AustLit

'We Don’t Need a Map is a feature length documentary about Australia’s complex relationship to the Southern Cross. It is the most famous constellation in the southern hemisphere and ever since colonisation it’s been claimed, appropriated and hotly-contested for ownership by a radical range of Australian groups. But for Aboriginal people the meaning of this heavenly body is deeply spiritual, and just about completely unknown. Warwick Thornton, one of Australia’s leading film-makers, tackles this fiery subject head on in a bold, provocative and poetic essay-film. Produced by Barefoot Films.' (Production summary)

'Raw, heartfelt, sometimes painstaking but often funny, In My Own Words follows the journey of adult Aboriginal students and their teachers as they discover the transformative power of reading and writing for the first time in their lives. In Australia today between 40–65 percent of Aboriginal adults are functionally illiterate in English. But out in north west New South Wales moves are afoot to whittle away at this appalling statistic, and give hope to some of the most marginalised people in our country. Using a Cuban method called ‘Yes I Can’, a group known as the Literacy for Life Foundation are moving into towns, setting up classrooms, and offering Aboriginal men and women an opportunity to learn to read and write. And it seems there are no shortage of takers.' (Production summary)

'Follows the Indigenous people of the Western Australian Pilbara’s battle to preserve Australia's 40,000-year-old cultural heritage from the ravages of a booming mining industry. Filmmaker Tyson Mowarin shows the waves of industrialisation and development that threaten sites all over the region, and how he and the people of the Pilbara are fighting back by documenting the rock art, recording sacred sites and battling to get their unique cultural heritage recognised, 'digitised' and celebrated.' (Production summary)

'The majority of Australians grew up with a very one-sided history of our nation. From white settlement to today, that account has mostly been viewed from a single perspective. Occupation Native sets out to change that. Using a range of approaches – some serious, some humorous – filmmaker Trisha Morton-Thomas adjusts the narrative to include the experience and history of Australia’s Indigenous community. There’s always more than one way to look at a story, and this documentary presents – without judgement – a perspective that’s been disregarded for too long.' (Production summary)