Synopsis

From Sand to Celluloid is a series of six short films from Aboriginal Australian filmmakers.

No Way To Forget

Writer/Director: Richard Frankland

The film is based on Richard Frankland’s experiences as a Field Officer during the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. The film follows one of his many car journeys between cities for the hearings. It also marks his own spiritual and emotional journey in which he attempts to deal with the pain of the knowledge he bears. More

Fly Peewee, Fly!

Writer/Director: Sally Riley

Six year old Robbie lives with his Nan And Dad in the country. A series of minor crises, ending with the death of his friend, the Peewee bird, make him decide to stay up in his favourite tree. This proves to be a challenge for Nan and Dad, who have to look at the world from his point of view. More

Round Up

Writer/Director: Tima Tamou

Hugo is the stockman son of the white boss at Taipan Creek station. Desi is an Aboriginal stockman. Their bitter fist fight lands them in hospital in the big city. In this unfamiliar environment they learn they are not as different as they first thought.

Two Bob Mermaid

Writer/Director: Darlene Johnson

Koorine is a young fair skinned Koori girl growing up in a country town in 1957. At that time Aboriginal people were not welcome in public swimming pools and had to sit separately at the movies. Koorine desperately wants to enter the ‘million dollar mermaid’ swimming contest. She has a choice because she ‘looks white.’ Then a fight breaks out at the swimming pool between her Koori friends and her white friends. She has to decide what is more important to her, her white friends or her Koori identity.

Payback

Writer/Director/DOP: Warwick Thornton

Paddy has been in gaol for 20 years but chronological time has made no difference to his criminal status in the Indigenous world. It is the day of his release and Paddy must now face another law, traditional law. The tribal elder appears to him warning what awaits him outside the gaol. More

Black Man Down

Director: Bill Crow

Here is part of the warning at the beginning of this film explaining the symbolism of the Bora ring: "In this film there is one small scene that features a male warrior using a bull roarer. He is using it to call the central character ‘Waxy’ into a mock initiation area. This scene is very important to the film, it is really the turning point of the entire story as Waxy must choose between life and death. I wrote the film to suggest that young Aboriginal people can survive and challenge even death, if they can rediscover their cultural roots. Our young warriors of today can find meaning and direction, if they can only reconnect with their past. I did not mean any disrespect and I did not intend to show the ceremonies or special business of any one tribe or any one clan…" Sam Watson (Writer/Co-Producer)