Honoured to have participated in the French symposium, Gaia Tree, Une Arche Pour L’Avenir, in Paris, presenting excerpts of our film, Trois Soeurs, Femmes de la Mardoowarra (2014), and talking about the importance of First Law and Global Alliances with Indigenous Peoples. You can listen to the podcast (in French) here: www.gaiatree.life.
Check out Dr Anne Poelina’s Kimberley She’Ro podcast with Natasha Short from Kimberley Birds, talking about our work with the Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1242608/8532365
Kapululangu Seven Sisters Trip is a film I had the pleasure to work on with PAKAM last year in 2020 as a cinematographer. From the community of Balgo (Wirrimanu), we headed deep into the desert to the twin lakes, and the Seven Sisters - Nakarra-Nakarra for five days of camping, painting, dancing, hunting and storytelling (see images here). The public content of this wonderful trip was released on ICTV in 2021, and is available below:
Kapululangu Seven Sisters Trip
On December 18th, 2020, three wise and extraordinary Indigenous women came together for a Facebook live discussion organised by the National Regenerative Agriculture Day as part of the Carbon8 Campfire Film Festival.
Dr Vandana Shiva, the protector of Biological and Cultural Diversity,
Dr Anne Poelina. a Nyikina Traditional Custodian from Australia and
Diane Longboat, a traditional teacher from Six Nations Grand River Territory, Canada,
have made a profound impact with the work they do on the global stage to protect the environment, in connection with their ancestral wisdom. Their combined knowledge of place and kin, of big picture systems and ecology, bring new learnings to those who are willing to listen.
It was an honour to have our film, Three Sisters, Women of High Degree, featured as part of this event.
On Friday 4th December, I presented the following paper to the Revelation Academic Conference (Perth International Film Festival): Resistance, Empowerment and Social Change: Collaborative Film and Speaking Back in a 21st Century Neo-Colonial World
More screenings happening! Singing Yoongoorrookoo was screened at the Indigenous Allied Health Conference as part of Adjunct Professor Anne Poelina’s presentation “Martuwarra First Law Justice: Land, Living Waters, and Indigenous Peoples’ Wellbeing” , and the film was screened again as part of the Dr Poelina’s 2020 Distinguished Speaker Lecture at the University of Sydney Law School in early December.
I was honoured to be invited as a panelist on the Social and Environmental Justice Panel of the amazing global, inter-disciplinary IEEE SSIT (Society on Social Implications of Technology) conference on Public Interest Technology. The panel discussed how environmental and social injustices go deeper than just pollution and how public interest technology's intersection with justice issues can create social change, particularly in Indigenous contexts. I highlighted the importance of film as a process of empowerment for marginalised voices - click on the video below for the full recording!
In September 2020, I was invited by PAKAM to go back to the Kimberley to film the Kapululangu Women Dancers and the Luurnpa Dancers (Kingfisher) for two Episodes of Dance Rites (Sydney Opera House). Community Media Producer, Traelyn Aiken, and myself, travelled to Wirrimanu (Balgo), in the Great Sandy Desert of Western Australia, 12 hours’ drive from Broome, to film the Kapululangu women’s traditional dance, and Jimmy Tchooga’s dancers (Luurnpa Dancers). The Episodes have now been released by Dance Rites!
We were very privileged to also go on a trip to Country to Nakarra-Nakarra, Seven Sisters Dreaming, with the women - a short film about the trip is now being edited for ICTV - check out the photos below!
A compilation of our films, Mardoowarra, Always Was, Always Will Be was screened by the CSIRO as part of a keynote by Dr Anne Poelina for NAIDOC Week 2020!
Very honoured to have co-authored this article with Adjunct Professor Anne Poelina and Dr Martin Bruecker:
For the greater good? Questioning the social licence of extractive-led development in Western Australia's Martuwarra Fitzroy River region. The Extractive Industries and Society. In Press. November 2020.
Available at: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.exis.2020.10.010.
Very privileged to have been able to co-author this important report for the Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council with Adjunct Professor Anne Poelina, and the Martuwarra, River of Life and living ancestral being!
This peer-reviewed publication, Martuwarra Country: A Historical Perspective (1838-present) is published by The University of Notre Dame Australia as part of the Nulungu Publication Series and is available here.
Abstract excerpt: the report seeks to examine the impacts of colonisation, more particularly pastoralism, on the Martuwarra Country and its people and concludes with the contemporary voices of Martuwarra people.
It provides an extensive, period-specific historical account of the Martuwarra people’s connections to their Country as a point of departure and a premise for discussion contrasting Aboriginal perspectives and the development lens of the State. In doing so, this report also juxtaposes the events of the past with the continued contemporary imposition of development strategies still at odds with Aboriginal life-ways.
Four of our films were screened at this global event as part of the main keynote address by Dr Anne Poelina: Entitled "Sharing the Commons of the Mardoowarra Fitzroy River Estate for Our Greater Good", the compilation included the following films:
Mardoowarra's Right to Life (2017) - originally produced for the visit of the UN Indigenous Rapporteur in Broome
Balkinjirr Poem (2019)
Our Shared and Common Future (2014) - originally produced for the World Park Congress in Sydney
Singing Yoongoorrookoo (2019)
I had the pleasure of being invited to work with PAKAM again in my old job as Community Media Trainer, and with not-for-profit organisation Good Return, to provide support for PAKAM Community Media Producer Corinna Sebastian, and record the Kimberley Birds camp. Kimberley Birds, or Kimberley Jiyigas, is a fantastic initiative set up by Natasha Short, from Halls Creek, to empower Kimberley Aboriginal Women in leadership and business roles. The camp took place near Halls Creek, at Caroline Pool, and some of my SAE students will be editing short interview segments for both organisations as part of their work placement module. The final film is featured on the First Nations Media Website.
Photos courtesy of Diana Henderson
Global Extraction Film Festival 2020
Very pleased to announce that five of our films have been selected for screening at the Inaugural Global Extraction Film Festival 2020:
Voices for the Martuwarra (2020), Protecting Country (2018), Bookarrarra Liyan Mardoowarra Booroo (2019), Micklo’s Story (2017), and Duchess IS Paradise (2014).
Global Extraction Film Festival 2020
Our films will be featured in both programs (Program 1: Documentaries; Program 2: Shorts). The film links are public and the festival is free and a great resource for those interested in the impacts of big industry on our planet!
Over the past year I have had the privilege to work with my partner, Alexander Hayes, and the Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council, to develop their website and to make short films with the Council’s members about the importance of protecting the Martuwarra, Fitzroy River, from invasive development, for all future generations of the world. You can watch their short stories here. The Martuwarra Fitzroy River Council is a strong voice for the Kimberley, and for all Indigenous people in the world (ABC News Article).
On May 14th 2020 I had the pleasure of being a panelist for the 2020 SAE Global Webinars: the Transformation of Creative Media Education, as part of my role as Film Program Committee Chair for SAE Australia / Dubai. You can access the whole webinar here: Film & VFX Webinar. and the PowerPoint Presentation here.
Good to be featured in this IF Magazine Article about how Film Schools all over Australia are coping with the COVID-19 Crisis, including SAE: https://www.if.com.au/film-school-in-the-time-of-covid-19/.
Very honoured to learn that our documentary, Protecting Country, is part of the Official Selection for the Rio de Janeiro International Uranium Film Festival in May 2020! Details of the Program here.
On December 12th, 2019, I was awarded the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in my graduation ceremony at the Australian National University: I am now officially Dr. Magali McDuffie!
On December 13th 2019 I was honoured an privileged to be announced as the recipient of the SAE Australasia Engagement Award:
Dr. Magali McDuffie has been liaising with various local and national organisations to establish partnerships that enable SAE Perth students to secure internship hours and valuable, real-world experience. Of particular importance are the many connections Dr. McDuffie has made with First Nations groups and community organisations. By establishing partnerships with community organisations Dr. McDuffie has improved the student’s work opportunities – particularly in the emerging area of community media work. She has helped students to strengthen their transferable skills, with a focus on cultural sensitivity and engagement with indigenous organisations and other communities.
