Nyarri Nyarri Morgan in Collisions (photo credit: Piers Mussared).
Following on from its simultaneous world premiere at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival and the World Economic Forum in Davos, artist Lynette Wallworth’s VR project Collisions is set to make its Australian debut at the Adelaide Film Festival.
Supported by the Adelaide Film Festival Fund, Collisions is a personal journey to the homeland of first contact indigenous elder Nyarri Nyarri Morgan and the Martu tribe in the remote Western Australian Pilbara desert.
Morgan's first contact with western culture came in the 1950s when he witnessed an atomic test. In Collisions, Morgan shares his story.
“Since its premiere at Davos in January this year we have been waiting for the moment we could show Collisons in Australia. It is a powerful parable for the country. Support from Adelaide Film Festival helped us make the work possible so I am tremendously happy we can start our national tour here,” said Wallworth.
Adelaide Film Festival CEO and artistic director Amanda Duthie said Collisions was a “rare and very special project" that illustrated the importance of connection with country from an Indigenous leader.
“This is a genuine collaboration between Nyarri Nyarri Morgan and Lynette Wallworth and its world tour is a demonstration of its impact on audiences everywhere. ADL Film Fest is thrilled we have the chance to work again with Lynette Wallworth as she is a leading Australian artist, filmmaker and innovator,” said Duthie.
Wallworth was selected as the inaugural artist of the Sundance Institute New Frontier | Jaunt VR Residency Program and Collisons, funded with the support of the Adelaide Film Festival Fund, was the first project to be created as part of the program. Collisions is Wallworth’s third work with the Martu people of the Western Desert. It is narrated by Wallworth and Morgan’s grandson Curtis Taylor.
Wallworth will be joined at the premiere by Nyarri Nyarri Morgan, Nola Taylor, Curtis Taylor and producer Nicole Newnham. Collisions will then screen in festivals and events around Australia, with the next stop being ACMI for the Melbourne Festival.
Collisons is produced by Infinite Field with support from the World Economic Forum, the Sundance Institute, the MacArthur Foundation, the Skoll Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Fledgling Fund, the Pritzker Foundation, the Omidyar Network, the Australia Council for the Arts, and the Adelaide Film Festival Fund, in partnership with Jaunt VR.