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SAFC Presents National Reconciliation Week 2023: Close to the Bone
31 May 2023
Join the SAFC in celebrating Reconciliation Week 2023 with a special screening of South Australian made and SAFC supported documentary Close to the Bone, followed by a Q&A with filmmakers Jared Thomas, Malcolm McKinnon and Mike Brown that will be facilitated by award-winning First Nations cultural arts leader Lee-Ann Tjunypa Buckskin.
Where: Adelaide Studios, 1 Mulberry Road Glenside SA 5065.
When: Wednesday 31 May, 2023
Time: 12.30pm to 1.30pm
Cost: Free, but registrations are essential.
About Close to the Bone
In September 1852, in South Australia’s Flinders Ranges, the body of 16-year-old shepherd James Brown was found, mutilated and castrated. The next day a reprisal party of 17 men pursued a flock of stolen sheep and killed a disputed number of First Nations people. Almost 170 years later, descendants of James Brown’s family return to the Flinders Ranges and reach out to people from some of the Aboriginal groups that share memories from the traumatic early period of European invasion.
What happens when stories of violence and conquest on Australia’s colonial frontier are more than just a historical abstraction, with powerful and personal meanings for families and individuals on both sides of the inter-cultural frontier? How do memories of colonial violence still resonate powerfully today, especially within the lives of many First Nations people? And can the scars of past atrocities be reconciled and healed through the act of truth telling?
Close to the Bone is a practical exercise in “truth and reconciliation”, engaging with culturally and politically challenging material in an effort to forge shared understandings. The film reveals diverse understandings of historic events, while seeking to resolve a shared path forward. In doing so, the film is informed by Charlie Perkins’ immortal words: “We know we cannot live in the past, but the past lives in us”.
About the Speakers
Jared Thomas – Director, writer, producer
A Nukunu person born and raised in Port Augusta, Jared is best known as a fiction author, and has worked in screen for more than 20 years. He was cultural advisor and 2nd AD on Rachel Perkins’ One Night the Moon and cultural advisor, script assessor and sensitivity reader on The Tracker, Operation Buffalo, Stateless, The Ghan, and Kitty Green’s The Royal Hotel. In 2022 he wrote, directed and produced documentary Close to the Bone, which premiered on ABC’s Compass.
Malcolm McKinnon – Director, writer, producer
Malcolm McKinnon is an Australian artist, filmmaker, curator and ghost-wrangler working mainly in the realms of social history and digital media. He has an abiding interest in the surprising labyrinths of living memory and the peculiar beauty of local vernacular. Over the past 30 years his work has encompassed documentary filmmaking, oral history, urban planning, public and community art projects, critical writing and exhibitions. Sometimes he also makes paintings and drawings. Much of his work is produced with and for rural and regional communities.
Mike Brown
Mike Brown’s ancestors arrived in South Australia during the early years of the colony and were amongst the first wave of pioneering pastoralists taking sheep into country north of Adelaide. In the early 1980s he discovered the violent history of his ancestor’s pastoral endeavours, motivating him to pursue practical rapprochement with Aboriginal people in the Flinders Ranges and elsewhere.
Lee-Ann Tjunypa Buckskin – facilitator
Lee-Ann is a Narungga, Kaurna, Wirangu, Wotjobaluk woman who is currently the Assistant Director for Tarrkarri – Centre for First Nations Cultures. She has won several major awards for her work as an Indigenous leader and creative sector worker including the prestigious and internationally recognised Sidney Myer Facilitator Prize. Lee-Ann is highly regarded throughout Australian and international creative communities. She is also the former Deputy Chair, Australia Council Board, Aboriginal Strategy Executive Consultant at the South Australian Film Corporation and member of the National Museum of Australia’s Indigenous Advisory Committee. Lee-Ann is currently the Assistant Director for Program and Strategy, Tarrkarri – Centre for First Nations Cultures, Lot Fourteen.
Accessibility Information
This event is wheelchair accessible. If you have any access requirements, please let our team know in advance by emailing [email protected]
Code of Conduct
The SAFC has zero tolerance for unsafe behaviours, including discrimination, harassment and bullying. By registering for this event you are agreeing to adhere to the Australian Screen Industry Code of Practice – Discrimination, Harassment, Sexual Harassment and Bullying Policy which has been adopted by the SAFC. Find out more here.