Funding Approval
In the archive
2015-2016 development FUNDING

Indigenous Feature Development  |  Indigenous TV Drama Development  |  Indigenous Documentary Development  |  Indigenous Shorts Development

Indigenous Feature Development

CARNAGE
Tamarind Tree Pictures Pty Ltd
Genre Drama
Producer Greer Simpkin, David Jowsey
Director / Writer Steven McGregor
Synopsis Three Ghosts visit Jason at Christmas to show him he has become the very thing he swore he would never become.

GINDERELLA
Drink Films Pty Ltd
Genre Drama
Producer Melissa Johnston
Executive Producer David Jowsey
Director Adrian Russell Wills
Synopsis GINDERELLA shows us all what means to have to fight for your life.

MOXIE GIRLS
Oombarra Productions Pty Ltd
Genre Drama
Producers Bain Stewart, David Jowsey, Greer Simpkin
Writer Leah Purcell
Synopsis Old team mates come together to help a teen prodigy make it to the Netball State titles.

Indigenous TV Drama Development

COOTAMUNDRA GIRLS
6 x 58 mins
Essential Media & Entertainment Pty Ltd
Genre Drama
Producers Claudia Karvan, Gillian Moody
Director Adrian Russell Wills
Writer John Bell
Synopsis COOTAMUNDRA GIRLS explores the remarkable stories and experiences of a group of young Aboriginal girls who are forcibly removed from their families and bought to the Cootamundra Girls Home.

FIREBITE
6 x 50 mins
See-Saw Films (TV) Pty Ltd
Genre Drama
Executive Producers Rachel Gardner, Emile Sherman, Jamie Laurenson
Directors / Writers Warwick Thornton, Brendan Fletcher
Synopsis A high octane action-fantasy series that follows two blackfellas on their quest to wipe out the last colony of Vampires in Australia.

GRACE BESIDE ME
13 x 30 mins
Magpie Pictures Pty Ltd
Genre Children’s, Drama
Producers Lois Randall, Dena Curtis
Director Lynn-Maree Danzey, Beck Cole, Nicholas Verso
Writer Sue McPherson, Danielle MacLean, Jon Bell
Synopsis A rich and humorous coming of age story adapted from the award winning novel by Sue McPherson

UNITY
13 x 45mins
Frenzie Films Pty Ltd
Genre Drama
Producers Kelly Lefever, Catriona McKenzie
Writer Catriona McKenzie
Synopsis When the magnetic poles of the earth flip Rachel’s elderly parents disappear. When she eventually finds them their age has been reversed and they are now younger than Rachel. They band together to avoid being kidnapped while they seek to understand how and why this has happened.

Indigenous Documentary Development

THE BLACK KNIGHT
50 mins
Executive Producer Tom Zubrycki
Writer Pauline Clague
Synopsis A documentary focusing on the exceptional life of a Yorta Yorta man Pastor Sir Doug Nicholls who by the end of his 82 years had gained the respect of a Nation.

COLOUR THEORY UNDERGROUND
4 x 26 mins
No Coincidence Media Pty Ltd
Producers Hetti Perkins, Mitchell Stanley
Director Dena Curtis
Synopsis Colour Theory | Underground introduces the audience to a world that’s synonymous with illicit urban culture, but also a world of beauty, colour and flair.

DARK EMU
Mravicic Films Pty Ltd
60mins
Producer Belinda Mravicic
Director Dylan River
Writer Bruce Pascoe
Synopsis With his book ‘Dark Emu’, Bruce Pascoe is on a mission to dispel the hunter-gatherer myth of Australia’s first people.

THE FOX AND THE FREEDOM FIGHTERS
55mins
Maling Productions Pty Ltd
Producer Paula Maling
Director Martin Leroy Adams
Writer Rhonda Dixon-Grovenor
Synopsis The story of activist Charles "Chicka" Dixon and his leadership in the struggle for Indigenous rights at the time of strong official resistance and a search by his daughter for the father she only partly knew.

LITERACY FOR LIFE
63mins
Blackfella Films
Producer Darren Dale
Director / Writer Erica Glynn
Synopsis Literacy for Life follows a bunch of Adult Aboriginal people as they take on the brave task of learning to read and write later in life.

MISS PINK (OLIVE MURIEL PINK)
85mins
Warlpiri Media Association Inc.
Producer Rachel Clements
Executive Producer Michael Taylor
Director Dena Curtis
Writers Trish Morton-Thomas, Francis Jupurrula-Kelly 
Synopsis The story of Olive Muriel Pink, the first anthropologist to work with the Warlpiri people, and the sacrifices she made while living in the Central Desert in the 1930s and 40s.

MY QUEENSLAND: A POLICE STORY
75mins
Turn Dog Quick Films Pty Ltd
Producer Ian Ludwick
Director Benjamin Southwell
Writer Ian Ludwick
Synopsis What is this story called ‘Queensland’? A former Indigenous policeman’s humorous, searing and personal account of Queensland’s frontier wars, their legacy today, and the possibility of reconciling the deep wounds of Queensland history.

ON THE WAVE OF HISTORY
80mins
New Horizon Films Pty Ltd
Producer Pauline Clague
Writers James Marshall, Brenda L. Croft
Synopsis The story of Gurindji/Malngin leader Vincent Lingiari who  led the ‘Gurindji Walk off’ commencing a nine year strike by Aboriginal stockmen and their families working at Wave Hill Station.

RICHARD BELL – SHAPESHIFTER
Darlene Johnson (sole trader)
Director / Writer Darlene Johnson
Synopsis The story of Aboriginal artist Richard Bell’s fight to bring about cultural change through his art and activism.

TEACH A MAN TO FISH
80mins
Ariel Media Pty Ltd
Producers Grant Saunders, Amy Frasca
Executive Producer Graeme Isaac
Director Grant Saunders
Synopsis Grant Saunders is an Aboriginal filmmaker, writer and musician. Despite a promising artistic career, he has secretly wanted to be a fisherman just like his father Ray, and grandfather Horry.  On the eve of Ray’s retirement, Grant finally convinces him to pass on the family trade.

Songlines Special Initiative

FINDING MAAWIRRANGGA
15mins
Diplin Arts Aboriginal Corporation
Producer Julia Morris
Executive Producer Fleur Parry
Director Dylan McDonald
Writer Tom E. Lewis
Synopsis Before re-connecting with the Dreaming of his Grandmothers’ country, Tom E Lewis must return home to seek permission from the Lawmen, learn and travel the Songlines, breaking years of haunting silence.

THE GREEDY EMU
15mins
Manmoyi Music Pty Ltd
Producer Mark T. Grose
Director Terrah Guymala
Writer Jill Ngandmirra
Synopsis Adults have a responsibility to care for their children and when they don't there are consequences.

MARRIMARRIGUN
15mins
Ramu Productions Pty Ltd
Producer Jodie Bell
Director Kimberley West
Writer Dot West
Synopsis Two young men out hunting get ripped from the mainland by ferocious tides.  Through this tragedy, the ancestors of the Yawuru people are born.

NIMINGARRA STORY
15mins
Broome Aboriginal Media Association Aboriginal Corporation & Pilbara and Kimberley Aboriginal Media
Producer Neil Turner
Director Curtis Taylor
Writers Desmond Taylor, Neil turner, Curtis Taylor
Synopsis Nimingarra spirit people pursued two snakes from Mukurtu in the east through to Lake Dora in the Great Sandy Desert of Western Australia. They killed and cooked them there but all perished in an explosion of hot juices when the snake’s bladders were pierced. The Nimingarra spirits became the Warnman speaking people whose descendants live in the region today.

NJAMBI
15mins
Aboriginal Resource and Development Services Aboriginal Corporation & ARDS
Producer Benjamin Ward
Director / Writer Mark Watjana Ashley
Synopsis Following the spiritual, legal and economic significance of Ŋambi (stone spearhead), for the Wagilag clan of Arnhem Land, senior custodian Roy Wuyŋumbi Ashley shares an all-encompassing  story of identity, culture and law that only he can tell.

SESERE
15 mins
One Blood Hidden Image Entertainment Group Pty Ltd
Producer Patrick Mau
Director Benjamin Southwell
Synopsis An observational documentary about the origins of dugong hunting in the Torres Strait Islands.

YARRIPIRRI’S JOURNEY
15mins
Walpiri Media Association Inc.
Producer Anna Cadden
Executive Producer Michael Taylor
Directors / Writers Simon Fisher, Jason Japaljarri Woods
Synopsis Harry Jakamarra Nelson follows the epic journey of Yarripirri, the ancestral Serpent who brought songs, law and the Jardiwarnpa fire ceremony to Warlpiri country.

Indigenous Feature Documentary Development – Special Initiative 

AFTER THE APOLOGY
Pursekey Productions Pty Ltd
Producer Michaela Perske
Director / Writer Larissa Behrendt
Synopsis Indigenous children are still being removed from their families at alarming rates. After the Apology tells the true stories of the fight to bring the children home.

Indigenous Shorts Development

Pitch Short Blacks Special Initiative

BLIGHT
13 mins
Factor 30 Films Pty Ltd
Genre Western, supernatural
Producers Melissa Kelly, Ryan Hodgson
Director Perun Bonser
Synopsis The tables are turned on an Aboriginal tracker who is then pursued by the criminal she was sent to kill.

BROWN LIPS
13 mins
Noble Savage Pictures Pty Ltd
Genre Drama
Producer Majhid Heath
Director / Writer Nakkiah Lui
Synopsis Two cousins from Sydney’s outer suburbs decide that the only way to feel loved is to turn their backs on their family for good, causing a family to implode, and two lives to be changed forever.

THE KOORIOKE MACHINE
10 mins
Rebel Waltz Films Pty Ltd
Genre Drama
Producer Tatiana Velasco
Director / Writer Shane Salvador
Synopsis When 'The Koorioke Machine’ suffers his first loss it takes more than a visit from an angel for him to find the right tune.

LAST DRINK AT FRIDA’S
10 mins
Magpie Pictures Pty Ltd
Genre Drama
Producers Kodie Bedford, Lois Randall
Director Bjorn Stewart
Writer Kodie Bedford
Synopsis A lonely jazz singer and a troubled black soldier find solace in an underground speak easy, where the rules of the outside world don’t apply.

MANINGAWU
10mins
Tiffany Parker Sole Trader
Genre Drama
Producer Tanith Glynn-Maloney
Director / Writer Tiffany Parker
Synopsis A day of hunting goes amiss when a group of Tiwi ladies head out into the mangroves and a young girl finds herself lost. She will have to rely on her family to help her find her way.

NARCISSIST
10mins
Noble Savage Pictures Pty Ltd
Genre Drama, Comedy
Director / Writer Zac James
Synopsis In a world driven by perception, are they always true?

WARD ONE
12 mins
Since 1788 Productions Pty Ltd
Genre Drama
Producer Tanith Glynn-Maloney
Director / Writer Dylan River
Synopsis An Old Fella teaches a Young Fella there are more ways than one to heal the spirit.

WATER
10 mins
Mravicic Films Pty Ltd
Genre Drama, Indigenous apocalyptic
Producer Belinda Mravicic
Director / Writer John Harvey
Synopsis Set in 2038, 250 years since the invasion of Australia, a pregnant woman seeks hope for life in an arid, apocalyptic frontier.