BLACK SCREEN

Tours and Events

Black Screen at the GARMA Festival

In August 2009, Black Screen films featured as part of the program at this year’s Garma Festival in far north east NT. In collaboration with Outbush Pitchas (our mobile screening partners), Black Screen titles Green Bush, Plains Empty, Flour Sugar Tea and Footprints in the Sand (plus Bollywood Dreaming and Yolgnu Guya Djamamirr from an upcoming new Black Screen compile) were screened as part of the broader Garma screening program to a total audiences of around 450 people.

The annual Garma Festival, coordinated by the Yothu Yindi Foundation, aims to celebrate and share Yolngu culture and knowledge in a respectful, learning environment. The event supports and encourages the preservation and practice of traditional song, dance, art and ceremony from the Yolngu lands in north west Arnhem Land. For more information on the Garma Festival, go to Garma Festival website


CAAMA - Ampilatwatja road sign

Black Screen tour in remote NT

This year, the NFSA continued its partnership with the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) to tour Black Screen Indigenous films to remote Aboriginal communities in NT.

The CAAMA Black Screen touring program travelled further afield than in previous years and took Black Screen to a wider audience. A total of nine screenings covered 10 remote communities in central and southern NT: Ampilatwatja; Alpurrauralum (Lake Nash); Elliott; Ali Curung; Epenarra (Wutunugurra); Canteen Creek (Owairtilla); Ti Tree; Laramba; Engalwala; and Tennant Creek.

These communities are extremely small and remote (in many cases no larger than several hundred people) but the response and feedback from community attendees was very positive, with total audiences of around 390. The screening programs varied from community to community and included selections from the Black Screen compiles and CAAMA Productions titles. Entertainment and cultural experiences in these communities are limited and so the screenings provided not only entertainment and the chance to see some contemporary Indigenous films; they also represented important opportunities for community bonding and social interaction. The screening events were coordinated in partnership with the local communities and young people were encouraged to assist with set up and take part in the screening.

For more information on CAAMA Productions, go to CAAMA website


Darren Dale, Anusha Duray and Adrian Wills at  the Lismore Message Sticks Indigenous Film Festival 2009

Message Sticks Indigenous Film Festival 2009

Message Sticks Festival 2009 - National and Regional Tour

The Message Sticks Indigenous Film Festival again embarked on national and regional tour in 2009, once again proudly supported by the NFSA. After its launch at the Sydney Opera House in June, Message Sticks went on the road from July to September on an 11 stop national tour proudly supported by the NFSA.

In addition to visiting the capital cities (Melbourne, Darwin, Adelaide, Brisbane, Perth and Hobart), Message Sticks also called in on a number of regional centres – Broome, Cairns, Lismore and Townsville – as well as screening at the NFSA’s headquarters in the Arc Theatre, Canberra. Highlights included over 1,000 people at screenings in Darwin, 315 in Townsville, 440 in Broome and 390 in Cairns – and total audiences nationally of almost 5000.

The program showcased films by acclaimed Indigenous creators and filmmakers Deborah Mailman, Beck Cole, Ivan Sen, Leah Purcell and Adrian Wills, and included docos about the making of the acclaimed Samson and Delilah and the life and times of Aboriginal activist and politician Charles Perkins (Firetalker). Guests presented films and Q&As at each venue and most locations included a special schools program with free screenings for students.