Mamirnikuwi

Angela Cerasi colour graded this moving short documentary Mamirnikuwi, directed by NT director Rebecca Parker.

Rebecca Parker is a writer, director and cinematographer from the Northern Territory, with an interest in adventurous, political and emotionally charged storytelling. She has worked for over a decade in the Film and TV industry, moving back and forth between documentary/news and narrative drama. She also worked as a photojournalist/camera op in conflict zones.

In her short film Mamirnikuwi, Antonia Burke discovers that her home on the Tiwi Islands is at risk from a huge gas project and mobilises her community, creating the first ever Tiwi Women’s Ranger group.  Antonia Nangalama Burke today is a proud Indigenous woman who embraces her identity, her heritage and her community. But she wasn’t always proud. After years of deep detachment from her culture and a long career in the mining industry, she reconnected with her community just as the mining industry set their sights on drilling in her home, according to this bio for SBS.

The short film was selected as one of eleven projects for the Your Planet Short Docs initiative from ABC Australia, in partnership with Doc Society and Screen Territory – to offer early career filmmakers an opportunity to create a short documentary focussing on climate and environmental solutions.  The result is that these next generation filmmakers have delivered a diverse and thought-provoking catalogue of documentaries that shine a light on people and communities designing and acting for a positive future and creating solutions to some of the greatest challenges facing our environment.

Richard Huddleston, Acting Head of Factual and Culture at ABC Australia said of the initiative:

“I am delighted to be partnering with the Doc Society, our screen agencies and Sydney Film Festival for this ambitious initiative. Helping such a passionate group craft their stories on this important issue is exciting for everyone involved and demonstrates the ABC’s ongoing commitment to supporting Australia’s emerging documentary filmmakers.”

Shark Island Foundation and Nightcliff Community Enterprises Ltd also supported the film.

You can watch Mamirnikuwi on ABC iView here or the festival cut on Vimeo here.  The film aired at the Sydney Film Festival in 2023.