Message Sticks Indigenous Film Festival is presented by the Australian Film Commission’s Black Screen in association with the Sydney Opera House and Indigenous Screen Australia.

One of Australia’s most popular film festivals, Message Sticks, is heading to Perth’s Cinema Paradiso on October 6 & 7, 2007.

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It’s a FREE EVENT, which invites you to view the world through the eyes of Australian Indigenous filmmakers.

Curated by Producer Darren Dale and award-winning director Rachel Perkins, the Message Sticks Film Festival (which kicked off at the Sydney Opera House in May 2007) features the latest Indigenous shorts and documentaries from Australia.

The Perth leg of the tour will highlight WA filmmakers Glen Stasiuk, Kellie Cross and Debbie Carmody. Opening night features Footprints in the Sand, directed by Glen Stasiuk – a journey in search of the last of the Gibson Desert people who ‘came in’ from the desert in the late 1970s. Also on opening night four shorts from Bit of Black Business (BoBB) by emerging Indigenous Australian directors including WA directors Kellie Cross and Debbie Carmody’s films The Turtle and Done Dirt Cheap. Screen West contributed to the production of these two short films.

Glen Stasiuk and Kellie Cross will present and talk about their films on opening night.

On Sunday 7 October there will be three sessions including:

• Dark Science directed by Warwick Thornton and Johan Gabrielsson, which follows Swedish scientist Eric Mjoberg to the Kimberley of WA in the early 1900’s as he seeks the ‘missing link’.
• Songlines on the Seine, directed by Julie Nimmo, celebrating the inspiring collaboration of indigenous artists in the new Musee du quai Branly in Paris.
• Crocodile Dreaming a modern day, supernatural myth about two estranged brothers, played by iconic Indigenous actors David Gulpilil and Tom E. Lewis and directed by Darlene Johnson, who struggle to come to terms with their traditional roles and identities, and who are reconciled through.

The Sunday program also features nine short films from the Bit of Black Business (BoBB) collection by emerging Indigenous directors funded through the AFC’s Indigenous Branch. These extraordinary shorts, commissioned by the AFC and SBS TV, provide a powerful and insightful portrait of Indigenous Australia in the 21st century.

Amongst the BoBB films are Warwick Thornton’s Nana, about a very special nana; Jacob Nash’s Bloodlines, about finding heritage in urban Australia; Pauline Whyman’s Backseat, based on her own personal journey as a foster child meeting her biological parents for the first time.

‘The themes of this year’s Festival are wide-ranging and captivating,’ says Sally Riley, Manager of the Indigenous Branch of the Australian Film Commission (AFC). ‘The wonderful thing about Message Sticks is that you get to see what issues are at the forefront of Indigenous filmmakers minds, the things that are close to their hearts. It’s a snapshot of this point in time for us as a community,’ says Riley.

PROGRAM

Saturday 6 October

Bit of Black Business shorts:

• The Turtle (5:45)
• Done Dirt Cheap (5:45)
• Jackie Jackie (5:45)
• Nana (5:45)
• Footprints in the Sand (27:00)

Sunday 7 October – three by one hours sessions

Two Bit of Black Business shorts:

• Kwatye (5:45)
• Hush (5:45)
• Dark Science (52:00)

Four Bit of Black Business shorts:

• Custard (6:10)
• Too Late (5:45)
• Bloodlines (5:45)
• Sharpeye (5:45)
• Crocodile Dreaming (27:00)

Two Bit of Black Business shorts:

• Two Big Boys (5:45)
• Back Seat (5:45)
• Songlines to the Seine (52:00)

Entry to all screenings is free, but seating is limited to the capacity of the venue so it is advisable to be at the venue early to be admitted.

For more information visit: www.afc.gov.au/blackscreen