number of Australian actors it showcases. Chips Rafferty plays Quinlan, the contractor at an outback shearing station.
Sunshine Sally feature film – 1922
The working-class Sally falls in love with the adopted son of wealthy parents from whom she was kidnapped as a child.
T
Ten Canoes feature film – 2006
The jumping-off point for Ten Canoes was a 1930s photo of Indigenous people taken by anthropologist Donald Thomson.
Thanks Girls and Goodbye documentary – 1988
Thanks Girls and Goodbye is not just a 'feel good’ nostalgia film. It explores how the Women’s Land Army was exploited during the Second World War.
Through the Centre sponsored film – 1940
The Indian camel trader and the Japanese pearl diver become part of the film’s projection of the exotic within the expansive space of the Australian outback.
Thursday Island and Merauke, Dutch New Guinea historical – c1925
The cast and crew of Frank Hurley’s feature-length dramas, The Hound of the Deep (1926) and The Jungle Woman (1926), explore the culture and environment of their island locations.
The Time Guardian feature film – 1987
The Time Guardian is one of the great missed opportunities of Australian cinema and symbolic of its wavering fortunes in the 1980s.
Torres Strait Islanders historical – 1898
A national treasure: the oldest film made of Torres Strait Islanders and of Aboriginal people. This film deserves national and international cultural icon status.
Touch the Sun – Top Enders television program – 1988
This lovely production captures the exotic frontier feel of Darwin, as it explores human survival and the challenges and rewards of family relationships and friendship.
Tuckson documentary – 1988
Examines the life and work of little-known but important artist Tony Tuckson, a 'decisive, ethical, hard-painting, hard-drinking, Craven A smoking artist’.
Two Laws documentary – 1981
The concept of two laws – colonial and Indigenous law – can also be spoken about as two ways of storytelling or filmmaking.
U
Uncivilised feature film – 1936
Uncivilised is basically an Australian Tarzan, but with an English singer, Dennis Hoey, playing the king of the jungle.
V
Vacant Possession feature film – 1994
Margot Nash’s ambitious feature debut has a strong political basis, but it’s ultimately a very personal story.
W
Wake in Fright feature film – 1971
A young schoolteacher loses all his money in an outback two-up game, while en route to Sydney. In the next two days he loses a lot more – self-respect, inhibitions, almost his life.
Walkabout feature film – 1970
A 16-year-old English girl and her 8-year-old brother are stranded in the desert, after their father shoots himself. They are rescued by a young tribal Aborigine.
Wambidgee television program – 1962
An early children’s animated puppet series about the adventures of a young Aboriginal boy living in the bush.
Wandjina! – Episode 5 television program – 1966
Strange events occur when people search for two boys missing in the bush.
Water Rats – Goes With the Territory television program – 1999
This episode marks the introduction of Steve Bisley’s character to the long-running crime drama. Of note is the economy with which this major change in cast is addressed.
We Can Be Heroes – Episode 3 television program – 2005
Chris Lilley’s mockumentary follows five very different nominees for the Australian of the Year award in the lead-up to the event.
We of the Never Never feature film – 1982
Race relations is the theme that is constantly lurking in this story about one woman’s life on an outback station.
Whiteys Like Us documentary – 1999
Reconciliation Learning Circles were introduced across Australia in 1991 with the aim of improving relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
Wildside – Series 1 Episode 1 television program – 1997
The raw style of Wildside is characterised by intense, semi-improvised performances, observational camerawork and sometimes frenetic editing.
Women of the Sun television program – 1982
The colonisation of Aboriginal peoples, and their lands and resources, as seen through the eyes of four generations of Aboriginal women.
Wrong Side of the Road feature film – 1981
Most black bands before this were playing country and western – Us Mob, Coloured Stone and No Fixed Address were among the first to play rock or reggae.
