FILM FESTIVAL: MESSAGE STICKS
- Author:
- Amelia G
- Posted:
- Wednesday, 29 April 2009
Celebrating its 10th birthday, the Message Sticks Indigenous Film Festival returns to Sydney Opera House from May 7-10 with its biggest program yet.
Message Sticks alumni Warwick Thornton will open this year’s festival with the Sydney premiere of his highly anticipated debut feature Samson & Delilah (recently selected for this year’s Cannes), and the program will also include a retrospective of Thornton’s best short films, as well as the man himself in conversation with Margaret Pomeranz.
Deborah Mailman makes her directing debut with the charming Ralph (co-written with Wayne Blair), and Richard Frankland’s irreverent road movie starring David Page and Luke Carroll will take us on a ride across the West Australian desert in a beat-up station wagon.
Before Tomorrow marks the third film created by the Inuit people, and tells the story of a woman and her grandson in a fight for survival. Also part of the international program is the critically acclaimed Tibet in Song, a documentary of Tibetan folk music which led to the filmmaker Ngawang Choephel being jailed.
Ivan Sen’s intimate portrait of Charlie Perkins, Fire Talker, will be another sure highlight from the documentary program, and emerging Indigenous writers, directors and producers will have their work premiered in The New Black series, featuring seven 10-minute dramas from around Australia.
Curated by Rachel Perkins and Darren Dale from Blackfella Films, Message Sticks is solely dedicated to films made by and about Indigenous people, and all screenings are free. Performances from local musicians and an exhibition of photographs from Indigenous artists are also part of the program, in addition to Q&A sessions following each screening. For more information see www.sydneyoperahouse.com
Before Tomorrow
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Story posted on Wednesday, 29 April 2009, filed under Festivals, Movies. Follow responses via the RSS feed.
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