Adelaide Film Festival

The Hon. J.E. HANSON (14:52): My question is to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs. Will the minister inform the council about some of the excellent work by First Nations filmmakers on display at this year's Adelaide Film Festival?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:52): I thank the honourable member for his question and his interest in this area. It is always a great pleasure to talk in this chamber about the excellence in our South Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. The Adelaide Film Festival is a standout event on the South Australian events calendar each and every year. Adelaide truly punches above its weight when it comes to attracting this sort of talent at these sorts of festivals.

The Adelaide Film Festival launches tomorrow, and I would like to take this opportunity to share a few of the exciting works on show from First Nations writers, directors and producers. The First Nations First Films event on Sunday at the Mercury Cinema provides a platform for short film forms and up-and-coming talent. There will be three films screened during this event. Tambo is one of those, written by Travis Akbar, a man from the Eastern Goldfields of Western Australia. This film is a depiction of a First Nations soldier returned from Gallipoli and the torment he faces after the return.

Black Time, White Time will also be screened, a movie written by Tammy Coleman Zweck, a Kokatha screenwriter, producer and director. Tammy is a 2021 Mercury CX Springboard Program scholarship recipient. The film is about a young girl who must quickly learn Auslan in order to communicate with her deaf aunt. The final short film is The Getaway, written by emerging Ngarrindjeri and Kaurna writer, Adam Jenkins. The Getaway is a short horror film where the main character Kyle's silencing of his culture becomes his downfall.

Next Thursday, 26 October, the Adelaide Film Festival Youth Gala will display a number of short films from primary, middle and senior school students. I would particularly like to mention, in the middle school category, Drive Safely in Mimili. It was directed by Danna from the Mimili Anangu School on the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara lands. The film stars a number of students from the secondary class, who inform viewers of safety on the road.

Finally, Margaret Pomeranz AM will sit down in conversation on Saturday 21 October with Sally Riley, described as Australia's leading advocate for First Nations voices in film and television. The interview will cover the journey and invaluable work in ensuring that First Nations voices and stories are told and controlled by First Nations artists. I commend all of these worthwhile film projects as part of the Adelaide Film Festival to all South Australians.