Every year, NAIDOC Week shines a light on the strong and ancient cultures and many achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities.
One way Lutheran Care is getting involved in NAIDOC Week in the celebrations is sharing some works featuring First Nation creatives, either in front of or behind the camera.
We asked our team to suggest some of their favourite TV series or films currently available to watch on free on-demand streaming services or through paid streaming subscriptions. We’ve compiled their suggestions below!
Editor’s Picks
Little J and Big Cuz (Rated G)
For younger viewers, Little J And Big Cuz, available on SBS On Demand and ABC iview, is an animated favourite aimed at 4 to 6-year-olds. Featuring the voices of Miranda Tapsell and Deborah Mailman as the title characters, as part of a cast of vast majority First Nations voice actors, the show follows the adventures and learnings of two cousins who live in a remote community with their Nanna and Old Dog. Indigenous animation director Tony Thorne designed and directed the series and First Nations writers from around Australia contributed the storylines.
Watch here: https://iview.abc.net.au/show/little-j-and-big-cuz
You Can’t Ask That – Indigenous (Rated PG)
This excellent Q&A show seeks to get representatives of marginalised, minority and/or misunderstood communities to answer questions from the public that they’ve always wanted to ask, but may be considered too outrageous, taboo or uncomfortable.
NAIDOC Week is a great opportunity to refer back to the episode featuring First Nations interviewees. One of the stars of the show is Danzal Baker, also known as Baker Boy, before his rap career took off.
Watch here: https://iview.abc.net.au/video/LE1517H008S00
The Last Daughter (Rated PG)
The last daughter is the true story of a young Aboriginal girl’s search for the truth, after experiencing displacement and upheaval in her childhood between the foster care system and returning to her biological family. We were fortunate enough to have a special screening of this film for our Foster Care team and several of our Foster Carers (read more here). We were excited to welcome along to the screening the documentary’s director Brenda Matthews whose powerful story features in the film, to answer questions. We are so excited it has landed on Netflix during NAIDOC Week.
Netflix subscribers can watch here: https://www.netflix.com/au/
Samson and Delilah (MA15+)
This stunning and sad film, but not without some sparks of joy, is directed by First Nations director Warwick Thornton. Samson (Rowan McNamara) and Delilah (Marissa Gibson) are young members of an Aboriginal community who are struggling with grief and a lack of excitement who want to escape the drudgery of their everyday lives. They decide to head to the city for an adventure, however addiction and bad luck continues to follow them and there is a tragic twist. It’s beautifully shot and with very little dialogue, is a very moving piece of art that delves into the difficult and tragic lives many First Nations people have experienced and continue to experience post-colonisation. Watch on SBS On Demand here: https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/movie/samson-and-delilah/929624131561
If you’re looking for a new series to get your teeth stuck into, some illuminating dramas or some light entertainment featuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander creative skills and stories, check out the full list below!
ABC iView
| Little J And Big Cuz | TV Series | Children, Animated, | The adventures of five-year-old Little J, his cousin Big Cuz and his grandma Nanna as they explore Indigenous culture and language. | G |
| Preppers | TV Series | Comedy | Escaping the fallout of a personal cataclysmic event, Charlie, a young Australian Aboriginal woman, finds herself at the centre of a mismatched community of doomsday preppers. Uncle Jack Charles’ family have given their permission to use his name and image. | MA |
| All My Friends Are Racists | TV Series | Comedy, Off Beat | In a survival-of-the-fiercest, two twenty-something black millennials decide it’s time to call the racists out. They think it could cause a revolution, instead it causes a downgrade in lifestyle. | MA |
| Mystery Road | TV Series | Crime Drama, Mystery | Detective Jay Swan takes on a grisly case in a new town, a coastal community where the desert meets the ocean and secrets past and present run deep. Jay must reconcile the law and deep lore and confront a dangerous enemy. | M |
| Redfern Now | TV Series | Drama | Six different families, all of whose lives are changed by a moment’s decision, an accident or a seemingly insignificant incident. This kaleidoscopic drama explores Indigenous life in Australia’s most infamous suburb, Redfern. | M |
| The Tracker | Movie | Drama, Western | When a white woman is murdered in 1920s Australia, a police officer (Gary Sweet) ventures into the outback with a small crew in search of the aboriginal fugitive (Noel Wilton) accused of the crime. In his group are a newcomer to the country (Damon Gameau), an old sage (Grant Page) and an indigenous tracker (David Gulpilil) who is not fully trusted by the racially prejudiced officer. As the pursuit through this dangerous territory drags on, tensions begin to rise between the crew members. | M |
| A Voice from the heart – Megan Davis | Episode | Educational | As a child, Megan Davis fell in love with the Constitution. Now she’s a lawyer and a driving force behind the Voice referendum. She wants to change the nation’s founding document in the hope of improving her peoples’ lives. | – |
| You Can’t Ask That – Indigenous | Episode (S1, E8) | Educational | Insightful, irreverent, moving and unpredictable, this episode sets the record straight about what it’s really like to be an Indigenous Australian. | PG |
| No Offence! | TV Series | Educational | Gabriel Willie, best known as Bush Tucker Bunjie, loves his swears and insults – but he can only swear in English when there are hundreds of local First Nations’ languages in Australia! Join him as he travels the country to find the best and only truly local ‘bad’ words. | M |
| Mabo | Movie | Educational, Biopic | The remarkable life story of Eddie ‘Koiki’ Mabo; a Torres Strait Islander who left school at the age of 15, yet spearheaded the High Court challenge that overthrew the fiction of terra nullius. (2012) | M |
| The Australian Dream | Documentary | Educational, Sport, Biopic | The remarkable story of Indigenous AFL legend Adam Goodes. Through the backdrop of Goodes’ journey, the feature documentary explores race, identity and belonging in Australia today. | |
| Total Control | TV Series | Political Drama | Alex Irving, an Indigenous woman, gets media attention after her heroic action. Her life then changes when the prime minister recruits her as a senator. | MA15+ |
| Black Comedy | TV Show | Comedy | A fast-paced, provocative and cheeky sketch comedy from a group of Indigenous Australian comedians, writers and performers. | M |
Netflix
| Walkabout | Movie | Adventure, Drama | A story of two children, one a teenage schoolgirl and the other her little brother, who are put into a deeply disturbing and unexpected situation that changes both of their lives forever. | M |
| Brand Nue Dae | Movie | Comedy/Drama/Musical | An Aboriginal student on the west coast of Australia in the late ’60s runs away from a Catholic boarding school with his cruel headmaster in hot pursuit, meeting eccentric characters along the journey back to his home town. | PG |
| Charlies’ Country | Movie | Drama | Charlie (David Gulpilil), an Aboriginal man of Australia, struggles to navigate the society he finds himself in, especially when he tries to reconnect with the traditional ways of his people. | M |
| Rabbit Proof Fence | Movie | Drama, Adventure | After being swept up in an an integration program for Indigenous Australians, three girls vow to escape an abusive orphanage and return home. | PG |
| In My Blood It Runs | Documentary | Educational | An intimate and compassionate observational documentary from the perspective of a 10-year-old Aboriginal boy in Alice Springs, Australia, struggling to balance his traditional Arrernte/Garrwa upbringing with a state education. | PG |
| The Last Daughter | Documentary | Educational, Heartfelt | The Last Daughter is a documentary feature film about Brenda’s journey to uncover the truth about her past and reconcile the two sides of her family. | PG |
| The Sapphires | Movie | Musical, Comedy, Drama | Set in 1968, the film tells the story of four young, talented sisters from Australia who are discovered by Dave, a talent scout. Their destiny lands them in Vietnam to sing for the American soldiers. | PG |
| The Tracker | Movie | Drama, Western | When a white woman is murdered in 1920s Australia, a police officer (Gary Sweet) ventures into the outback with a small crew in search of the aboriginal fugitive (Noel Wilton) accused of the crime. In his group are a newcomer to the country (Damon Gameau), an old sage (Grant Page) and an indigenous tracker (David Gulpilil) who is not fully trusted by the racially prejudiced officer. As the pursuit through this dangerous territory drags on, tensions begin to rise between the crew members. | M |
SBS On Demand
| High Ground | Movie | Adventure, Action, Drama | In 1930s Arnhem Land, Gutjuk, a young Yolngu man, works with ex-soldier Travis to track down Gutjuk’s uncle Baywara, the most dangerous warrior in the Territory | MA15+ |
| Little J And Big Cuz | TV Series | Children, Animated, | The adventures of five-year-old Little J, his cousin Big Cuz and his grandma Nanna as they explore Indigenous culture and language. | G |
| Barrumbi Kids | TV Series | Children, Adventure | A story of two best friends, Tomias and Dahlia, who are growing up together on Country in a remote Northern Territory community, and face various adversities and have many exciting adventures. | PG |
| Brand Nue Dae | Movie | Comedy/Drama/Musical | An Aboriginal student on the west coast of Australia in the late ’60s runs away from a Catholic boarding school with his cruel headmaster in hot pursuit, meeting eccentric characters along the journey back to his home town. | PG |
| True Colours | TV Series | Drama | Aboriginal detective Toni Alma searches for a killer in the remote Aboriginal community she once called home. | M |
| Samson and Delilah | Movie | Drama, Romance | Fourteen-year-old Aboriginal kids Samson and Delilah hail from an isolated community in the Central Australian desert, where – for Samson – sniffing petrol is one of the few available ways of escaping the suffocating grimness of daily life. After a persistent campaign to gain Delilah’s affections, Samson steals the community’s sole motor car and persuades her to elope with him to Alice Springs. | MA15+ |
| The First Inventors | Docuseries | Educational | Rob Collins and a team of First Nations investigators delve into 65,000 years of Aboriginal Australian invention, looking at how landscapes were transformed, how events were recorded, the use of navigation tools, and how societies were organised. | PG |
| First Australians | Docuseries | Educational | The history of Australia from an Indigenous peoples’ perspective, beginning with the 1788 arrival of the First Fleet in Sydney and ending in 1993 with Eddie Kolki Mabo’s legal challenge. | PG |
| The Australian Wars | Docuseries | Educational | Rachel Perkins journeys across the country to explore the bloody battles fought on Australian soil and the war that established the Australian nation, seeking to change the narrative of the nation. | M |
Amazon Prime
| The Tracker | Movie | Drama, Western | When a white woman is murdered in 1920s Australia, a police officer (Gary Sweet) ventures into the outback with a small crew in search of the aboriginal fugitive (Noel Wilton) accused of the crime. In his group are a newcomer to the country (Damon Gameau), an old sage (Grant Page) and an indigenous tracker (David Gulpilil) who is not fully trusted by the racially prejudiced officer. As the pursuit through this dangerous territory drags on, tensions begin to rise between the crew members. | M |
| First Footprints | Docuseries | Educational | Over 50,000 years of Australia’s ancient past is brought to life through the world’s oldest oral stories, new archaeological discoveries, stunning art, cinematic CGI and never before seen archival film. | M |
| Blue Water Empire | Docuseries | Educational | Blue Water Empire is a 3-part dramatised-documentary series, giving a unique insight into the history of the Torres Strait Islands. | M |
| The Australian Dream | Documentary | Educational, Sport, Biopic | The remarkable story of Indigenous AFL legend Adam Goodes. Through the backdrop of Goodes’ journey, the feature documentary explores race, identity and belonging in Australia today. | – |
Stan
| Brand Nue Dae | Movie | Comedy/Drama/Musical | An Aboriginal student on the west coast of Australia in the late ’60s runs away from a Catholic boarding school with his cruel headmaster in hot pursuit, meeting eccentric characters along the journey back to his home town. | PG |
| Cleverman | TV Series | Sci-fi | The critically acclaimed sci-fi drama; set in the future, creatures from ancient mythology have emerged and battle for survival in a world that seeks to silence and destroy them. | MA15+ |
| Black Comedy | TV Show | Comedy | A fast-paced, provocative and cheeky sketch comedy from a group of Indigenous Australian comedians, writers and performers. | M |
Foxtel
| Brand Nue Dae | Movie | Comedy/Drama/Musical | An Aboriginal student on the west coast of Australia in the late ’60s runs away from a Catholic boarding school with his cruel headmaster in hot pursuit, meeting eccentric characters along the journey back to his home town. | PG |
| The Australian Dream | Documentary | Educational, Sport, Biopic | The remarkable story of Indigenous AFL legend Adam Goodes. Through the backdrop of Goodes’ journey, the feature documentary explores race, identity and belonging in Australia today. | – |
RELATED LINKS:
Check out Lutheran Care’s NAIDOC Week Spotify playlist here.
Staff member features in NAIDOC Resources.