Screening: The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith

Join us for a powerful NAIDOC Week celebration with Fred Schepisi’s groundbreaking 1978 film The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith - a searing adaptation of Thomas Keneally’s novel, based on the true story of Jimmy Governor.

One of the most important films in all of Australian cinema, and perhaps the key critical work of Australia's acclaimed New Wave films of the 1970s, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith is a bracing and emotionally wrenching study of institutionalised racism and colonialism on First Nations peoples, and an unflinching look at the repercussions of violence.

Based on the early 20th-century exploits of Jimmy Governor, Jimmie Blacksmith follows its title character, a young man attempting to make his way as a farmhand, but facing only prejudice and deception from society. When the parentage of his child is called into question and he is further robbed by his white employers, Jimmie's barely suppressed rage explodes, triggering a wave of violence that shocked audiences in Australia and around the world.

The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith stands alongside The Harder They Come and Sweet Sweetback's Baadassss Song as one of the most powerful explorations of rebellion and uprising.

About Thomas Keneally

Born in 1935, Thomas Keneally has published over 35 novels, 18 works of non-fiction, and several plays since his debut in 1964.

He is perhaps best known internationally for Schindler’s Ark, which won the Man Booker Prize in 1982 and was later adapted into the Academy Award-winning film Schindler’s List by Steven Spielberg.

In 2011, The Sydney Mechanics’ School of Arts became the home of the Tom Keneally Centre, which holds the research collection of world-renowned author Thomas Keneally, in addition to copies of his own works and some items from his private collection of photographs and memorabilia.

The following program may contain images and voices of deceased persons.

"The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith" appears courtesy of Umbrella Entertainment