Short Film Grand Prix Competition

DHAKIYARR VS THE KING




Tom Murray, Allan Collins

Country of production: Australia
Year: 2004
Language: English, Yolngu
Mins: 56

Production company: Film Australia
Producer: Graeme Isaac
Script: Tom Murray
Cinematography: Allan Collins
Editing: James Bradley
Sound: Chris West
Music: Allister Spence


Source: Film Australia
101 Eton Road
Lindfield, NSW, 2070, Australia
Tel: 61 29413 8636
Fax: 61 29416 9401
e-mail: festivals@filmaust.com.au


The family of the great Yolngu leader Dhakiyarr Wirrpanda is searching for answers. Seventy years after his controversial murder trial and subsequent disappearance, Dhakiyarr’s body has never been found and laid to rest. His descendants know that justice was not served. They want to restore what was denied to him: his honor. This is their story, told in their own words, about two laws, two cultures and two families coming to terms with the past. In 1933, on Woodah Island in remote northeast Arnhem Land, Dhakiyarr speared a policeman, Constable McColl, who was leading his wife in chains. In Yolngu culture, this was his right. On the advice of missionaries, he traveled to Darwin to explain his actions and his people’s ways to the Northern Territory Supreme court. The film journeys with the Yolngu clan as they re-trace Dhakiyarr’s footsteps and come face to face with the descendants of Constable McColl -- and with the authorities that let him down.



Tom Murray is an experienced radio writer and producer who makes his debut as a documentary director with Dhakiyarr vs. the King . The film stems from a one-hour piece he wrote and produced for ABC Radio in 2002. Murray has also written and produced short films and has shot and edited films for the Department of Education.

Allan Collins is an Australian Film Institute winner for his cinematography on Ivan Sen's Beneath the Clouds . He is the first indigenous person to receive the honor of accreditation to the Australian Cinematographer's Society. Although based in Alice Springs, he works around Australia on projects within his own Aboriginal community and also on mainstream drama, documentary and commercial projects.

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