The ninth annual Message Sticks Indigenous Film Festival presents films by the country's many talented Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander filmmakers, as well as of international Indigenous directors. This year's program features a rich selection of dramas and documentaries by first-time directors and established filmmakers. Tandanya is proud to showcase the program in Adelaide.

Thursday, 7th August
Opening Night - Invitation Only

Yolngu Guya Djamamirr (5 mins, Australia)
Director: Frank Djirrimbilpilwy Garawirritja
Yolngu Guya Djamamirr a documentary about the Chooky Dancers who became famous after a video of 'Zorba the Greek - Yolngu style' had been posted on YouTube. But the story behind the Chooky Dancers' performance is not told on YouTube, a void that this documentary fills. We learn that the dance is a thank-you gift to Lilian, carer of Priscilla, the disabled daughter of Lionel. Lilian has looked after Priscilla in Darwin for a long time, and under her care she has blossomed and became strong.Yolngu Guya Djamamirr introduces Priscilla's family and highlights the many performances of the Chooky Dancers.

River of No Return (Documentary, 52 mins, Australia)
Director:Darlene Johnson
Like many young girls, Frances Djulibing dreamed of being a movie star. Her journey from tribal life to red carpets is unlike any other. River of No Return is a story of transformation as Frances learns to move between the ancient life of the Yolgnu and modern world of balanda*.

* white culture

Friday, 8th August
7pm

One River, all Rivers (6 mins, Australia)
Director: Tom E Lewis
One River, all Rivers tells the story of Arnhemland lawman Roy Ashley Moyngumbi who receives a message from the crow spirit to stop the drainage and destruction of a local river system.

When Colin Met Joyce (Documentary, 52 mins, Australia)
Director: Rima Tamou
Colin and Joyce Clague, have had a marriage that has been entwined in a forty year journey of support, nurturing, devotion, commitment and love. They are the yin and yang of each other. But it is their principles about social justice, humanity and family that bind them.

Saturday, 9th August

Session 1 - 1pm

Australian and International Shorts

Yolngu Guya Djamamirr (8 mins, Australia)
Director: Frank Djirrimbilpilwy Garawirritja
A short film about the You Tube over night sensation 'Chooky Dancers' from Elcho Island. A moving insight into how the 'chooky dance' came to be, and why they believe so strongly in dancing.

Who Paintin' dis Wandjina? (8 mins, Australia)
Director: Taryne Laffar
Anonymously a non-Indigenous graffiti artist speaks about the hundreds of Wandjina stencils and graffiti around the city of Perth, Western Australia. Traditional owners of the sacred Wandjina - an ancient creator spirit - respond and explain the inappropriateness of this being graffitied without "proper" knowledge.

Bollywood Dreaming (8 mins, Australia)
Director: Cornel Ozies
Bollywood Dreaming is a story of an African-American/Aboriginal teenager who doesn't conform to the norm. Jedda Rae Hill does boxing, likes to skate and strangely enough likes watching Bollywood movies. We follow her everyday life and explore her dreams of being a Bollywood actor.

Nikamowin (12 mins, Canada)
Director: Kevin Lee Burton
NIKAMOWIN ((( Song ))) is a deconstruction and reconstruction of Cree narrative that begs the question of how languages emerge, exist and persist. A musical translation of the Cree language that melodies deep into your core.

Sikumi (15 mins, Alaska)
Director: Andrew Okpeaha MacLean
An Inuit hunter drives his dog team out on the frozen Arctic Ocean in search of seals, but instead, becomes a witness to murder.

Storytime (9mins 10 secs, Australia)
Director: Jub Clerc
Two adventurous Kimberley kids wander deep into the Mangroves at sunset, only to find the terrifying campfire stories of the Gooynbooyn Woman may not be myth after-all...

Session 2 - 2.30pm

Spirit Stones (Documentary, 52 mins, Australia)
Director: Allan Collins
Noongar Elders reveal phenomenal events of the 1940s and 1950s in the south-west of Western Australia when mysterious stones fell for hours, days and weeks. Memories of the Noongar storytellers are linked with sensitivity and a lightness of touch to places of importance as exquisite images and sounds radiate feeling.

River of No Return (Documentary, 52 mins, Australia)
Director: Darlene Johnson
Like many young girls, Frances Djulibing dreamed of being a movie star. Her journey from tribal life to red carpets is unlike any other. River of No Return is a story of transformation as Frances learns to move between the ancient life of the Yolgnu and modern world of balanda*.

* white culture

Sunday, 10th August

Session 1 - 1pm

Mad Morro (Documentary, 52 mins, Australia)
Director: Kelrick Martin
Debbie Morris has waited 13 years for her family to finally be reunited. Her son James has been behind bars for his entire adult life. In prison he has become a hardened survivor of the system. Now he is only weeks away from release and has chosen to go home and stay with his Mum in Taree.

Session 2 - 2.30pm

Wanja: Warrior Dog (Documentary, 26 mins, Australia)
Director: Angie Abdilla
Auntie Barb is an elder of Redfern's community, who lived on the Block for twenty years with her family and dog, Wanja. Wanja was an integral part of the community, known to all for her ability to sniff out the police in uniform and undercover "the Block's guardian angel".

Courting With Justice (26 mins, Australia)
Director: Debbie Carmody
A former Norseman pub manager was charged with the manslaughter of Kevin Rule, a member of the Ngadju Nation, but later found not guilty. The dead man's partner, Daniella Borg, feels that the Australian Judicial System has not provided her with justice. Daniella has decided to have a retrial. This time it is to be set on Kevin's lands, within the framework of the oldest law in the land. The case is going before an Indigenous Customary Law Court.

** Entry to all films are free **