Environmental Film Festival Australia will celebrates Indigenous perspectives on climate, ecology, culture and custodianship with EFFA presents: Sovereign Cinema, a one-day mini-festival, on Saturday 10 December 2022.

The program pays tribute and respect to First Nations’ experiences with land, water, sky and seas.

Audiences are invited to experience the world, near and far, through the eyes of First Nations Peoples and engage in meaningful conversations about people, place and environmental practices.

The program invites sharing and yarning with cinema responding to climate change and culture, recognising ancestral knowledge and that First Nations stories are intrinsically connected to the environment and to Country.

With two shorts packages and one feature premiere, with films predominantly made by Indigenous creatives, these stories uphold and recognise self-determination, food sovereignty, Indigenous perspectives and conservation practices.

Highlights:

• DƏNE YI’INJETL | The Scattering of Man | Canada. This directorial debut by Tsay Keh Dene First Nation member Luke Gleeson tells the story of Gleeson’s community and their role as unwilling participants in a wave of developments that led to the creation of the largest hydroelectric project in the history of British Columbia.
• Swimming Yesterday | Australia. Brewarrina, NSW, is home to the oldest man-made structure in the world: the near half-kilometre complex of fish traps known as ‘Ngunnhu’. These ancient traps are still visible in the Darling River and have strong social, cultural and spiritual association for many. This soulful film explores the importance of Ngunnhu and the heartbreaking displacement of a community due to the river’s dwindling water levels.
• Veins of the Country | Australia. “We’re all part of that river, we drink one water from the one main rainfall. Everybody.” Elder Gooniyandi artist Mervyn Street shares his art and storytelling about the waters of the Warlibiddi/Margaret and Martuwarra/Fitzroy Rivers catchment, and their vital significance to the Country and people’s lives.
• Warburdar Bununu: Water Shield | Australia. A young leader is devastated when Borroloola Town Camps are bombarded with water contamination notices. His family’s way of life is under constant threat, so he sets out to find answers knowing that his Elders will never leave their ancestral homelands. On this quest he rediscovers hope in the healing power of story, family and culture.
• EALÁT | Sápmi, Norway. “As long as the reindeer exist here, so do we”. Through Elle Márjá Eira’s eyes we follow her family in different seasons with their reindeer herd. A stunning and unforgettable documentary about living and surviving in Sámi reindeer husbandry in our strange times.
• Pili Ka Mo’o | United States. The Fukumitsu ʻOhana of Hakipuʻu are Native Hawaiian taro farmers and keepers of ongoing ancestral practices. When nearby Kualoa Ranch, a large settler-owned corporation, destroys their familial burial grounds to make way for “development”, they must navigate the world of real estate and judicial proceedings to fight for their heritage and home.
• TAIAO | Aotearoa. TAIAO explores how and why we use Aotearoa’s natural environment the way we do, presenting a snapshot of our era and our actions, without speaking a word. This unforgettable piece of screen art delights, confronts and mesmerises.

Tickets:

• One session – Standard: $18
• One session – Member: $12
• One session – Concession: $14
• All day pass: $39 standard / $30 member / $27 concession

EFFA will donate 5 per cent of all ticket income to Pay The Rent – www.paytherent.net.au