We Are Still Here

Special free NAIDOC Week screening 

Showing two short films by Tjanpi Desert Weavers: Kukaputju (The Hunter) and Tangki (Donkey) before the main feature We Are Still Here.

We Are Still Here is a unique Indigenous film that interweaves eight powerful tales to tell a sweeping story of hope and survival.

Through the eyes of eight protagonists, We Are Still Here traverses 1000 years from past, present, and future to explore stories of kinship, loss, grief, and resilience. But ultimately, its how the strength of love and hope to overcome shared traumas that Indigenous people from Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific have continued to face.

From the beginning of time, in a Utopian world, a traditional fisherwoman and her daughter are fishing when they pull up an ominous ship, foreshadowing stormy seas and tragedy to follow. Forward to 1862, a British Settler threatens an Aboriginal man to lead him to safety, whilst in New Zealand, tribes cocooned deep in the forest are preparing for a terrifying future.

In 1915, men from the Pacific were sent to support the British Colony in World War One fighting for a land that isn't theirs, with uncertainty of ever seeing home again. Flashing forward into a dystopian future, a young child must navigate her way through a dangerous underground marketplace to save her grandfather and survive.

We Are Still Here showcases the expansive landscapes of the Central Australian Desert to the lush green rainforests of New Zealand.

In spite of colonialism, racism, imperialism and the attempted erasure of Indigenous lives, We Are Still Here.

Short films by Tjanpi Desert Weavers

Kukaputju (The Hunter) arose from Tjanpi’s artist-led imperative to explore different ways to tell and share stories through Tjanpi artwork. Tjanpi’s earlier animation ventures had proven that animation is an exceptional storytelling medium for the tactile form and inherent whimsy of Tjanpi fibre sculptures. 

This animation brings to the screen a proud episode in the everyday life of the Aṉangu woman whose story this is: Yanyangkari Roma Butler.

Tangki (Donkey) features three women: Akitiya Angkuna Tjitayi, Imuna Kenta and Anne Karatjari Ward, who narrate stories to camera in their first language of Pitjantjatjara. Their accounts are interspersed with stop-motion animation of adorable characters and beautiful props handcrafted by Tjanpi artists, and made primarily from tjanpi, desert grasses, in Pukatja. 

The short film depicts the special relationship between Aṉangu and donkeys in the desert community of Pukatja, and the unique culture, landscape and humour of the APY Lands in northern South Australia.