New DVD-CRACKS IN THE MASK

Over the last 100 years, the Torres Strait Islanders in far north Australia have been the subject of many anthropological expeditions. The resulting depletion of their cultural artefacts has left them with nothing but a history of remembered loss. The only people in the Pacific to make elaborate turtleshell masks have none left; all their material culture now resides in foreign museums. In a quest to reclaim the past, Ephraim Bani, a wise and knowledgeable Torres Strait Islander , travels with his wife to the great museums of Europe where his heritage lies. Ephraim unburdens himself to his diary in moments of poignant revelation: the artefacts made by his ancestors have undergone a transformation as museum displays. When Ephraim asks for the return of some objects, the resulting debate exposes wider questions about contemporary museum culture as well as the complexity of international and Indigenous politics. They thought it would be easy to talk to the curators about the restitution of some objects; but to his mind, museums were in competition with each other to own the greatest treasures. As the title suggests, even the thickest of masks can crack when the original owners come to visit.

THE DROVER'S BOY


THE DROVER’S BOY is a ‘hybrid’ blend of music, documentary and drama.  The story is set in the 1920s in outback Australia, and evokes a time when it was illegal for white Australians and Aboriginal people to marry.  It was not uncommon for a drover and his Aboriginal wife to pass off their relationship under the guise of her being ‘a drover’s boy’.  In subterfuge, she had to bind her breasts, cut her hair and change her name to disguise herself as an Aboriginal boy. 


This is one such story, sensitively told, based on a ballad by Australian bush legend and singer-songwriter, Ted Egan.  The song, and the film, pay tribute to this form of forbidden union and the significant contribution that Aboriginal women made to the pastoral history of frontier Australia.


The filmmaker, Margaret McHugh, is both a documentary director and a video artist whose work has been honoured at numerous festivals and in exhibitions around Australia and internationally.  After studying visual art, photography and filmmaking in Australia, Spain and Scotland, Margaret enrolled at the Australian Film Television and Radio School in Sydney and later returned to AFTRS to make THE DROVER’S BOY.  The film had its world premiere at the 2015 Sydney Film Festival.



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