Another Country is a documentary which considers, from the inside, the ramifications of one culture being dominated by another.

At the beginning of last century the Australian Government, along with entrepreneurs, opportunists and do-gooders, made a concerted effort to gain control of the lands of the Yolngu people across northern Arnhem Land, along the central part of northern Australia. The long succession of would-be cattle barons, missionaries and government agents failed to dispossess the Yolngu of their lands, but the introduction of their new ways and different laws succeeded in eroding the heart of a complex culture that was once strong, defiant and self-sufficient.

Legendary Australian actor, David Gulpilil, has spent his adult life trying to navigate his way through two very different, opposing cultures: that of his Yolngu people and that of the prevailing Australian culture. He personally narrates Another Country and gives us first-hand insight into the confusions and chaos that occur in the clash between these cultures.

Molly Reynolds’ film is one of an on-going series that Rolf de Heer and colleagues have made with the Yolngu people of Ramingining, beginning with the celebrated Ten Canoes in 2006. Reynolds collaborated with de Heer on the hugely successful Twelve Canoes followed by Charlie’s Country. They have since continued to work together on Another Country and also, Still Our Country.

Each of the Ramingining films stands alone, but all run parallel and enlighten the others. The projects have separate emphases, individual areas of concern, distinctly different styles and their own emotional tone. Together, they paint a highly detailed and revealing portrait of a culture and a people.

English and Yolngu language and English subtitles.

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Inspired at a very young age by John Gould’s massive volumes of ornithological work, Bill spent much of his own life watching, drawing and painting birds. He hoped one day to do as Gould had done.

As a budding artist in his hometown of Newcastle, and already winning awards, he accepted advice along the way from other local artists such Sir William Dobell. Bill started his professional career as a land and seascape painter until a public interest arose in wildlife, allowing him to return to his great love, birds. At last there was a demand for large volumes of ornithological work that allowed him to paint what he had dreamed of as a child.

Over the last 50 years of painting professionally he has evolved into the modern day Gould with a massive volume of published works developed alongside leading ornithologists. Many of these have had multiple re-prints and have become collector’s items.

His attention to detail has made his work some of the most widely acclaimed by scientist and art appreciators across the world. David Attenborough describes him as “The best ornithological illustrator alive.”

With a reputation for accuracy and perfection to uphold, and a personal mantra that each new work must be better than his last, completing works to his personal high standard is no easy call for the 80 year old artist. Over the next 15 months he is under pressure to create his best pieces.

The film culminates in an exciting exhibition held at the Morpeth Gallery where his last exhibition sold out in seventy minutes. But he wonders if times have changed and will anybody come?

Over the last 20 years Bill’s reputation has risen to the extent that this exhibition is guaranteed to be a success; perhaps the only problem being, creating enough works in time, and also for the buyers as they scramble to acquire his highly collectable art. This will be his last exhibition.

The DVD includes 9 micro-stories that include techniques, tips and approaches that Bill Cooper uses to create a unique piece of artwork.

The film spans ten transformative years in the life of Tom ‘Putuparri’ Lawford as he navigates the deep chasm between his Western upbringing and his growing determination to fight for his family’s homeland. A trip back to his grandparents’ country in the desert begins the process of cultural awakening. Putuparri is shocked to learn that the dreamtime myths are not just stories, that there is a country called Kurtal and a snake spirit that is the subject of an elaborate rainmaking ritual.

Putuparri is a man caught between two worlds: the deeply spiritual universe of his people’s traditional culture and his life in modern society where he struggles with alcoholism and domestic violence. As he reconnects with his ancestral lands and learns about his traditional culture he begins to accept his future as a leader of his people and shoulders his responsibility to pass this knowledge on to the next generation.

Set against the backdrop of their long fight to reclaim their traditional lands, Putuparri and the Rainmakers is an emotional, visually breathtaking story of love, hope and the survival of Aboriginal law and culture against all odds.

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In the Nullabour desert, west from Ceduna in South Australia, two elderly sisters from the Tjilkaba community, Doreen and Gladys Miller, re-visit the now derelict homesteads and stations where they grew up and worked as adults, to pass on their stories to younger family members. They tell their “granny stories” to their daughters and grandchildren to teach them about the self-reliance they learned as young adults, and about the sustaining value of their traditional culture. A group of young women and children join them on their often emotional journey into the past, as they visit the abandoned ruins of Whitewell homestead and the deserted Colona shearing station. They also talk about the importance of keeping their Wirangu language and knowledge about the bush alive, and they help to make books for children to use in schools.

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Another Country is a documentary which considers, from the inside, the ramifications of one culture being dominated by another.

At the beginning of last century the Australian Government, along with entrepreneurs, opportunists and do-gooders, made a concerted effort to gain control of the lands of the Yolngu people across northern Arnhem Land, along the central part of northern Australia. The long succession of would-be cattle barons, missionaries and government agents failed to dispossess the Yolngu of their lands, but the introduction of their new ways and different laws succeeded in eroding the heart of a complex culture that was once strong, defiant and self-sufficient.

Legendary Australian actor, David Gulpilil, has spent his adult life trying to navigate his way through two very different, opposing cultures: that of his Yolngu people and that of the prevailing Australian culture. He personally narrates Another Country and gives us first-hand insight into the confusions and chaos that occur in the clash between these cultures.

Molly Reynolds’ film is one of an on-going series that Rolf de Heer and colleagues have made with the Yolngu people of Ramingining, beginning with the celebrated Ten Canoes in 2006. Reynolds collaborated with de Heer on the hugely successful Twelve Canoes followed by Charlie’s Country. They have since continued to work together on Another Country and also, Still Our Country.

Each of the Ramingining films stands alone, but all run parallel and enlighten the others. The projects have separate emphases, individual areas of concern, distinctly different styles and their own emotional tone. Together, they paint a highly detailed and revealing portrait of a culture and a people.

English and Yolngu language and English subtitles.

BUY NOW!

With profound insight and a healthy dose of humour, Complaints Of A Dutiful Daughter chronicles the various stages of a mothers Alzheimers Disease and the evolution of a daughters response to the illness. The desire to cure the incurable – to set right her mothers confusion and forgetfulness, to temper her mother’s obsessiveness – gives way to an acceptance which is finally liberating for both daughter and mother.

Complaints Of A Dutiful Daughter is far more than a story about Alzheimers and family carers. It is an exploration of family relations, ageing, the meaning of memory, and the tenacity of love.

The first time my mother asked me how exactly is it that we were related I was really shocked. I didn’t know what to say. I was ashamed to just say I’m your daughter. I was afraid that if I did, it would upset her terribly to realise that she had forgotten. So I made a guessing game and I gave her some clues. Eventually I gave her enough clues that she got it and she said, ‘Oh, you mean I’m your mother!’ Then she thought for a moment and added, ‘I never thought of it that way before.’ – Deborah Hoffman.