Indigenous Film & Television
153 titles - sorted alphabetically or by year prev 1 2 3
Film and television titles written and directed by an Indigenous person.
M (continued)
My Brother Vinnie documentary – 2006
When Vinnie made actor Aaron Pedersen his carer, he saw something in Aaron that Aaron himself could not understand.
My Mother My Son short film – 2000
The pain experienced by three generations of a family as the cycle of separation of mother from child repeats itself.
My Mother’s Country Part 1 documentary – 2001
Oral history is an important feature of Indigenous culture. The stories told by family members give the Coniston massacre of 1928 a human face.
My Mother’s Country Part 2 documentary – 2001
Japanangka’s act of retaliation for the theft of his wife sparked one of the last-known massacres of Aboriginal people in Australian history.
My Survival as an Aboriginal documentary – 1978
The first documentary directed by an Indigenous woman offers a solution by way of continuing cultural practice.
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Narbalek documentary – 2001
Narbalek is one of more than 100 documentaries made in the Nganampa Anwernekenhe Series, designed primarily for Indigenous audiences.
Nice Coloured Girls short film – 1987
The tongue-in-cheek title of Tracey Moffatt’s first film positions Aboriginal women as naïve and 'nice’ but these are merely roles played by the women.
Night Cries: A Rural Tragedy short film – 1989
Tracey Moffatt continues to challenge the social construction of Aboriginality and how it is viewed nationally and internationally. Night Cries is a possible sequel to Jedda.
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The Old Man and the Inland Sea documentary – 2005
Warwick Thornton’s documentary about a 'noodler’ on the mining fields of Coober Pedy and the sense of community he shared with Indigenous people whilst doing this work.
One Night the Moon feature film – 2001
One Night the Moon, from director Rachel Perkins, reintroduces song into the Australian landscape. For Indigenous peoples, song has been one of the central means of land management.
One People Sing Freedom television program – 1988
One People Sing Freedom documents the largest gathering of Indigenous people since 1788, a protest march against the Bicentennial celebrations of 26 January 1988.
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Pioneers of Love documentary – 2005
The relationship between a Russian immigrant and a Ngadjonji woman in the late 1800s was considered an act of immorality.
Plains Empty short film – 2005
Plains Empty functions as a metaphor for the whole Australian landscape, where the living characters are beset by the spirits of the past, and at no time is the past truly absent.
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Queen of Hearts short feature – 2003
Framed by Indigenous relationships to place, Queen of Hearts offers the audience the chance to see the land through the eyes of people to whom the land is of great significance.
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Redfern Beach short film – 2001
Redfern Beach is a love story between two people from different cultural backgrounds, set in a fish-processing factory.
River of No Return documentary – 2008
A thought-provoking film that explores the issues involved in living a traditional lifestyle while trying to gain access to the larger, dominant society.
Road short film – 2000
A film that emphasises the strangeness of the city, where a black fella has a hard time getting a cab, and more often than not, anything can happen.
Rosie documentary – 2004
Rosie, a member of the Stolen Generations, started to search for her parents because ‘part of me was still missing’.
Rydin’ Time documentary – 2005
This documentary about three Indigenous rodeo riders at the 2005 Mt Isa Rodeo has an energetic soundtrack that creates a youthful, lively narrative true to its subjects.
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Sa Black Thing short film – 2005
This romantic comedy explores the role that cultural values play in the romance between two Indigenous characters.
Sammy Butcher, Out of the Shadows documentary – 2004
Musician Sammy Butcher played with the Warumpi Band and now invests his energy in young musicians in his community of Papunya.
Samson and Delilah feature film – 2009
A heartbreaking and thought-provoking film about two Indigenous teenagers growing up in central Australia.
Saturday Night, Sunday Morning short film – 1999
The film offers few answers or a resolution and presents a possibility of characters trapped in an experience from which all are seeking liberation.
Shifting Sands – Grace short film – 1998
This short drama from Wesley Enoch depicts the emotional journey of an Indigenous woman back to Australia for the funeral of her sister.
Shifting Sands – My Bed Your Bed short film – 1998
This short romantic drama from Erica Glynn uses the power of silence to communicate the tension between two characters who have been promised to each other.
Shifting Sands – Passing Through short film – 1998
A directorial debut from filmmaker and celebrity chef Mark Olive, Passing Through weaves myth and legend to tell an Indigenous-flavoured ghost story.
Shifting Sands – Promise short film – 1997
This is essentially a love story told in the absence of the love interest – grandfather – that resonates as one of those moments that are a cherished memory.
Shifting Sands – Tears short film – 1997
Tears introduces the two main characters from Ivan Sen’s feature film Beneath Clouds, and also presents the elements that shape his later feature.
Shifting Shelter 3 documentary – 2005
Shot over a ten-year period, and reminiscent of the British 7 Up series, Shifting Shelter follows four Indigenous teens into young adulthood.
Shit Skin short film – 2002
This beautiful short drama tells of a young man who takes his grandmother back to the place of her childhood to reconnect with her surviving family.
Smoking the Baby documentary – 2001
Smoking the Baby demonstrates an Indigenous ritual that helps children and mothers fend off illness.
Snake Dreaming short film – 2002
A short drama written and performed by Indigenous children about the Stolen Generations. It won Best Indigenous Film at the Alice Springs Youth Festival in 2002.
Stolen Generations documentary – 2000
Describes the destruction of the familial, cultural and social fabric of Indigenous communities following the removal of children form Indigenous families.
Stone Bros. feature film – 2009
A fun-loving road movie about two cousins who travel home to Kalgoorlie from Perth to fulfil an obligation they’d made to their uncle.
Sunset to Sunrise (ingwartentyele – arrerlkeme) documentary – 2006
A yarn told by Rupert Max Stuart, an Arrernte and Mu-tujulu Elder, encapsualing his philosophies about passing culture on and keeping it alive.
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Teddy Briscoe documentary – 2000
Indigenous stockman Teddy Briscoe, now an old man, tells his story, sharing the historical importance of men like him to the Australian cattle industry.
Time Bomb documentary – 2003
A time bomb’ is how Frank Djara, a diabetic and the first male health worker in Areyonga, refers to living with diabetes.
Tnorala: Baby Falling documentary – 2007
An ancient central Australian dreaming story about the formation of a large meteorite crater in the Northern Territory.
Tombstone Unveiling documentary – 2000
In Torres Strait Islander culture, unveiling the tombstone of the deceased a year after death marks the end of the mourning period.
Toomelah feature film – 2011
A hard-hitting film about the impact of poverty, drugs and alcohol on the life of a young boy living in an Aboriginal community.
Trespass documentary – 2002
Trespass revisits the Mirarr people’s fight against the uranium mines in Jabiluka. Yvonne Margarula is arrested for walking on her own land.
Turn Around short film – 2002
Director Samantha Saunders refers to her film as a 'girl fantasy’ and it is refreshing to have an all-Indigenous cast in a romantic comedy.
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Us Deadly Mob documentary – 2005
A 'surf family story’ featuring Amber Mercy, who describes Indigenous surfing competitions as ‘sharing waves and laughing’.
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Vanish documentary – 1998
Ivan Sen’s Vanish explores the history of the Gamilaroi people being moved onto Toomelah Reserve.
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A Walk with Words: The Poetry of Romaine Moreton short film – 2000
This short biographical film showcases the life and poetry of performance artist Romaine Moreton and her struggles to gain freedom.
Warlpiri documentary – 1993
Elders teach children how to collect and prepare bush potato – a bush tucker favourite.
Warren H Williams, the stories, the songs documentary – 2004
Inspired by his musical family, Arrernte musician Warren H Williams became a singer-songwriter himself.
Whispering in Our Hearts documentary – 2001
Remembering those who were murdered in the 1918 massacre of Aboriginal people at Mowla Bluff is very much to do with healing.
Willaberta Jack documentary – 2007
Willaberta Jack and Harry Henty on the record, recalling an incident that occurred almost a century ago.
Willigan’s Fitzroy documentary – 2000
In the film’s introduction we hear the director talking with Willigan as they drive through the country in a four-wheel drive vehicle, setting up a style Thornton uses throughout the film.
Wind short film – 1999
The story of a black tracker – an Indigenous man employed by whites to hunt fellow Indigenous people – and a man with loyalties divided between two cultures.
Wirriya: Small Boy documentary – 2004
A warm account of family narrated by eight-year-old Ricco, who lives with his foster mother in an Indigenous Australian town camp near Alice Springs.
Wrap Me Up in Paperbark documentary – 1999
At the heart of this documentary is the struggle to reclaim a mother’s remains and return her to the country and people from whom she was taken.
