AustLit

'From the remote Australian desert to the opulence of Buckingham Palace – this is the iconic story of the Namatjira family, tracing their quest for justice.

'Albert Namatjira was a man caught between cultures – paraded as a great Australian, whilst treated with contempt. He was the first Indigenous person to be made a citizen by the Australian Government. The founder of the Indigenous art movement in Australia, his artworks gave many Australians their first glimpses into the outback heart of the country. He was widely celebrated, exhibited globally, and introduced to Queen Elizabeth.

'In 1957 he was imprisoned for something he didn’t do, and in 1959 he died, a broken man. In 1983 the Government sold the copyright to his artworks to an art dealer. Today his family fight for survival, justice and to regain their grandfather’s copyright.

'This is one of Australia’s most potent stories – illuminating the relationship between Indigenous and nonIndigenous people today, in Australia and globally.' (Production summary)

'In a landscape where contemporary Australia continues to struggle with questions of how to reconcile its national identity with its Indigenous roots, with contemporary Indigenous Australians, and with how it imagines its future, this film explores the notion of friendship and the role cross cultural friendships have to play in reconciliation. It looks through the prism of the Namatjira family, who live in Western Aranda country in Central Australia, in exploring the notion and reality of friendship. The story of their grandfather, Albert Namatjira – internationally acclaimed watercolour painter and the first Indigenous Australian citizen – is iconographic and nationally significant to the Australian narrative.' (Source: Documentary Australia Foundation)