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RINGY'S RAMBLINGS: Talking ‘bout Our Generation
Issue 198 - 01 Apr 2010
ISSUE 198, April 1, 2010: In Darwin’s beachside suburb of Nightcliff, GRAHAM RING stumbles onto a preview of a film which looks set to snowball into a “people power” demand for Indigenous justice.
A couple of weeks ago Ramblings journeyed into the suburbs of Darwin to see a film at a community hall.
It was one of those older style Top End places, with walls full of louvres, and ceiling fans rotating at helicopter speed.
A small projection screen was perched on a wall in front of rows of plastic chairs.
The preview screening had been hastily arranged with only a few days notice, so we thought we’d wander across and help to make the place look a little bit less empty.
As it turned out, our concerns couldn’t have been more comprehensively misplaced.
Well before the advertised screening time all the seats had been snaffled. The waves of punters who continued to arrive took positions on the floor at the front of the hall. Those who followed them squatted in the aisles.
So we moved the seats back to create more room at the front, and when this too was filled, people stood outside the hall to watch through the windows.
It’s wet season in Darwin, and being jammed together in brutal humidity could have been cause for complaint. But no one seemed to mind.
Our Generation is a film punctuated by occasional flashes of anger.
There are also poignant moments of sadness, as well as joyful demonstrations of the indomitable spirit of the Yolngu kids, who are the bright-eyed warriors of tomorrow.
The happy ending is in the resilience of a great culture, and the tantalizing possibility of Australians, black and white, coming together to get justice done.
Sinem Saban, who is making the film with her partner Damien Curtis, became captivated by the stories of the American civil rights movement at an early age, and developed a taste for the heady brew of social justice.
At university in Melbourne, she achieved outstanding academic results in her Aboriginal Studies course, only to receive the ego-bruising advice from her lecturer that she “didn’t really know anything”.
Such is the gulf between academic study and harsh reality.
Undeterred, Saban travelled to Darwin in 2000 to undertake a Diploma of Education, and ventured from there out to Yirrkala School in East Arnhem Land, where she met and befriended Yolngu people - and recognised the wisdom of her lecturer’s harsh observation.
Saban recalls her concerns at attempts by the Australian Government to coerce bush communities into signing 99-year leases in return for the provision of the kind of basic services that are taken for granted in most parts of the country.
The mid-2007 announcement of the “federal intervention” was a further trigger in her decision to make a film highlighting the injustices meted out to Aboriginal people in Australia.
Saban speaks of “changing people through the heart rather than the head”.
It’s no surprise then that the film is significantly about Yolngu describing, quietly but firmly, the circumstances of their lives.
Far from being a political harangue, the film is a relatively gentle statement about how Aboriginal people have been failed by politicians and policy makers.
The filmmakers are passionate about getting the message through to the mainstream.
They say that the fight for Indigenous justice is often misrepresented as a battle being fought only by alternative lifestyle types and left-wing extremists.
While quick to acknowledge the work of front-line activists, Saban and Curtis suggest that there is a groundswell of support from a much broader cross-section of the community for a fair go for Aboriginal Australians.
They speak of the importance of “inspiring people” rather than just mounting the intellectual arguments, and they have enlisted some heavy-duty help in this endeavour.
The film features a stellar soundtrack from Australian music legends like Yothu Yindi, Archie Roach and the Goanna Band.
The gifted John Butler, a strong supporter of the project, has also donated an unreleased song called Revolution from his new album.
The plan is to launch the film with a national tour, where screenings will hopefully be preceded by performances from guest musicians, and followed by the opportunity for audience members to participate in a question and answer session with Yolngu elders.
This independent film is being made for the sort of money big-budget productions spend on catering.
Its success will depend on the generosity of its sponsors, most of whom are anything but wealthy.
That said, there is something magical about a project that is sustained by little donations from “little people”.
The website at www.ourgeneration.org.au features a trailer of the film, acknowledges those who have helped already, and concedes that the film can’t be finished without a modest amount of further sponsorship.
Ramblings recommends that you check it out.
ringy@nit.com.au
*Graham Ring is a fortnightly NIT columnist and writer based in Darwin. His last NIT feature was on Aboriginal incarceration in the NT.
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