It’s no industry secret that Hollywood has a race problem. The highs and lows of representation often focus on the faces we see on the screen, but when it comes to diversity, the director’s chair is still one of the whitest and most male-dominated roles in the industry.
In 2013-2014, only 1.3% of feature films were directed by women of colour. It’s not hard to work out how box-office blunders like Ghost in the Shell, Aloha, and Death Note happened when people of colour (POC), and especially women of colour, are not given the platform to tell our own stories.
Film festivals allow filmmakers of colour the opportunity to showcase their work without requiring them to appeal to the widest [editor’s note: more like whitest amiright] possible audience. Yet the typical fest-going masses can quite easily be broken down to: 75% upper-middle class retirees, 15% corporate jocks, 9.9% hipster film students, and me—fighting for arm space with a businessman using the term “Kafkaesque” for the fifth time in one screening.
One could argue that the occasionally exorbitant prices and intellectualist couch-critic reputation push POC away from experiencing what film festivals have to offer; both are salient points. But to speak to my own experience, the real hurdle has always been more practical: How do you choose what to see, how do you know if you’re going to like it, and how do you know it’s not going to be tokenistic white saviour trash?
This year, Melbourne International Film Festival (MIFF) will be running from the 2nd to the 19th of August, with more than 400 movies screening during that time. For someone who hasn’t fallen into the never-ending pit of local and international independent filmmakers, choosing even one movie to see can be a frustrating experience.
But never fear! This season, consider me your everyday superhero. With a few years of watching experience and a shitload of time on my hands, I’ve compiled a list of my MIFF picks for 2018—particularly focusing on showcasing Indigenous and/or people of colour (IaoPOC) filmmakers with their own voices and control over their own creations. Hopefully in this expansive list, one or two might strike your fancy, and this time I’ll see at least one other determined POC braving the crowds across the room (or at least a white ally ready to give up some armrest space).
Must-See Films of MIFF 2018
Rafiki
- Director: Wanuri Kahiu
Rafiki is a tender story of friendship and love between the introverted Kena and the colourful and charismatic Ziki—daughters of two rival politicians. The movie is notable enough as an African film featuring queer representation, but gained further international interest when it was banned in its home country of Kenya for “promot[ing] lesbianism”.
Reviews have been generally positive, though some criticism has painted Rafiki as cliched and overly simplistic. Not sure about other queers, but I find the idea of a simple, classic love story much more appealing than another complicated socially-conscious melodrama about the intricacies of our oppression.
Wanuri Kahiu is no new face in cinema either; her 2009 film From a Whisper received numerous honours at the Africa Movie Academy Awards. This movie deserves our money and support, so if you plan only to see one movie this season, make it Rafiki.
Wajib (The Wedding Invitation)
- Director: Annemarie Jacir
In Wajib, Abu Shadi and Shadi are father and son, helping to prepare for their daughter/sister’s wedding in Nazareth. Featuring a real father-son duo as the leading actors, the film explores what it means to be a Palestinian in Israel, and to a larger extent the varying ways marginalised groups tackle their identity within larger society.
Despite the heavy concept and context, the movie focuses on everyday experiences with a decent sprinkling of humour, which is in line with director Jacir’s previous work. Since her first short film Like Twenty Impossibles, all her movies have been received with near universal critical acclaim, and she is one of few Palestinian filmmakers with an international platform. I highly doubt with her impeccable winning streak that Wajib is going to be anything other than a deeply intimate and deeply entertaining experience.
Finke: There and Back
- Director: Dylan Rivers
The Finke Desert Race is an annual multi-terrain endurance trek from Mparntwe (Alice Springs) to Aputula at the Northern Territory’s southern border. The Finke is infamous for its difficult off-road conditions, making it one of the most dangerous races in the world.
While I’ve never considered myself a big racing enthusiast, the unique nature of the Finke Desert Race compounded with director Dylan Rivers’ impressive portfolio makes Finke: There and Back the must-see documentary of the festival.
Rivers has directed multiple brilliant shorts and is the cinematographer for Warwick Thornton’s stunning films, Sweet Country being one of the most visually consuming films I’ve ever seen, showing an ability to flawlessly mix classic technique with personal flair. Since I myself don’t have the will to tackle 229km of red dirt and spinifex on a quadbike quite yet, I’m very happy to pay my $20 and let Rivers take me there in an air-conditioned movie theatre.
The Seen and Unseen
- Director: Kamila Andini
Tantri and Tantra are 10-year old twins in a small Balinese village. When Tantra is hospitalised after falling seriously ill, Tantri remains connected to him through a dream world they share.
I confess unashamedly that this is my biased pick of the list. As Indo diaspora I’m desperate for Indonesian cinema, and especially cinema that integrates our rich spiritual cultures in a way that might be called ‘magical realism’ in the West.
What I love about POC filmmakers is they seem to have a much deeper understanding of how spiritual and literal life merge and intersect. ‘Magic’ is not a fictional addition to a soulless world, but an everyday reality for many people who are connected to land and culture. Ghosts, spirits and curses depict our lives as many POC truly experience them—and both Andini and executive producer Garin Nugroho are masters of expressing this truth. The Seen and Unseen sees the world through the eyes of a grieving child, and it looks to depict her experiences in a vivid celebration of Balinese culture.
The Rider
- Director: Chloe Zhao
Note: This is a movie centred on Lakota characters in a Lakota community, however the director is a non-Indigenous woman of colour. I’ve added it to the list because Brady Jandreau himself was heavily involved in the screenplay and overall creation of the film, but I don’t want people going in thinking The Rider was autonomously created.
Brady Jandreau was 20 years old when he sustained a head injury that made pursuing his dream career as a rodeo rider incredibly risky. In Chloe Zhao’s The Rider, Brady Jandreau portrays a character based heavily on his own experiences, with the characters around him being played by his family and community. In this intimate almost-documentary about the life of a young Lakota cowboy, Brady comes to terms with his injuries, his family, and the struggles of finding a new purpose.
Reviews for the film have been glowing – praising the natural authenticity of the cast, and the barebones filmmaking style allowing the characters and their complex emotional lives to shine.
Museo (Museum)
- Director: Alonso Ruizpalacio
I have yearned for a POC museum heist movie since time immemorial—a reverse Indiana Jones, you could say. Which is why I was immediately intrigued by the title of Alonso Ruizpalacios’ second full-length film: Museo.
This isn’t the typical heist film, however. Juan and Benjamin are two adult kids who manage to pull off the biggest heist in Mexican history. Based lightly on the true events of 1985, Museo is a loser buddy-comedy, a family drama exploring the father-son relationship, and a social commentary challenging the very notion of museums: Is it really immoral to steal from museums, when museums function as a warehouse of stolen culture by design?
Ruizpalacios’ last film Gueros carefully balanced wit and stark reality, and if reviews are any indication, Museo is a worthy addition to his portfolio.
A Letter to the President
- Director: Roya Sadat
Soraya is head of the Kabul Crime Division, at odds with her conservative husband and father-in-law who are both jealous and ashamed of her position. As she gets involved in a local dispute, her work clashes with local village elders, causing a slew of events that ultimately lead to her arrest.
Roya Sadat has a passion for documenting criminal injustice and the lives of women living under patriarchal rule, so the themes in A Letter to the President are familiar work for her. She also established the first independent Afghan film company AND the International Women’s Film Festival in Afghanistan—this isn’t pertinent information for the film, I just think people should know that she’s a big deal.
The film has been lauded as a critical look into the hypocritical and often illogical expectations imposed on powerful women in patriarchal society.
VR Experience Pick
Thalu: Dreamtime is Now
- Director: Tyson Mowarin
MIFF is hosting a number of VR experiences this year, keeping up-to-date with new technologies and the artists utilising them.
Directed by the award-winning Tyson Mowarin, Thalu: Dreamtime is Now brings elements of Ngarluma culture to a new platform. A spirit guide takes you to a vibrant underworld, the custodians of the land, and the land that is now being harmed by the greed of colonial-settlers.
VR experiences like these very rarely get wide releases, so Thalu is an opportunity that may only come once in a lifetime. Tickets for Thalu: Dreamtime is Now are already selling out, so book ASAP to get an opportunity to experience well-crafted Ngarluma art and celebration of heritage.
Short Film Pick
Accelerator 1: Brown Lips / Waiting / Water
If attending film fest screenings is alien to you, short film compilations are another dimension entirely. Nonetheless, I really recommend them as an opportunity to get a taste of emerging (and established) filmmakers, and often these screenings are filled with fantastic IaoPoC filmmakers who may not yet be funded for larger projects.
Accelerator 1 is a standout to me this MIFF. Nakkiah Lui of Black Comedy, This Heaven, and Blackie Blackie Brown fame has directed Brown Lips—a coming-of-age story focusing on familial relationships and forbidden attraction. Continuing Accelerator 1’s trend of Indigenous excellence is Amberley Jo Aumua with Waiting, a short film about boys waiting outside a dairy for a phone-call. Rounding off this powerhouse is John Harvey, who has worked extensively in short film. His work, Water, is a sci-fi drama following a pregnant Layla living in a world of strict population control.
Even if you can’t make this screening, note these directors. Talent like this doesn’t end with one short film.
Cover image via MIFF
Rafiki and The Seen and Unseen images screenshot from the trailers by the author
The Rider image via Flicks
About the author
Rosa is an Indonesian-Australian born on Bundjalung land. An aspiring psychologist, she is passionate about peer-based mental health care and integrating anti-racist frameworks into Psychology. In her spare time, she enjoys film, shitting on Freud, and over-analysing Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (The winner of Kirk vs Picard is Sisko. Fight me.)