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Film Australia From Sand to Celluloid Study Guide
From Sand to Celluloid
Works by Indigenous filmmakers
STUDY GUIDE
From Sand to Celluloid is an essential resource for:
Indigenous Studies
Australian History
Film Studies
English
Legal Studies
Human Relationship courses
Social Studies
opening discussion
‘Aboriginal people are inviting the world…into their
homes and into their hearts to share our view of
the world.’ - Bob Maza (Indigenous Commissioner,
Australian Film Commission)
‘Maybe these videos will develop some insight into blackwhite relationships here in Australia. Non-Indigenous
Australia has to face up to these issues if we are to come
together as a mature society.’ - Rebecca Bear-Wingfield
There have been thousands of films made about
Indigenous Australians, but very few made by Indigenous
Australians. From Sand to Celluloid begins to fill this
gap. It is a much needed, challenging and entertaining
collection of six new, short films from Indigenous
filmmakers: No Way to Forget, Fly Peewee Fly!, Round
Up, Two Bob Mermaid, Payback and Black Man Down.
As a unified collection, the films offer more than a twodimensional victim-oppressor approach. They challenge
viewers at all levels: as fellow citizens, as parents, as observers
and as fellow members of Indigenous communities.
‘Aborigines are at last being written back into the
history of Australia. In literature and art, Aboriginal
creativity is being recognised and valued as a major
component of Australian cultural production.’ (Hodge
and Mishra, 1990:xiv)
‘These filmmakers are the sacred flame carriers.
They share our stories and cultures with audiences of
millions.’ (Eunice Watson)
THEMES AND ISSUES
facing the past
From Sand to Celluloid challenges viewers with many
uncomfortable aspects of Australia’s too recent history.
These include the active discrimination pratised against
Indigenous people in public places such as swimming
pools and cinemas in country towns around Australia and
the ‘stolen generation’: children taken away with out their
parents consent and placed into homes or in white foster
homes, with devastating effect on them and their families.
• Why is it important for Indigenous and non-Indigenous
Australians to examine and come to terms with the past?
reconciliation
• What does reconciliation mean to you? Identify
resources, human and institutional where you can find
out more about this important concept. If you have
access to the internet, find websites dedicated to the
reconciliation process. Compare your understanding
after you have read or discussed this issue. How has your
understanding changed?
• There are many personal and cultural reconciliations
in these very different films. How do they come about
and how are they symbolised on film?
music
• Music and sounds play a key part in creating mood
of these films. How are the different musical traditions
combined or used in these films to create the desired effect?
• Choose your favourite film and analyse the music and
the sound.
• In Round Up and in No Way To Forget, the song lyrics
tell their own story or narrative. What story do they tell?
How does it complement the visual story?
racist abuse
‘Sticks and stones will break my bones but names will never
hurt me’. Is this old rhyme true or does it depend on the
power of the person saying it? Discuss this issue in relation
to the racist abuse in the From Sand to Celluloid films.
indigenous people in the media
• 'In our 1990 survey of advertising, Aborigines
appeared for three seconds of the 100,000 seconds
captured and the only images were still photographs of
Aboriginal children in face paint, used to sell a Japanese
camera.' (Jakubowicz et al. 1994:60)
• Has this changed? Tape and analyse the opening
scenes of several television dramas or an evening of
advertisements. Who is visible? Does this reflect the
reality of everyday life in Australia? What suggestions do
you have to change this?
Film Australia From Sand to Celluloid Study Guide
• Find out the process by which you can lodge an
official complaint to the Australian Broadcasting
Tribunal if you see or hear racism on television or radio.
women
‘…Aboriginal women…stand in a crossfire of racism
and sexism.’ (Jakubowicz et al. 1994:56)
• Discuss this comment in relation to some of the
memorable female characters From Sand to Celluloid.
These women are not models of perfection, brave
little battlers or saintly matriarchs but reflect a broad
spectrum of experience of Indigenous (and non
Indigenous) women.
Koorine and her mother in Two Bob Mermaid
The Mulwina Spirit of the grey kangaroo dreaming in
Black Man Down
Robbie’s white grandmother in Fly Peewee Fly!
The mother in No Way to Forget
The daughter in No Way to Forget
The rape victim in No Way to Forget
Esther in Round Up
Nurse Brenda in Round Up
Auntie the bag lady in Round Up
• How many Indigenous women’s roles have you seen
on film or TV? Watch the ABC drama Heartlands
(1995), the ground-breaking Women of the Sun series
(1984) or the powerful and very disturbing The Secret
Country (1985) by John Pilger, for alternative views of
Australian history.
• Many families in Australia have both Indigenous and
non-Indigenous members. What are the best things
about having access to several cultural traditions?
humour
• There are some very funny moments in several of the
From Sand to Celluloid films. Describe your favourite
funny scene. How is humour created in the dialogue? The
timing? The acting? The nature of the incident? Sometimes
humour can enable us to identify with the character more
than a solely dramatic portrayal. For example, ‘Auntie’ in
Round Up is on the surface a tragic character. She has no
home or obvious place in society and yet she comes across
as strong and dignified and very funny.
• How does Auntie manage to change Hugo’s attitude
towards her and change the two young men’s attitudes
towards each other?
town and country
The urban-rural divide is a theme in Round Up and
part of the background of Two Bob Mermaid.
• Out of his natural environment, Hugo is confronted
with his own 'otherness'. Describe one incident in which
Hugo realises this.
telling our stories
Everyone has a story.
• Listen to your family’s stories. If appropriate, record
them by writing, painting, video or audio taping.
thinking about the future
• Brainstorm some ideas about what an ideal Australia
might be like in the 21st century.
THE FILMS
NO WAY TO FORGET
health
Writer/Director Richard Frankland
Producer John Foss
The health of Indigenous people is a major issue. It
appears indirectly in From Sand to Celluloid through
poverty, deaths in custody and drinking.
the story
• Research the statistics on Indigenous housing and
health in the 1990s. How do you explain the huge
difference in life expectancy between Indigenous and
non-Indigenous Australians?
spirituality
‘Australia is criss-crossed by Dreaming trails which
follow the journeys and deeds of the Spirit Ancestors
who created the landscape and whose spirits still inhabit
features of the natural world.’ (Nakun Yanun 1988:21)
• Non-Indigenous Australians are just beginning to
learn and understand the significance of the Dreaming.
What is the significance of sacred sites to the Indigenous
people? Research your local area who are the Indigenous
people of that land and what are their Dreaming stories.
Can you find out the Indigenous names of some of the
landmarks in your area? Can you explain why so few
geological landmarks have Indigenous names?
Film Australia From Sand to Celluloid Study Guide
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.
discussion points
• ‘I’ve been investigating deaths for six months and the
spirits are always close by.’ Which scenes demonstrate
what Frankland means by this? How do you explain such
experiences? What is the role of a guiding spirit? Investigate
the idea of guiding spirits and guardian angels in other
religious beliefs. What role do they play in a believer’s life
or in their culture, for example in music, art or drama?
‘Death is so common amongst Anangu (Aboriginal people)
that I felt numb when they talked about death. When he
talked about the white posts on the side of the road and
ghosts standing there, that’s so true. I often see things or
people on the side of the road but we won’t stop. We just
put our foot down and keep going.’(Rebecca)
‘I seen me getting drunk again, stoned again…When I
looked at my future, I had none.’
• What alternatives would you suggest if this young man
had been your friend? Investigate the warning signs of
possible suicides and what help and advice is available if
you are concerned about someone.
Activities
• What makes us do what we do? Prepare a time line or
a storyboard of the critical incidents in Robbie’s day. Do
the same for a day in your own life (that you don’t mind
sharing) where a series of events led to you making an
important decision.
• The police should be seen as a source of security and
safety. This is not true for most Indigenous people. One of
the young women in the video recounts the terrible story of
violence and rape by uniformed police who then dumped
her on the road. How do you think it’s possible for police
to behave so differently towards different groups in the
community? What changes need to occur so that police
deal appropriately with Indigenous people?
• Describe the physical and emotional characteristics of
the three characters, Nan, Dad and Robbie.
‘I feel a sense of powerlessness, that even if I have a
good job working at uni, that it won’t stop my family
and me being harassed or persecuted and I wonder if
there is any hope.’ (Rebecca)
• At some time, everyone has to face losing something or
someone they love. What are some ways of dealing with
grief and loss? Consider some of the ways in which various
cultures deal with grief.
• What help is available to victims of rape in cases such
as this?
• Discuss the benefits and possible drawbacks of extended
families. What are some different kinds of extended families
in contemporary Australia? In the following dialogue,
Robbie questions his grandmother about her feelings.
• Shane Francis, the field officer, says, ‘We live in a
storm that rages all around in us’. What does he mean
by this? What evidence is there in the film to back
up such a powerful indictment of life in Australia for
Indigenous people?
• Examine the flashbacks. Build up a profile of the
victims and their families.
• Suicide leaves devastated families and communities.
Find out what measures have been taken since these
hearings to reduce or eliminate suicides by Indigenous
people in Australian prisons. Have they succeeded?
‘This bloke has nowhere to turn. That’s why he finds
solitude in the bottle. The ute reminds me of my Dad.
He had one. He died of heartbreak cause they took us
kids away. That was the policy. I am only 34.’ (Rebecca)
• Pause the film at critical points. Suggest, script and
role play alternative endings.
Robbie:
Nan:
Nan, are you cranky with my dad?
Yes, aren’t you?
• Discuss her honesty and other possible responses and
their consequences.
‘This video made me feel homesick for all my family but
it also make me proud to be Anangu.’ (Rebecca)
Here is the dialogue from the scene in which Robbie
finds his Peewee bird has been killed by his cat.
• The film blends a voice-over narrative with flashbacks
to events. Flashbacks enable the viewer to confront
and share the memories which plague the field officer.
Which aspects of the film did you find difficult to deal
with? Bear in mind that we all approach films with our
own background and point of view.
Dad:
Robbie:
Dad:
Robbie:
• What do you think may have motivated the filmmaker
to write this film script? Are such films useful and
relevant to all Australians?
• Can you explain why films like this rarely appear on
commercial television?
• Robbie is hurt and disappointed. He hides in the tree
to try to deal with painful reality. What is important
about his Nan and father staying with him in the tree
until it is dark? What might have happened if they had
got cross with him and forced him down?
fly peewee, fly!
• What kind of reconciliation occurs at the end of the film?
What evidence of change can you observe in the adults?
A Film Australia National Interest Program
Writer/Director Sally Riley
Producer Adrienne Parr
the story
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.
Film Australia From Sand to Celluloid Study Guide
I’m sorry, son. He’s dead.
I should have been here to look after him.
It’s not your fault. That Peewee should have able to look after himself.
No, he shouldn’t.
• What are they really saying to each other?
• Both Robbie and his Dad sing the same little song.
What role does this song play in the story?
ROUND UP
Writer/Director Tima Tamou
Producer Pauline Clague
the story
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.
‘This video made me laugh—black humour all over! I
think these two would be lost without each other. (In the
scene with the coffee) I know what brothers would say, ‘I
don’t want any of this crap, just a coffee!’ (Rebecca)
• Think of five positive things you could do to change
what you don’t like about your own life or society in
general at the moment. Put at least one into action.
discussion points
Writer/Director Darlene Johnson
Producer Antonia Barnard
• Hugo and Desi avoid any real communication about
their differences by fighting to see who is more physically
powerful. What role do the spectators play in this fight?
What alternatives were there for all of them?
• Esther is the seriously ill Chinese-Australian woman in the
hospital. Trace Hugo’s attitude towards her throughout the
film. What assumptions do you think he made about her
when he first saw her? What does her bedside photograph
reveal about her life? What happens to Hugo to change his
attitude and his behaviour towards her?
Desi: Eh, sister girl!
Nurse Brenda: That’s nurse to you, Mr Little.
• What are each of the characters trying to do in this
brief exchange?
• Both Hugo and Desi have potentially humiliating
experiences in situations they don’t understand. Think
of a situation in which you didn’t know how to behave
appropriately. Brainstorm some constructive ways of
dealing with situations in which you don’t know how to
behave. How could you prepare for visiting someone
whose culture is unfamiliar to you?
Desi:
Hey cob, got a light?
• Explain this scene from Desi’s and the businessman’s
point of view.
• How does the soundtrack announce the arrival of
Auntie, the bag lady?
I laughed when I saw my cousin Lillian Crombie on
the screen. She’s so solid and I reckon that’s what she
would have said. ‘Share that woma (brandy) between
youse.’ (Rebecca)
• 'See yer later, Cutie!' How does Hugo respond to this
parting comment?
• Auntie says, 'I was doin’ all right by myself but no,
youse two had to come along and be the bloody heroes!'
Was she doing all right by herself? What sorts of risks
are attached to living as a bag lady in big cities?
‘We look after our old people. That’s our strength.’
(Rebecca)
• There are several significant experiences that contribute
to Hugo’s transformation in this film. Which do you think
is the most important? Explain and justify your choice.
• Choose several incidents in the young men’s day in
Sydney. Write them first from Desi’s point of view and
then from Hugo’s.
• Identify and discuss how Round Up makes positive
connections between and across cultures.
‘The difference is what we make it
If it ain’t what it should be
Then we have the right to change it.’
Film Australia From Sand to Celluloid Study Guide
TWO BOB MERMAID
the story
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.
‘It’s hard when you are a kid to dream of doing
something but you’re told that dreaming is only for
white-fellas. But it’s true we have to be proud of who we
are. I was adopted so I never was stopped from going
to the pool and we could go anywhere in the cinema,
not like other Aboriginal people who had no choice.’
(Rebecca)
discussion points
This film is set 40 years ago. Aboriginal people were not
considered citizens until a referendum in 1967.
• Investigate how referendums work in Australia.
What effects did this referendum have on Indigenous
people’s rights?
• What was different about the human and civil rights of
Indigenous people in Australia in the 1950s compared
to the 1990s?
• Research anti-discrimination legislation in your state
and prepare an oral presentation on you findings. Invite
a representative from the Human Rights and Equal
Opportunity Commission to speak to you. In a spirit of
reconciliation, a member of an Indigenous organisation
may be prepared to talk to you about their experiences.
peer pressure
It is hard to go against a group, especially for children
and adolescents to whom friends are so important.
• Think of a time you had to make a decision to go
against your friends. How did you decide?
• List 10 essential qualities you want in a friend.
Compare them with someone else’s list. What is
different? What is the same?
• Koorine’s mother said ‘Ever see black swimming
champions walking round? Swimming’s a white feller’s
sport!’ Is that still true?
• Koorine draws a white mermaid with blonde hair.
How many positive images of Indigenous models are
television or on billboards or in magazines? What effects
do you think it has on children to never see anyone who
looks like them in the media?
• Koorine lives outside the town. What evidence is there
in their house and way of life that they are poor?
• Koorine does her homework by ‘kero-lamp’. Discuss
the problems of living in a house without electricity or
running water.
• In 1957, Aboriginal people had to sit in the cheap
seats at the from at the pictures and go in by the back
door. The usherette said 'Now listen here you lot in the
two bob seats. Pipe down!' What effect do you think this
kind of constant put-down has on self esteem? How does
the film imply this in the picture theatre scene?
• There is one shot in which the Koori children cross
a white line on asphalt. How significant is this at this
point in the film?
‘So haunting, that singing. Those old people are
always around, watching, guiding and looking after us.’
(Rebecca)
• There are two realities constructed in the scenes in which
Paddy leave the jail. Describe reality as the film constructs
it from Paddy’s point of view and from the points of view of
the white observers, jail officials and media workers.
• ‘Are you coming too?’ the female ambulance worker
asks the tribal elder. How might she see this scene? How
might he?
• As the film depicts it, there are other ways of knowing
and being within and outside of the white world.
The tribal elder simply materialises in the prison to
see Paddy. Is there a logical explanation for such
occurrences? Does there have to be?
• Koorine can swim at the local pool. Her brother and
friends can’t. What is the difference between them?
What power was used to exclude them? Who used it?
• The media surround the ceremony, invading Paddy’s
space. They film it for their own purposes but Paddy
only sees and hears the story which is relevant to him.
How does the filmmaker create this effect?
‘I can remember being called a ‘boong’ - that boy Barry
won’t forget. I gave him a blood nose! That was at
primary school. I didn’t really know what it meant. I do
now!’ (Rebecca)
• ‘You’ve got your payback. You’re free. Don’t do it
again!’ Paddy has been freed from white gaol and now
from tribal justice. Which freedom might be the most
important to him? Why?
• Look carefully at the way the last scene in this film is
constructed. The camera first shows Koorine walking
away from the pool and her friends, then it is behind
her showing her mother waiting for her and finally it
focuses on her again. How are these camera changes
symbolic of her decision and its effects on her life?
• When the elder first appears to Paddy in his cell, he is
frightened. By the next day he faces his punishment calmly.
What do you think has happened to change his attitude?
• Tiddas is a group of Indigenous women singers. See if
you can find and listen to some of their other music.
payback
• The soundtrack in this film offers little compromise
between cultures. Its full meaning is only accessible to
those, Paddy and others, who speak that language. Is
this important in this film?
Writer/Director/DOP Warwick Thornton
Producer Penny McDonald
Line Producer Rachel Perkins
• This is the only film in the collection in black and
white. Why do you think the filmmakers chose a
monochromatic presentation and what is its effect?
the story
black man down
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.
Writer/Producer Sam Watson
Director Bill Crow
Producer Bruce Redman
• Throughout the film, there are interesting shots of
the gaol, the lights out process; the shower room; a low
angle shot in the canteen, showing only feet; collecting
possessions as you are discharged. What do these reveal
about gaol life?
• Freeze the video where Paddy signs the exit paper.
• How do you account for the difference in his
signature?
• How does the singing on the soundtrack prepare the
viewer for what happens to Paddy outside the gaol?
Film Australia From Sand to Celluloid Study Guide
‘Paddy - a man of few words. Poignant reminder of
our struggle to understand two laws, two cultures.’
(Rebecca)
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)
• Why do you think the filmmaker felt it necessary to
put in this warning about depicting ceremonies or
special business?
‘The tragedy of the lost generation is never going to be
forgotten. I don’t think whites will ever understand how
you curl up and a part of you dies inside. The sense of
hopelessness and despair is all around but the spiritual
side is always going to be strong for us.’ (Rebecca)
reference and further reading
For a deeper understanding of the issue of Australian
history and racism towards Indigenous people, read:
B. Hodge & V. J. Mishra, The Dark Side of the Dream,
Allen & Unwin, Sydney, 1991
For a very readable, accessible and well-researched
account of the representation of minority groups in
Australian media, read:
A. Jacubowicz et al, Racism, Ethnicity and the Media,
Allen & Unwin, St Leonards, 1994
• In Black Man Down, ‘down’ does not mean ‘out’.
It deals with current events but carries the message
that culture and the spirits who carry it only die if
people let it happen. However it takes strength to face
responsibility and refuse to be a victim.
Nakun Yanun, Looking and Talking: A Guide to
Selected Films and Videos for Aboriginal Studies, South
Australian Film and Video Centre, 1988
Mulwina, the Spirit of the Grey Kangaroo Dreaming,
emerges from Waxy’s body as he lies unconscious. They
argue over his life.
An initiative of the Indigenous Branch of the Australian
Film Commission
Year: 1996
Total duration: 74.35 minutes
Waxy: All I have is my life and I decide whether I live or I die.
Mulwina: You’ve got a life, have you Waxy? You been living
like a proud black man? No way! A proud black man has a
duty to his land and his people and his Dreaming.
• How does the filmmaker symbolise the way Waxy’s
parents deal with the pain of having their son taken away?
• How did Karnu the warrior become ‘Waxy’ the
intending suicide?
• Mulwina says about his real name ‘Deadly, eh?’ Are
names important? Find out the meaning of your name
and why it was chosen. How can we encourage people to
use the name we want to be called?
from sand to celluloid
Study guide prepared for the AFI by Patricia Kelly with
grateful acknowledgement to Rebecca Bear-Wingfield,
Lecturer, Oodgeroo Noonuccal Unit, and Queensland
University of Technology for her comments.
For information about Film Australia’s programs,
contact:
Film Australia
PO Box 46
Lindfield NSW 2070
tel 02 9413 8634 fax 02 9416 9401
email [email protected]
www.filmaust.com.au
• The ‘stolen children’ were taken forcibly from their
Indigenous parents and brought up in homes or white
foster homes. They are still in the process of finding
their roots and putting their lives back together as
much as possible. Read stories or newspaper accounts or
watch some of the videos which have been made about
this shameful part of Australian history. How did the
governments of the day justify their actions?
• The priest visiting the gaol says, ‘I buried his
grandmother last week and I’m not going to bury him
this week.’ Does the intervention of one person make a
difference? What can we do in our personal and social
lives to create a socially just society?
'This film is a tragic echo of voices past, a call to arms
made to warriors long dead. Yet within these images the
land screams out ‘live my children, live!’ For death is
the darkest estate.’
• What is the filmmaker’s final challenge to Indigenous
people?
Film Australia From Sand to Celluloid Study Guide