AustLit

'Australian documentary filmmaker James Ricketson spent 15 months inside a Cambodian gaol after being arrested on charges of spying. Sentenced in August to six years in prison in a trial condemned by human rights activists, he was freed to return to Australia in late September after being granted a royal pardon. Fellow documentary maker Curtis Levy visited Ricketson in the notorious prison where the veteran filmmaker was held along with 30 other political prisoners.' (Introduction)

'A distinctly Australia Day story of the campaign by filmmaker and man-on-a mission, Curtis Levy to win a Senate seat based on making Waltzing Matilda the national anthem when Australia becomes a republic. This is an insightful and hilarious exploration of what is behind Levy's drive to unite Australians in one voice in this rousing, popular song.

'Although passionate about his cause, Levy is a most unlikely candidate, but that is fitting, he says, as the song too is about the struggle of the underdog. He uncovers the history of the song's origin and looks at the timing of its birth in 1895, right at the intersection between a seminal period in Australia's history and the future.

'Waltzing Matilda might, on the surface, appear unsuitable he says, being about a tramp and a thief who committed suicide. But it also shows an irreverence towards the establishment and a willingness to defy authority - qualities which many believe remain abiding Australian traits.'

Source: ABC1 website, http://www.abc.net.au/tv/
Sighted: 25/01/2010

'Gustav Malbangka and his family lived at Hermansburg Mission in central Australia. Like many other people, they wish to leave the social problems of the congested settlement behind them and return to their traditional land at Gilbert Springs. The film depicts their attempt to carve out a more satisfactory life for themselves, drawing strength from being in the homeland again.'

'Gustav reflects on his early life, raised on the Lutheran Mission at Hermannsburg and schooled there. As Hermannsburg grew in size, it attracted people from a diversity of tribal groups, and social problems developed. Encouraged by the “out-station movement”, many people like Gustav left the Mission to return to their traditional country, leaving Hermannsburg looking “like a ghost town”.'

'Life at Gilbert Springs is not easy: until bore water is provided, everyone has to live close to the Springs in bush shelters. Gustav, however, has plans to build houses with running water, and to establish a viable station with a church and a school, growing produce and raising cattle. But for the moment, they are dependent on a weekly visit from a travelling “store truck” and have their financial affairs managed by the truck’s operator, Murray Pearce.'

'Although a challenging film to make, with little overt action, it is a poignant portrait of a small group of people trying to create a new life for themselves by returning to traditional ways, and trying to maintain their vision for the future despite dependence on outside services and government grants. As a small case study of the challenges faced by communities in the out-station movement, the film is also a valuable historical record.' (Source: Ronin Films website)

'Sons Of Namatjira examines the relationship between a community of Aboriginal artists and the outside world. Keith Namatjira is the son of the celebrated artist Albert Namatjira, and emulates his father’s distinctive style. He lives with his family in the same camp that his father had established on the outskirts of Alice Springs in Central Australia.'

This film 'follows Keith and his wife, Isabel, and other relatives, in their interactions with the wider world including art galleries in town and bus-loads of middle-aged tourists from the big cities. The film highlights communication difficulties between black and white, and in Levy’s terms, becomes “a parable of black-white relations in Australia”.'

'Tourists and dealers drive out to the artists’ camp to bargain with the artists in person. Keith feels pressured to accept their offers but dreams that one day he will own his own gallery, so that his family can make a decent living from their work. In addition, Keith has other pressures: he has to go to court on a charge of drink-driving, whilst at the same time working with a legal-aid officer on a claim for the land they are living on. He and his family are worried that their land will be swamped by the urban development they can see closing in around them.'

'This sympathetic portrait of a tiny community of Aboriginal artists is rich in Levy’s characteristic humour and sense of irony. It was the last of Levy’s films for AIAS before he returned to independent production, and remains one of the Film Unit’s most widely seen works.' (Source: Ronin Films)

'Because of work commitments and the influence of Christian Missions, traditional mourning ceremonies among the Tiwi people of Melville Island were becoming rare at the time of making this film (1974). The full, elaborate ceremony, called the Pukumani ceremony, lasted several days and involved large numbers of people in ritual roles. It was performed here with full awareness that this may be one of the last times such a ceremony would be staged in the traditional way.'

'The ceremony was prepared by the Mangatopi family of Snake Bay after the death of a 35-year old family member killed by his wife. The dead man’s father, Geoffrey Mangatopi, and his family requested this film to be made as a public record of a disappearing tradition. Unique to the Tiwi people of Melville and Bathurst islands, the Pukumani ceremony was not only performed to safe-guard the passage of the dead person into the spirit world, but to re-affirm kinship relationships and traditional Tiwi culture.'

'In 1974, about 1500 Tiwi people lived in European-administered communities on Melville and Bathurst islands. Being geographically isolated, the Tiwi were less subject to other Indigenous cultural influences. Although resistant to white settlement at first, they subsequently adapted to the presence of Europeans. Yet for many Tiwi, Christian funerals failed to ensure the ritual journey of the dead to the spirit world, and failed to provide the emotional release that the Pukumani ceremony offered.'

'Traditionally, women participated in all aspects of the ceremony (unlike women in many mainland tribal ceremonies). Elaborately decorated burial poles were prepared and were the focal point of the ceremony. Food taboos and other restrictions on behavior were intended to control the approach of supernatural forces. Body painting, dancing, re-enactment of past events, feasting and ritual cleansing were all essential parts of the ceremony, designed to ease the path of the spirit. Each kin group has their own dance, rehearsed and performed over several days, defining relationships and re-affirming them.'

'Shot in classic observational style, with great attention to detail, and often humorous, the film became widely seen in anthropology studies, and was screened publicly in many venues around the world.' (Source: Ronin Films website)

'Over 100 dancers from 8 tribal groups fly into Lockhart by light aircraft from as far afield as Groote Eylandt in north-eastern Arnhem Land, and Kowanyama, Edward River, Aurukun and Umagico in Cape York. Far away from their homelands, many of the dancers meet other tribal groups for the first time, and new relationships are forged between communities.' (Source: Ronin Films website)

'Made at the request of the people of Mornington Island, this film was the first of five made by Curtis Levy for the Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies (now AIATSIS).'

'“Lurugu” is the name of an initiation ceremony that had almost died out on Mornington Island (in the Gulf of Carpentaria in north Queensland) after mission contact during World War One. This film records the community’s efforts to revive the ceremony after a lapse of 14 years.'

'Before white contact, all youths were required to undergo Lurugu, which was the first of two ceremonies for making men. In the old days the ceremony lasted months. Now, work obligations and other stresses of living in the Western world meant that the ceremony was shortened to only one week.'

'At the time of filming, about 600 people lived at the Presbyterian Mission on the island, and over half of the population belonged to the Lardil tribe. The Mission staff were invited to observe public sections of the ceremony, along with other visitors including Percy Trezise, a pilot, author and Aboriginal art expert, who had become a close friend of the community.'

'Two versions of the film were made: a longer film detailing the whole ceremony as an archival record for authorised community members, and this public version which focuses on sections of the ceremony suitable for a general audience. The film follows the preparations for the dancing, singing, feasting and body decoration that were an integral part of the ceremony.'

'Dick and Lindsay Roughsey (both of the Lardil tribe) were among those responsible for this attempt to revive the Lurugu ceremony, as part of a wider return to “traditionalism” in northern Australia, and the film follows their negotiations with tribal members and other groups about how the event is to be managed and performed.'

'Influenced by observational filmmakers like the Maysles brothers, Donn Pennebaker and others, Curtis Levy constructed the film without added music, and with an unstructured approach to following events unobtrusively with the camera, rather than trying to control them. The result is a lively portrait of a social experiment and the excitement that went with it.' (Source: Ronin Films website)