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Ivan Sen Ivan Sen i(A91015 works by)
Born: Established: 1972 ;
Gender: Male
Heritage: Aboriginal ; Aboriginal Kamilaroi
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Works By

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1 1 form y separately published work icon This Winter Ivan Sen , ( dir. Ivan Sen ) 2017 10144616 2017 single work film/TV

This film centres on an Indigenous mother dealing with a son arriving back from jail after losing another son to suicide. (Source: Brisbane Times website)

1 27 form y separately published work icon Goldstone Ivan Sen , ( dir. Ivan Sen ) Australia : Dark Matter Productions , 2016 8474304 2016 single work film/TV

'Indigenous Detective Jay Swan arrives in a frontier mining town on a missing persons enquiry.

'What seems like a simple “light duties” investigation soon opens into a web of crime and corruption implicating the local Mayor, Mining Boss and Aboriginal Land Council.

'Jay must overcome personal differences with the young local policeman while he pulls his life together to dig deeper into the conspiracy. They are led into a world of people trafficking and organised crime at the heart of the local mining industry, where the value of a life is pitted against big money and deep-rooted corruption.' (Production summary)

1 53 form y separately published work icon Mystery Road Moree Girls Ivan Sen , ( dir. Ivan Sen ) Australia : Mystery Road Films , 2013 Z1870365 2013 single work film/TV

Jay Swan, a detective, returns home to an outback town to solve the murder of a teenage Indigenous girl, whose body is found near a trucking route out of town.

1 1 form y separately published work icon Shifting Shelter 4 ( dir. Ivan Sen ) Australia : 2011 Z1792854 2011 single work film/TV The fourth film in Ivan Sen's documentary series (begun in 1995) recording the lives of four Indigenous people in rural New South Wales.

1 36 form y separately published work icon Toomelah Ivan Sen , ( dir. Ivan Sen ) Australia : Bunya Productions , 2011 Z1776156 2011 single work film/TV (taught in 1 units)

'The film is set entirely in the remote Indigenous community of Toomelah, located on the NSW, QLD border. It was created as a mission during the 1930s, bringing together Gamilaroi and Bigambal people from the surrounding area.

'The story centres on Daniel, a small ten year old boy who dreams of being a gangster. He is kicked out of school and befriends a local gang leader, until a rival gangster arrives back from jail to reclaim his turf. A showdown ensues and Daniel is caught in the middle, leaving him with a choice to make about his uncertain future.

'Toomelah is a deeply personal story, that intimately depicts mission life in contemporary Australia. The film reveals the challenges facing the young Gamilaroi people of the Toomelah Community. Robbed of much of their traditional culture by Government policy, it is a community on a cultural edge, struggling for an identity. It is a provocative and yet comic story that transports audiences inside the community, creating an authentic world and way of life that is Toomelah.'

Source: Toomelah website.

1 3 form y separately published work icon Dreamland Ivan Sen , ( dir. Ivan Sen ) Sydney : Bunya Productions , 2009 Z1630604 2009 single work film/TV science fiction thriller

'Dan Freeman, an obsessive UFO hunter, roams the Nevada desert around 'AREA 51' searching the skies for contact ... but alone in the desert he awakens to a bigger mystery ....'

Source: www.dreamlandthefilm.com/ (Sighted 30/09/2009).

1 form y separately published work icon Fire Talker : The Life and Times of Charlie Perkins ( dir. Ivan Sen ) Ivan Sen , 2008 Z1594579 2008 single work film/TV 'Traces the life and career of Australian Indigenous leader Charlie Perkins (1936-2000), from his humble beginnings to becoming one of the most influential Indigenous figures in Australia’s history. Features archival material.' Source: Universiy of Queensland Library catalogue.
1 22 form y separately published work icon First Australians Rachel Perkins , Louis Nowra , Beck Cole , ( dir. Rachel Perkins et. al. )agent Crows Nest Fitzroy Strawberry Hills : Blackfella Films First Nation Films SBS Television , 2008 Z1532374 2008 single work film/TV (taught in 1 units)

'First Australians chronicles the birth of contemporary Australia as never told before, from the perspective of its first people. First Australians explores what unfolds when the oldest living culture in the world is overrun by the world's greatest empire.

'Over seven episodes, First Australians depicts the true stories of individuals - both black and white - caught in an epic drama of friendship, revenge, loss and victory in Australia's most transformative period of history.

'The story begins in 1788 in Sydney, with the friendship between an Englishmen (Governor Phillip) and a warrior (Bennelong) and ends in 1993 with Koiki Mabo's legal challenge to the foundation of Australia. First Australians chronicles the collision of two worlds and the genesis of a new nation.' Source: www.sbs.com.au (Sighted 27/09/2008).

1 1 form y separately published work icon A Sister's Love Ivan Sen , ( dir. Ivan Sen ) Australia : Martin Brown Films , 2007 Z1435317 2007 single work film/TV

'A Sister's Love is an observational, reflective documentary featuring Rhoda Roberts, best known as an Australian arts presenter and journalist. But behind her smile lies the tragedy of family turmoil, bigotry and the brutal murder of her identical twin sister.

We accompany Rhoda on a road trip home to Lismore in northern NSW to confront the terrible events surrounding the death of her twin sister, Lois, who disappeared while hitchhiking in 1998. Although the local police refused even to file a missing persons report because they assumed she had "just gone walkabout", Lois's brutally murdered remains were found in an isolated part of her Bundjalung homeland some time afterwards. Her skull has never been found and the perpetrator has still not been caught.

'A Sister's Love is both a film about family grief and a reflection of the historical Australian attitude towards indigenous Australians as second class citizens. This very personal story of Rhoda and her family still dealing with the grief of a lost loved one is underscored by the racism and bigotry that followed Rhoda and Lois throughout their lives.

Rhoda recalls how she was constantly afraid that she would be stolen from school by the local authorities and put back in a mission because it was assumed that she came from an underprivileged Aboriginal home. And she remembers the experience of growing up as the daughter of a white mother and Indigenous father in Lismore, where "darkies" weren't allowed even to eat in the local café, contextualising the local police's neglect of her sister's vanishing.

'Lois's surviving daughter Emily, whom Rhoda has raised from infancy, appears in the film as a constant reminder of the twin sister that Rhoda lost - an experience she describes as being like losing part of herself - and the land of the Bundjalung provides a beautiful backdrop.' Source: http://www.abc.net.au/ (Sighted 11/10/2007)

1 form y separately published work icon Yellow Fella Tom E. Lewis , Fleur Parry , ( dir. Ivan Sen ) Darwin : CAAMA Productions , 2004 Z1922397 2004 single work film/TV Yellow Fella is a portrait of Tom E. Lewis who as a young man in 1978 was chosen by director Fred Schepisi to star in The Chant of Jimmy Blacksmith. The life of the character he played was hauntingly close to his own, a restless young man of mixed heritage, struggling between two cultures to find his own identity.

Tom's mother is an Indigenous woman from southern Arnhem Land who was working as a station hand and cook when she met Tom's father, a Welsh stockman named Hurtle Lewis. Tom's mother refused to marry Hurtle and raised Tom with little knowledge of his real father.

In this beautifully shot and moving film, Tom E. Lewis embarks with his mother on a journey into the outback of the Northern Territory to try to find his father's grave. The journey into his past brings painful memories to Tom and challenges his sense of his own identity, ultimately finding strength in his love for both his white father and his Aboriginal step-father.'
Source : Ronin Films website www.roninfilms.com.au
3 17 form y separately published work icon Beneath Clouds Ivan Sen , ( dir. Ivan Sen ) Sydney : Autumn Films , 2001 Z1440560 2001 single work film/TV (taught in 12 units) Blue eyed, fair skinned Lena is the daughter of an Aboriginal mother, living in a small country town. She longs for the romantic ideal of her absent father and his Irish heritage. When her home life feels set to implode, she hits the road with little money, a backpack and a photo of her dad. When Lena misses her bus to Sydney, she meets up with Vaughn, an Aboriginal teenager who has run away from a minimum-security prison in the desperate hope of reaching his ill mother. Vaughn is hardened by his anger at the world. Initially the two reluctant travelling companions are suspicious and wary of each other, but their journey, mostly by foot and the odd lift, builds an understanding between them. -- Libraries Australia
1 2 form y separately published work icon Wind Ivan Sen , ( dir. Ivan Sen ) Australia : Mayfan , 1999 Z1520187 1999 single work film/TV

A short drama set in the cold, bleak terrain of the high country in 1857, as a young black tracker and his elderly sergeant move on the trail of a killer.

1 form y separately published work icon Dust Ivan Sen , 1999 Autumn Films SBS Television , 2000 Z1219793 1999 single work film/TV

Deep within the cotton country way out west, a convoy of cars throw a dust trail into the dark sky. Leroy, angry with the world for hating his black skin, drives his mother and best mate to weed the back-breaking rows of the cotton fields. They are joined by two white teenagers with their own troubles. While tensions between the two groups emerge during the heat of the day, the huge dust storm will bring them together in a way none of them could have imagined.

1 form y separately published work icon Tears Ivan Sen (director), ( dir. Ivan Sen ) Australian Film Commission. Indigenous Branch , 1998 Z1587753 1998 single work film/TV

Two Aboriginal teenagers are leaving their mission.

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