This film is about what happened to my culture when it was interrupted by your culture DAVID GULPILIL ANOTHER COUNTRY ATOM 2014 A STUDY GUIDE BY MARGUERITE O'HARA A+ AUSTRALIAN TEACHERS OF MEDIA http://www.metromagazine.com.au ISBN: 978-1-74295-508-7 http://www.theeducationshop.com.au
Contents 1. Curriculum Guidelines 3 2. About the Filmmakers 4 3. Map of Arnhem Land 6 4. Student Activities 11 5. Views and Values 13 6. Resources and References 15 OVERVIEW This is a film about Ramingining, a remote Indigenous community in north-east Arnhem Land. But, as the title of this film suggests, it is in many ways 'another country'. Some students may recognise the country as the place where Rolf de Heer's Ten Canoes was filmed. This award-winning 2006 film about Indigenous life before the arrival of white settlers was shot in this part of Arnhem Land on the edge of the Arafura swamp. It was the first film shot in an Indigenous language. David Gulpilil, Australian actor and local, is the narrator of Another Country, as he was for Ten Canoes, some eight years earlier. In this film, the camera moves around Ramingining as Gulpillil explains simply and clearly why the town is as it is today. How does any community develop an identity and what are the factors that result in changes within that community over time? What are the struggles faced by this community to retain control of their lives? We need to understand the history of Ramingining, to listen to the people who live there to understand their lives and their beliefs, their strengths, their losses and their aspirations. SCREEN EDUCATION @ ATOM 2014 2
1. CURRICULUM GUIDELINES Another Country is one of three films, described as 'The Country Suite of Projects' made by filmmakers Rolf de Heer, Molly Reynolds, David Gulpilil, Peter Djiggir and members of the community of Ramingining between 2013 and 2014. Charlie's Country, directed by Rolf de Heer and starring ac- tor David Gulpilil, is the story of Charlie, an ageing blackfel- la living in Arnhem Land today and finding life difficult as he is faced with whitefella laws that make little sense to him. Still Our Country - Reflections on a Culture, directed by Molly Reynolds, is described by the filmmakers as 'an experiential film' with evocative cinematic visuals and sound. Still Our Country documents the swiftly morphing lives of the Yolngu people of Ramingining in the Northern Territory. The film is built on fragments and parts presenting a carnival of contem- porary ways, the sum of which makes for a bold declaration of identity and a hopeful promise of a future. Another Country, the third of this suite of projects, is a portrait of life today in Ramingining. It is made in a more traditional documentary style. David Gulpilil's narration offers a compelling account of what daily life is like for the com- munity of Aboriginal Australians who live in Ramingining. Through a range of scenes and subjects with accompanying commentary, we learn about life in this remote community in Arnhem Land,