About

Presented in conjunction with the exhibition 'My Country, I Still Call Australia Home: Contemporary Art from Black Australia' at GOMA

'My Life As I Live It' is a major survey of first peoples and black cinema from Australia, Aotearoa/New Zealand, Canada/Nunavik Canada, the United States/Anowarakowa and United Kingdom. Central to the program is a history of Indigenous Australian cinema. These films screen alongside international works by indigenous and black filmmakers, which similarly address subjects of identity, culture and rights.

The program takes its title from Essie Coffey's landmark 1993 documentary concerning contemporary Aboriginal communities working towards self-determination. Coffey remains a vital figure in Australian film history, having directed some of the first documentaries by an Indigenous Australian about Indigenous experience. Including shorts, feature films and documentaries, 'My Life as I Live It' considers how filmmakers have used film and video since the late 1970s as a form of self-representation and self-empowerment. The program features many milestone moving-image works — productions that changed the framework for Indigenous and Black representation onscreen, by practitioners who challenged the film industry to support autonomous Indigenous and Black filmmaking.

'My Life as I Live It' acknowledges that the histories and experiences of all these communities and cultures are distinct. The program doesn't seek to conflate these into a shared narrative, but offers an opportunity to explore the resonance and the shared importance of filmmakers taking control of their own representation and telling their own stories. 'My Life as I Live It' celebrates these groundbreaking films and makers, and offers an opportunity for Australian audiences to see some of the defining films of the last 30 years.

The Australian Cinémathèque advises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people that films in this program may contain images of people who are deceased.

QAGOMA acknowledges all the filmmakers, archives and distributors who have generously provided screening materials for this program. Special thanks to the National Film and Sound Archive Australia. Program curated by José Da Silva, Australian Cinémathèque.

List of Works

• Sweet Sweetback's Baadasssss Song 1971 | Melvin Van Peebles
• Ningla A-Na (Hungry for Land) 1972 | Director: Alessandro Cavadini
• Pressure 1975 | Director: Horace Ové
• My Survival as an Aboriginal 1978 | Director: Essie Coffey
• Killer of Sheep 1979 | Director: Charles Burnett
• Patu! 1983 | Director: Merata Mita
• Ethnic Notions 1986 | Director: Marlon Riggs
• Eyes on the Prize: America's Civil Rights Years 1987 | Directors: Judith Vecchione, Orlando Bagwell, Callie Crossley, James A Devinney
• Handsworth Songs 1987 | Director: John Akomfrah
• Ngati 1987 | Director: Barry Barclay
• Mauri 1988 | Director: Merata Mita
• Do The Right Thing 1989 | Director: Spike Lee
• Looking for Langston 1989 | Director: Isaac Julien
• Tongues Untied 1989 | Director: Marlon Riggs
• Daughters of the Dust 1991 | Director: Julie Dash
• Jindalee Lady 1992 | Director: Brian Syron
• Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance 1993 | Director: Alanis Obomsawin
• My Life as I Live It 1993 | Director: Essie Coffey
• Once Were Warriors 1994 | Director: Lee Tamahori
• No Way to Forget 1995 | Director: Richard J Frankland
• The Last Angel of History 1996 | Director: John Akomfrah
• The Watermelon Woman 1996 | Director: Cheryl Dunye
• All Power to the People! The Black Panther Party and Beyond 1997 | Director: Lee Lew Lee
• Shifting Shelter 1–4 1997–2011 | Director: Iven Sen
• Radiance 1998 | Director: Rachel Perkins
• Smoke Signals 1998 | Director: Chris Eyre
• Wind 1999 | Director: Iven Sen
• Road 2000 | Director: Catriona Mackenzie
• Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner 2001 | Director: Zacharias Kunuk
• One Night the Moon 2001 | Director: Rachel Perkins
• Beneath Clouds 2002 | Director: Iven Sen
• Flat 2002 | Director: Beck Cole
• Gulpilil: One Red Blood 2002 | Director: Darlene Johnson
• Wirriya Small Boy 2004 | Director: Beck Cole
• Green Bush 2005 | Director: Warwick Thornton
• Group of Seven Inches 2005 | Director: Kent Monkman
• Plains Empty 2005 | Director: Beck Cole
• The Lore of Love 2005 | Director: Beck Cole
• The Djarn Djarns 2005 | Director: Wayne Blair
• Yellow Fella 2005 | Director: Iven Sen
• Crocodile Dreaming 2006 | Director: Darlene Johnson
• Back Seat 2007 | Director: Pauline Whyman
• Custard 2007 | Director: Michelle Blanchard
• Days Like These 2007 | Director: Martin Leroy Adams
• Nana 2007 | Director: Warwick Thornton
• Too Late 2007 | Director: Michael Longbottom
• Two Big Boys 2007 | Director: Jon Bell
• Bloodlines 2007 | Director: Jacob Nash
• Done Dirt Cheap 2007 | Director: Debbie Carmody
• Hush 2007 | Director: Dena Curtis
• Jackie Jackie 2007 | Director: Adrian Willis
• Kwatye 2007 | Director: Trisha Morton-Thomas
• Sharpeye 2007 | Director: Aaron Fa'aoso
• The Turtle 2007 | Director: Kelli Cross
• Four Sheets to the Wind 2007 | Director: Sterlin Harjo
• Tkaronto 2007 | Director: Shane Belcourt
• Robin's Hood 2007 | Director: Kent Monkman
• Shooting Geronimo 2007 | Director: Kent Monkman
• First Australians 2008 | Directors: Rachel Perkins, Beck Cole
• River of No Return 2008 | Director: Darlene Johnson
• Aunty Maggie and the Womba Wakgun 2009 | Director: Leah Purcell
• Bourke Boy 2009 | Director: Adrian Wills
• Bran Nue Dae 2009 | Director: Rachel Perkins
• Jacob 2009 | Director: Dena Curtis
• Nia's Melancholy 2009 | Director: Sio Tusa Fa'aaefili
• Ralph 2009 | Director: Deborah Mailman
• Samson and Delilah 2009 | Director: Warwick Thornton
• Stone Bros. 2009 | Director: Richard J Frankland
• The Farm 2009 | Director: Romaine Moreton
• The Party Shoes 2009 | Director: Michelle Blanchard
• We Shall Remain 2009 | Directors: Chris Eyre, Ric Burns, Sarah Colt, Dustin Craig, Stanley Nelson
• Boy 2010 | Director: Taika Waititi
• Dance to Miss Chief 2010 | Director: Kent Monkman
• Here I Am 2010 | Director: Beck Cole
• I Am But a Little Woman 2010 | Director: Gyu Oh
• Kawa (Nights in the Gardens of Spain) 2010 | Director: Katie Wolfe
• Lumaajuuq 2010 | Director: Alethea Arnaquq-Baril
• Qalupalik 2010 | Director: Ame Papatsie
• The Bear Facts 2010 | Director: Jonathan Wright
• Mesnak 2011 | Director: Yves Sioui Durand
• On the Ice 2011 | Director: Andrew Okpeaha MacLean
• Te Whakarauora Tangata (Saving Grace) 2011 | Director: Merata Mita
• The Tall Man 2011 | Director: Tony Krawitz
• Toomelah 2011 | Director: Iven Sen
• Mabo 2012 | Director: Rachel Perkins
• Redfern Now 2012 | Directors: Catriona McKenzie, Wayne Blair, Rachel Perkins, Leah Purcell
• The Sapphires 2012 | Director: Wayne Blair