About the Festival:
Dark Before Dawn Productions is hoping this brand new NAIDOC Week event is only the first of many, and that it grows with addition.
The Yaktunga Indigneous Film Festival will be an opportunity to give Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples living within the Mt Barker region, as well as the wider community, an opportunity to view Indigenous Films (where available) in a free, or subsidized setting.
The focus will be on screening mostly Australian First Nations Films, with additional global First Nations Films also. In particular, where Australian First Nations Films are not available.
TRIGGER WARNING: The films in this event include violence, and coarse and racial language.
Runtime:
SESSION ONE – DRAMA
2.00 pm: Introduction; Travis Akbar
2.05 pm: Welcome to Country; Courtney Hunter-Hebberman
2.15 pm: Short Documentary; Aboriginal Warrior, Unrated
Follows the story of Chris Collard, from his early life dealing with juvenile detention to his experience with kickboxing.
2.30 pm: Short Narrative Film; Tambo, M15+
After returning to Australia from the failed Gallipoli campaign, A First Nations soldier faces scrutiny that forces him to question his choices, identity, and future.
2.45 pm: Feature Film; Heart of the Man, M15+
Aspiring boxer Chris Wundurra (Parker Little) lives under the shadow of his father, Sammy Wundurra (David Cook), a towering one-time champ in the ring known by his moniker of Wonder-Man. Haunted by a family tragedy, Sammy pushes Chris to take a tilt at a national boxing championship, and while the young man is desperate to impress his fearsome father, he is destined to walk another road…one that doesn’t involve pain and violence.
The feature debut of exciting Indigenous filmmaker David Cook, Heart of the Man is a “…a winningly tough but profoundly sensitive tale…” according to FilmInk Magazine: https://www.filmink.com.au/reviews/heart-of-the-man/
4.30 pm – 5.30pm: Q&A
Heart of the Man writer/director/actor David Cook | Tambo lead actor and boxer Brenton Watts | Mt Barker-based Producer Nara Wilsonfrom BiRiny
6.30 – Event End
Due to unforeseen circumstances, SESSION 2: – GENRE has been cancelled