Category Archives: Film

Video Culture / Museum Culture

Posted on March 30, 2014 by Will

A pair of new exhibitions opened this past week at the University of Queensland Anthropology Museum.  One extends established queries about the nature of objects stored in museums and their relationships to the people they purport to represent.  The other makes … Continue reading →

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Music of the Spinifex Country

Posted on March 16, 2014 by Will

A few weeks ago, thanks to my friends Deb and Matt, I had the chance to view Mick Angus’s 2006 film from Marcom Projects, Ooldea.  It tells the story of a collaboration between composer Iain Grandage and a group of … Continue reading →

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Gapuwiyak Calling

Posted on February 23, 2014 by Will

Save the date!  On Friday, March 14, 2014 a pair of exhibitions opens at the Anthropology Museum at the University of Queensland.  Written on the Body is curated by Waanyi artist Judy Watson and Diana Young.  But what I’m really … Continue reading →

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Redfern Revisited

Posted on January 26, 2014 by Will

The second series of Redfern Now was a stunner.  I’d had high hopes and high expectations for the return of this highly acclaimed television drama, and I was not disappointed.  I’d like to say that I enjoyed watching it as much as … Continue reading →

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Big Name No Blanket

Posted on December 8, 2013 by Will

At the end of May 2007, I found myself in Alice Springs for a couple of days as part of a tour of Aboriginal communities and art centres sponsored by Austrade.  We had an afternoon free and so I made … Continue reading →

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At Last, The Sapphires Play the States

Posted on September 22, 2013 by Will

We finally got to watch The Sapphires last night. I expect that everyone in Australia who’s reading this saw the film a long time ago, but it had very limited theatrical release in America.  It is, however, out on Netflix  now, so … Continue reading →

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Coniston

Posted on July 14, 2013 by Will

It came as a bit of a surprise to see Frances Jupurrula Kelly on screen in the documentary Coniston (PAW Media, 2012).  For one thing, I’m not used to documentaries that include the story of their creation as part of the … Continue reading →

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The Poetry of Geography

Posted on March 3, 2013 by Will

I grew up near the ocean.  For the first eighteen years of my life a twenty-minute walk would bring me to docks and lapping waves, sand and seaweed and salt air.  I didn’t know how much a part of me … Continue reading →

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No Mere Survival

Posted on January 27, 2013 by Will

From over here in America, I usually have a hard time finding an appropriate subject with which to mark Survival Day.  But this year, I’ve just finished watching Redfern Now, the first dramatic series to emerge from the ABC’s Indigenous … Continue reading →

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“Manapanmirr” at The Margaret Mead Film Festival

Posted on December 9, 2012 by Will

The 36th Annual Margaret Mead Film Festival was held in New York City at the American Museum of Natural History this year from November 29 through December 2.   The longest-running showcase for international documentaries in the United States, the … Continue reading →

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