On Tuesday the 17th of October, SXSW Sydney, in partnership with WINDA Film Festival premiered 'Bush Shorts. A collection of emerging Indigenous voices from around Australia. This collection of shorts cover the spectrum of filmmakers from WA to East Coast, showing us the journey into shaping identity and remembering Country.
Among the collection, were three short films from South Australian-based First Nations people. It just so happens, that one of the films was written, directed and co-produced by Reconciliation SA content producer Travis Akbar.
The film, Tambo, is set in 1916 and was at the beginning inspired by the novel First Blood, whose lead character John Rambo inspired an entire film franchise, starring Sylvester Stallone.
Because of this, the first draft was layered with broken characters, violent encounters, and horse chases.
But as the script was developed, through a program initialized by the South Australian Film Corporation, it became more nuanced and became a western-drama as opposed to a western action.
Travis had also learnt more about First Nations involvement in war through his time on other projects, and time spent at Reconciliation SA, and as such, put his learnings into his script.
Eventually, the script, along with two more, were awarded a grant by the South Australian Film Corporation to go into production, and the film was complete in July 2023. You can see screenshots and behind-the-scenes photos on the films social media page, here.
The next stage of the film began with submitting the completed film to film festivals around Australia, and the globe and Tambo, along with the films Black Time, White Time, and The Getaway, were all selected to screen at the first-ever SXSW Sydney, an Australian version of the massive SXSW Festival which takes place each year in Texas, USA.
With support from the Reconciliation SA and Screen Australia, Travis was able to travel to Sydney to take part in the premiere of the film, which screened among a total of seven First Nations films coming from new and emerging First Nations filmmakers.
The SXSW screenings were in partnership with First Nations film festival, Winda.
Travis was able to meet and greet a number of new First Nations creatives, as well as other experienced filmmakers at SXSW. But that wasn't the only screening of his film that week.
On October 21st, the film screened at Adelaide Film Festival, again with Black Time, White Time and The Getaway to a sold-out theatre as part of the First Nations, First Films program.
The films were introduced by Festival director Mat Kesting and South Australian Film Corporation Kate Croser.
Black Time, White Time was written and produced by Kokatha/Greek woman Tammy Coleman-Zweck, and directed by First Nations director Edoardo Crismani. The film is about a tech-savvy teen, who relocates to live with her deaf Aunty, and must Auslan and deal with a technophobic, reclusive, watchmaker who challenges her world.
While the Auslan film is inclusive of First Nations people, it also features Deaf Narungga actor Joanna Agius, and is fully captioned.
You can find out more about Black Time, White Time on its social media page, here.
Adam Jenkins' film The Getaway was also on show.
The Getaway is a rare kind of film, being a First Nations horror film. There are not many of these films around, especially in Australia, so if you come across the screening of The Getaway, consider it a rare privilege.
The Getaway follows Kyle, played by Thibul Nettle, a young First Nations man grieving the loss his mother, who decides to return to Country to trace his cultural beginnings where he accidentally disturbs a grave unleashing a spiritual protector that will stop at nothing for revenge.
The short film does not compromise itself in its goal of terrifying its audience, and keeps them on the edge of their seat the entire time.
You can keep up to date on The Getaway, here.
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