Classic Cinemas

Spotlights ground-breaking films from CAAMA Productions and its trailblazing filmmakers

Since its inception, CAAMA Productions has played an instrumental role in developing and supporting the careers of many of Australia’s most celebrated Indigenous filmmakers.

Cinema Reborn will present a selection of four short films to pay homage to the work of CAAMA Productions, and to celebrate the Media Association’s powerful use of film and broadcast media to empower Indigenous voices and sustain Indigenous Language and Culture in Central Australia. The program will include Warwick Thornton’s award-winning short drama, Green Bush (2005), Dena Curtis’ observational documentary, Eight Ladies (2010), Danielle MacLean’s impressionistic drama, My Colour, Your Kind (1998) and David Tranter’s atmospheric documentary, Willaberta Jack (2007).

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are advised that these films contain the images and voices of the deceased.

Green Bush (2005) Directed by Warwick Thornton

Every night, Indigenous radio announcer and DJ, Kenny hosts the Green Bush show. Isolated at the station, he takes requests for music, while at the same time coping with the pressure of the community around him. Based on his own experiences as a radio DJ in Alice Springs in central Australia, Warwick Thornton made an international impact with this graceful and powerful short drama. (Notes: Ronin Films

Eight Ladies (2010) Directed by Dena Curtis

Eight Ladies follows eight women from Alyawarr Country in the Sandover River region in central Australia on a five-day journey into the bush to hunt echidna and gather bush foods. As the women hunt together and sit around their campfire at night preparing the food, they talk about the old days and how life has changed. Filmed in an observational style, this gentle and reflective film is a moving revelation of the women's sense of relaxed oneness with their Country. (Ronin Films)

My Colour, Your Kind (1998) Directed by Danielle MacLean

In a sequence of simple, emotionally charged scenes, My Colour, Your Kind gives a powerful, impressionistic insight into the feelings of alienation experienced by a teenage albino Aboriginal girl. In a convent boarding school in Alice Springs, she is misunderstood and bullied by a severe, unloving nun. She escapes in dreams and eventually in reality to her mother where she feels at peace. (Ronin Films)

WILLABERTA JAC (2007) Directed by David Tranter

The short film that was later expanded into a screenplay for award-winning feature film Sweet Country (2017), Willaberta Jack is the extraordinary story of the largest manhunt ever to take place in the Northern Territory. Set in 1929, Aboriginal man Willaberta Jack runs for his life, pursued by the law of the day. A riveting and atmospheric account of the harshness of outback life and of the perils of being a black man who challenged the white man’s dominance. (CAAMA and Ronin Films.)

To read Phillip Batty's detailed notes on the films, click here.