New Indigenous Cinema from Australia
In conjunction with the exhibition Icons of the Desert: Early Aboriginal Paintings from Papunya
U.S. premiere of three recent documentaries by one of Australia’s most talented filmmakers, Beck Cole (Luritja/Warumungu), who will screen and discuss these groundbreaking works: A Fair Deal for A Dark Race (2008, 55 min.), which tells the story of the Indigenous struggle for citizenship in Australia, part of the acclaimed 2008 Australian public-television series, First Australians; Lore of Love (2005, 25 min., camera: Warwick Thornton), in which Urban Indigenous teen Jessie Bartlett takes a journey with her feisty Pintupi grandmothers to their homelands, where they teach her the lore of love—the traditional way; and Making Samson and Delilah: The Documentary (2009, 55 min.), which goes behind the scenes with Aboriginal teens Marissa Gibson and Rowan McNamara as they negotiate their lead roles in the feature film Samson and Delilah (director: Warwick Thornton), which in 2009 won the prestigious Camera d’Or prize at the Cannes Film Festival.
Discussion to follow with Beck Cole, Warwick Thornton (Kayteye), and Faye Ginsburg, Director, Center for Media, Culture and History, NYU.
Organized by NYU’s Center for Religion and Media, and co-sponsored by the National Museum of the American Indian Film and Video Center and NYU’s Grey Art Gallery. Additional support: Australian Consulate General, the Native Peoples Forum, the New York University Humanities Initiative and Department of Anthropology, and ITVS International. Information: NMAIprograms@si.edu,
212/514-3700. Reservations recommended: 212/514-3737 or FVC@si.edu.