A scene from “The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson”
15:30 JST, January 31, 2024
A film festival celebrating the work of indigenous Australian directors will be held in Japan on Saturday for the first time. A physical screening will take place at a theater in Tokyo’s Shibuya district, while viewers in Japan can also watch the films online for free.
The 2024 Australian First Nations Film Festival, organized by the Australian Embassy in Tokyo, will showcase five films premiering in Japan, all directed exclusively by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, who are also known as First Nations peoples of Australia.
The indigenous population, who have lived in Australia for more than 60,000 years and today make up almost 4% of the country’s population, were severely affected by European colonization from 1788 onwards. This included widespread epidemics, land seizures and forced removal of children from their families. between 1910 and 1970 under a government policy aimed at the assimilation of children into white society.
According to Prof. Keiji Sawada, an expert in Australian film studies at Waseda University, until the mid-20th century, indigenous peoples were seen as incapable of producing or acting in films due to strong prejudices against them. However, this idea changed in the 1960s and 1970s, when televisions became popular in homes and indigenous people fought for civil rights and began making their own films as a new form of expression based on their tradition of storytelling.
“Aboriginal art is well known in Japan, but very few films directed by indigenous people have been released here. We would like more people in Japan to become acquainted with a new form of expression of these people,” said an embassy official.
The festival line-up includes a wide range of stories. The documentary ‘Finke: There and Back’ highlights the Finke Desert Race, which is more than just a race for the riders who participate in it. “The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson” delves into themes of racism and misogyny in remote Australia in 1893. In addition, three short films offer unique perspectives: from an Aboriginal community radio station to a modern interpretation of the indigenous tradition of arranged marriages. , to a young white police officer’s first encounter with an Aboriginal community.
The festival will also feature a panel discussion with director Leah Purcell and producer Bain Stewart of “The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson,” as well as an introductory lecture by Sawada on “The Magic of Australian First Nation Films.”
The physical screening will take place from 1:30 PM at Eurospace in Tokyo’s Shibuya district, with two different programs costing ¥500 each. A free online screening will be available at the same time as the physical event. Visit the Australian Embassy in Tokyo website for more information:
