Aboriginal Languages News
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Aboriginal language film
Ten Canoes, the first film ever made entirely in an Aboriginal language, Ganalbingu, had its premier in Adelaide in late March. It was written and directed by South Australian film-maker Rolf de Heer and made in close collaboration with Davil Gulpilil, who starred in his 2002 film the Tracker. It was filmed in his country near Ramingining with an entirely indigenous cast. In a newspaper interview de Heer said that if it were up to him, he would not even have his name on the film. "I have less sense of [ownership] about Ten Canoes than just about anything I've done. It's not a question of me going in and making a film I want. I was the means by which somebody else could tell their story. It's a completely different approach and a different way of thinking."
Knowing the link between language and culture, it is not surprising that the first film in an Aboriginal language is the first film told entirely from an Aboriginal perspective.
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