Indigenous Feature Films: A New Hope for National Cinemas?

As an observer of the cinemas of Canada, Australia and New Zealand, I have recently been struck by the unprecedented success of indigenous feature films from these three nations. Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner (Zacharias Kunuk, 2002), Rabbit-Proof Fence (Phillip Noyce, 2002), and Whale Rider (Niki Caro, 2003) are the first indigenous feature films from these nations to reach mass audiences. They are perhaps the most successful indigenous features from any nation around the globe. Do these successes suggest a new direction for national cinemas? It seems possible that indigenous cinema might help to re-imagine national cinema in the new millennium and in the process contribute to new understandings of the distinct culture and character of various English-speaking cinemas, which fight Hollywood for attention and audiences. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Some critics have suggested that these three films shamelessly cater to Western audiences who want to congratulate themselves on their enlightenment and concern for disappearing I don't agree that this is what the films suggest--their very point is that these cultures have not disappeared. Marshaling their stylistic and thematic guns, they force the audience's attention to this fact, startling viewers who believe that indigenous peoples have been largely wiped out or that they have no recognizable role to play in modern society. Atanarjuat, Rabbit-Proof Fence and Whale Rider launch a project of remembering; un-covering aspects of the colonial past with their close attention to indigenous culture. In doing so, they open up national cinema to voices that have long been silent (silenced), specifically aboriginal voices. The power of voice is enacted in varying ways in these three films; in two, indigenous people speak directly to the audience in voiceover narration or in documentary footage, while in the third, an indigenous filmmaker and his team of indigenous actors and crew re-create a forgotten culture for the viewer. Rabbit-Proof Fence, Atanarjuat, and Whale, Rider provide a re-vitalized vision for national cinema by embracing previously denied cultural roots and high-lighting the multiplicities within the nation. The films urge not only a re-imagining of national cinema, but also a re-imagining of their respective nations as a whole, begging the question of how far they have come as postcolonial cultures. [ILLUSTRATION OMITTED] Noyce, an Australian director who has worked in Hollywood for twelve years (Patriot Games [1992], Clear and Present Danger [1994], and The Quiet American [2002], among others), returned to his native land to make Rabbit-Proof Fence. The film is based on a book, Follow the Rabbit-Proof Fence, written in 1996 by Doris Pilkington Garimara. Garimara's text relates the story of how her mother survived Australia's aboriginal relocation program in the 1930s. Along with her sister Daisy and her cousin Gracie, Doris's mother, Molly walked over 1500 miles across the nation from an Aboriginal work camp to her home in the bush, following the fence that protects Australia's farmland from rabbits. Rabbit-Proof Fence has received acclaim both inside Australia and beyond. It garnered three Australian Film Institute awards, including Best Film, and Noyce was named Director of the Year by the National Board of Review. Canada's Atanarjuat, or The Fast Runner is the first feature film made in Inuktitut, an Inuit language. Produced by Igloolik Isuma Productions, the first Inuit production company, the film features an all-Inuit cast and a predominantly Inuit crew. Director Zacharias Kunuk and his team (Paul Apak Angilirq, Paul Qulitalik, and cameraman Norman Cohn) have produced a number of films for the Inuit Broadcasting Corporation that document aspects of Inuit culture, including Qaggiq (Gathering Place, 1990) and Saputi (Fish Traps, 1993). Atanarjuat re-creates a traditional Inuit fable addressing community ties, religion and individual responsibility. …

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