- by Graham Holton
- The Guardian
- Issue #2202
The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson, which Leah Purcell wrote, directed and starred in. Photo: The Drovers Wife: The Legend Of Molly Johnson Productions.
This year’s NAIDOC Week from 5-12 July, marked fifty years of the official national movement, celebrating the strength, vision, and the legacy of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. What better way to celebrate those cultures than being immersed in them through watching the acclaimed documentary series Frame by Frame?
Noted filmmaker Rachel Perkins (Arrernte and Kalkadoon woman) hosts the show, holding intimate conversations with leading First Nations filmmakers and screen storytellers, opening them up on their heritage, creative process, and career journeys.
The series explores creative vision, cultural legacy, and industry, with an emphasis on artistic and social practice. The series has great cultural significance, centring on Indigenous perspectives and truth-telling; how they broke down barriers and shaped Australian screen culture in the process.
Directors discuss the obstacles they faced in financing their films and talk about how they balanced artistry with commercial pressures, all while representing communities that have often been overlooked by mainstream Australian cinema. These reflections offer insights into the structural challenges of film making, as well as the resilience needed to maintain a film/stage career.
The series allows the interviewees to reflect on their personal experiences and cultural backgrounds, and how that shaped their filmmaking. Among the notable interviewees are Leah Purcell (Goa-Gunggari-Wakka Wakka Murri woman), Sally Riley (Wiradjuri woman), and Erica Glynn.
Purcell discusses her stage and screen career, and her commitment to truth-telling through Blak perspectives. Riley examines her work and contributions to First Nations storytelling, and Glynn delves into her creative process and iconic short films.
The interviews reveal that films do not emerge in isolation, but are products of political events, family histories, technological change, and cultural identity. Storytelling is important in its preservation of memory, challenging the dominant historical narratives taught in this country. This makes the series valuable for students of film, media, and Australian cultural history.
Anyone interested in our film history, documentary studies, or Australian culture, will find this fascinating series rewarding. It encourages viewers to think critically about why films matter so much in this country, creating something different to the US product dominates our screens.
A delightful and entertaining series.
5 out of 5 red stars.
Frame by Frame can be streamed from sbsondemand.
