DANCING ON WATER SYNOPSIS. The germ. The action

Transcription

1 DANCING ON WATER A documentary written by Frances Calvert and Dana Ober, directed by Frances Calvert, camera by Lars Barthel and Murray Lui, produced by Talking Pictures Frances Calvert / Jerrycan Films SYNOPSIS Dancing on Water follows the struggle of Saibai Islanders from Australia s northernmost Torres Strait island to overcome obstacles to recreate an almost lost dance before literally losing the ground beneath their feet to the ravages of climate change. The germ Life is dramatically changing on Saibai Island. Already twothirds swamp, this home to four hundred people situated just four kilometres from Papua is destined to disappear soon under rising sea-levels of global warming. Like all Torres Strait islands, Saibai is full of secrets, legends and rituals. It has a signature dance cycle, the Adhi-Buya, about a stone that glowed to impart magical powers to warriors. It has not been performed in full since 1961, probably due to the distractions of the good life of welfare dependence. From 1961 production Dana Ober Three years ago, Saibai linguist, Dana Ober, shared his dream with long-time friend and filmmaker Frances Calvert of his people reviving the legendary dance before the community is evacuated. Slowly the idea gained momentum. Dana transcribed the Kala Lagaw Ya language songs and dramaturgy to the satisfaction of all seven clans. Community meetings were held in 2008 and 2009 where clan elders and young men embraced the project, despite the challenge for the young dancers of gaining the fitness required to perform the high leaps in unison. The only living member of the 1961 performance, Mebai Warusam, 85 years, has declared the dance, songs and music 'ready to go'. Mebai Warusam The action The film will trace the rocky road to the successful completion of the Adhi-buya, if indeed it is completed, at the same time showing a view of Australian life foreign to many. Twenty-two fit and disciplined young male dancers are required, yet many lack warrior physique. The protagonists K.C. Tabuai, Isaac Waia and Nigel Waia each have their own hopes as to what they can gain from the revival of the dance and the film. K C Tabuai Isaac Waia Nigel Waia With a keen core of eight youths, the remainder must be recruited from Saibai and neighbouring Dauan Island, where Councillor Raymond Soki has shown great enthusiasm Frances Calvert For SBS,

2 In a move unique in Indigenous Australia, the Australian Army's Indigenous Charlie Company has formally agreed to provide a boot camp to improve the youths' physique, a move of interest to both parties. The film will observe the daily trials and tribulations of the 22 youths as they train for thirty days in a camp to be erected five kilometres outside the village. A Saibai-related sports hero is to be invited to visit the camp to encourage the youths in their quest. Negotiations are under way to bring basketballer Nathan Jawai, now playing in the NBA with the Dallas Mavericks. Growing up in isolated Bamaga with next-to-no-sports facilities and little social stimulation, he rose to become an international basketball star keen to inspire others. As well, Christine Anu, renowned Saibai singer/dancer, has been invited to visit during filming. Nathan Jawai Indigenous welfare-recipients are normally expected to shut up and comply yet Torres Strait youngsters are keen to rise above the dreary subsistence level of their everyday life. Between gruelling army training sessions, the boys will rehearse the dance under the stern but committed tutelage of Sedrick Waia and Jensen Warusam, dance masters. On the road to manhood, the youths gain fitness, learn the dance and acquire traditional skills.fitness training must be fuelled by a healthy diet, a major problem on an island where the only store charges three times the price of food in Cairns and fresh fruit and vegetables are a rarity. No wonder that diabetes, heart disease, kidney failure and obesity are rife. Even prior to the start of filming, Islanders and health professionals are now calling for fresh fruit and vegetables and reduced sugar and fat items in the store. They are supported in this by Federal Member of Parliament for Leichhardt, Jim Turnour, an energetic 35- year-old politician. Marianna Babia, Cultural Officer is a driving force in the community and will help the youths make authentic costumes from pearl shell, cassowary feathers and dyed grass skirts. Huge hour-glass drums will have to be traded from Papuan villages across the Strait. The women musicians and singers are already practising. The culminating dance will be performed under moonlight in the most beautiful part Marianna Babia of this doomed island. The dance troupe will then travel to mainland Australia and abroad. Elements in the film In tracing the quest of a community to perform an historic dance, Dancing on Water touches on scenic, serious, magical, humorous aspects Torres Strait life, such as: - Saibai s hidden role as a customs frontline against drug, gun and people trafficking - The revival of a dance of former headhunters - Vivid spirits, sorcery, lurk everywhere - Extremes of beauty, bounty and loss an island paradise where mud crabs, barramundi and deer abound alongside deadly snakes and crocodiles - Rich unique Melanesian culture perched on the brink between Australia and Papua - Australians' love of cars: nobody walks the 800 metres of road - So many things don t work no TV, no internet café, no public phone, etc. Jensen Warusam Frances Calvert For SBS,

3 The production Filming for the 54-minute production is set for thirty days in August The technical crew, including indigenous DOP, is in place. The community is right behind the project. Support from government and administrative bodies is in place. All that remains now is to fund the film, a co-production between Jerrycan Productions Queensland (e.g., 'SALT') and Talking Pictures Frances Calvert (e.g., 'CRACKS IN THE MASK' funded 30% by SBS) Photos, CVs and supporting documents for Dancing on Water are included below. Fishing in the blue hour at Saibai Frances Calvert For SBS,

4 SAIBAI PHOTOS Local Food Jensen inspecting canoe boys are making 2007 Store food Cemetery ravaged by tides Marianna Babia & Frances Calvert Myths painted on house front Saibai and Dauan Islands from air 5a

5 FILMOGRAPHY OF FRANCES CALVERT: Writer/ Director Frances Calvert Torres Strait STATEMENT I was born in Sydney, Australia, graduated from Sydney University and trained as a teacher. I now live and work in Berlin, Germany and return annually to Australia. I teach students of production at the film school HFF Konrad Wolf in Babelsberg, Germany as well as Media and Cultural studies at Potsdam University. I am particularly interested in style and form in documentary film. My close association with Torres Strait goes back to 1986 when I began research for my first film, TALKING BROKEN (1990) a whimsical portrait of the Torres Strait Islanders, Australia s other indigenous minority, at a critical moment in their history. My second film CRACKS IN THE MASK followed in 1997 and features Ephraim Bani, a wise and knowledgeable Islander, who goes to Europe to inspect and comment on his culture. The film raises the question of what ethnographic museums are really for: do they reflect the West's cultural gaze or do they truly represent the cultures exhibited in them? Ephraim addresses the return of artefacts from the world s greatest museums to their original owners but returns to Australia empty-handed. This award-winning film attracted a great deal of political and social interest in Europe, where I live, as well as in Australia, my homeland. Both films now run regularly on Australia's National Indigenous Television station and so even young Australians are aware of them. TALKING BROKEN was made in co-production with Channel Four (UK) and with financial assistance from Kuratorium junger deutscher film, Berliner Filmförderung, Evangelisches Missionswerk Hamburg, Stiftung Umverteilen Berlin/Projektgruppe Pazifik e.v. Television screenings included ABC Television Australia, ARTE/ORB/SWF Germany. My second film, CRACKS IN THE MASK (1997) was made in co-production with SBS Independent, Australia, SF DRS TV, Switzerland and WDR TV Cologne, Germany with financial assistance from Ausschuß für Entwicklungsbezogene Bildung und Publizistik; The European Commission 16:9 Programme; Evangelisches Zentrum für 6

6 entwicklungsbezogene filmarbeit; Filmboard Berlin-Brandenburg Gmbh; Filmkommission KEM/HEKS/Brot für alle; Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation; MAP-TV; MEDIA Project for the Creative Documentary; Film Queensland; Queensland Government. It screened on SBS, ORB, SWR, ARTE, and Planète Cable. This awardwinning documentary is distributed by First Run Ikarus film in the USA and by Ronin films in Australia. It has screened at 40 film festivals worldwide and at special events in museums, universities, and schools and is in constant use at the Cultural Centre on Thursday Island in Torres Strait. See website for further details. CURRICULUM VITAE LARS BARTHEL (Camera), Film School Babelsberg Scene from Mein Tod ist nicht Dein Tod with Lars Barthel 1982 Emigrated from the GDR to India with his wife Chetna Vora, student of Direction. One year in India. shot SEITENS STREIFEN DIE TIGER NOCH DURCH DIE FELDER with the indigenous people of West India 1983 returned to Germany (West Berlin) SELECTED FILMOGRAPHY: DREHORT BERLIN, 113 min documentary, 35mm, Production: Journal-film Klaus Volkenborn, Dir: Helga Reidemeister, screened at Berlinale Forum 1985 LETZTES JAHR IN DEUTSCHLAND 90 min, 16mm for BR / Channel 4 : 1990 SOMMER IN EZRA 90 min feature, 16mm for ZDf, Kleines fernsehspiel Dir: Hussi Kutlucan BORDER CROSSING 90 min feature, 16mm Channel 4 / WDR, Dir: Stewart Mackinnon OUR BURMESE DAYS 90 min documentary, super 16/35mm for WDR Dir: Lindsey Merrison, 40 international festivals CRACKS IN THE MASK /RISSE IN DER MASKE, 57 min documentary, super 16/35mm for WDR, SF DRS, SBS 43 festivals incl. screenings in Australia via Goethe Institut LICHTER AUS DEM HINTERGRUND, 95 min documentar, super16 mm for ZDf - Fernsehspiel, super16/35mm for sfb/arte Dir: Helga Reidemeister, Screened in Berlinale Panorama 1998; international screening via Goethe Institut ICH CHEF DU TURNSCHUH, 95 min feature, super16/35mm, ZDf, Kleines fernsehspiel Dir: Hussi Kutlucan, screend in competition at Max Ophüls Festival, awarded Grimme Prize 2000 DAS BILD DER RUSSEN, 100 min, super 16/35mm, Dir: Wilhelm Rösing für ZDf, Kleines fernsehspiel MAKAH DIE DEN WALFANGEN, 120min, super 16/35mm, um-welt-film, for WDR / ARTE, Regie: Ralf Marschallek TEXAS-KABUL, 90 min documentary, FORARTE, WDR, SWF, Dir: Helga Reidemeister, Berlinale Panorama 2004; 7

7 ESTLAND MON AMOUR, 90 min documentary, super16/35/ ma.ja.de. filmproduktion/ mdr/arte Dir: Sybille Tiedemann MEIN TOD IST NICHT DEIN TOD, 86 min documentary, super16/35/ ö-filmproduktion for ZDf-Kleines fernsehspiel; Dir & camera: Lars Barthel, Leipzig - Discovery Channel film prize, Achtung Berlin Prize for best Documentary IM NAMEN DES LÖWEN KURBAN SAID, um-welt-film Produktion; 90 min documentary ( in production). Curriculum Vitae Eric Murray Lui Cinematographer, Camera Operator Date of Birth: 18 March 1971 Contact: Eric Murray Lui Mobile: ericmurraylui@yahoo.com.au Thursday Island, Torres Strait, QLD Training: 1999, Australian Film, Television and Radio School Master of Arts Cinematography Drama Specialisation, 1998 Australian Film, Television and Radio School Graduate Diploma Cinematography Drama Specialisation 1994 Certificate in Indigenous Television Training, Kuri Productions. Australian Film, Television and Radio School ABN: AGENT: Jennifer Naughton RGM Associates Suite 202, Kippax St Surry Hills, Sydney, NSW 2010 Ph: (+61 2) Fax: (+61 2) info@rgm.com.au; jennifer@rgm.com.au Employment: Drama Jacob Short Drama orig Super 16mm fin 35mm Colour Film Director of Photography Prod: Darren Dale, Rhea Stephenson, Blackfella Films, Screen Australia Writer/Dir: Dena Curtis Unit DOP / B Camera Operator Dir of Photo: Hugh Miller Prime Mover FEATURE Drama orig HD Genesis Colour fin 35mm Film Colour 2 Prod: Vincent Sheehan, Porchlight Films. Dir: David Ceaser My Country 10 min SHORT Drama orig 16mm Colour Director of Photography Prod: Sally Madgwick/Paper Moon Productions/PFTC Dir: Odette Best Bit of Black Business Television Drama Shorts orig HDV Colour 9 of 13 X 5 min SHORT TELEVISION DRAMA(s) Director of Photography Prod: Film Depot/ AFC Indigenous Unit/ SBSI/NSWFTO/Screenwest Dir: Kelli Cross, Deb Carmody, Aaron Fa aso, Michelle Blanchard, Jacob Nash, Pauline Whyman Michael Longbottom, Dena Curtis, Jon Bell nd The Circuit Mini Series 6 X 1 Hour(s) TELEVISION Drama - orig High Definiton Colour 2 Unit DOP / B Camera Operator Dir of Photo: Joseph Pickering Prod: Media World/ SBSI/ Screen West Dir: Catriona McKensie, Richard Frankland, Steve Jodrell nd Footy Legends FEATURE Drama orig 35mm fin 35mm Colour 2 Unit DOP / B Camera Operator Dir of Photo: Martin McGrath ACS Prod: Megan Mc Murchie/Suitcase Films Dir: Khoa Do 8

8 Remote Area Nurse Mini Series 6 X 1 Hour(s) TELEVISION Drama orig High Definition Colournd Unit DOP / B Camera Operator Dir of Photo: Ian Jones ACS Prod: Chapman Pictures/ SBSI/FFC/PFTC Dir: David Ceasar, Catriona McKensie Green Bush 26 min SHORT Drama orig Super 16mm Colour fin 35mm Colour Director of Photography / Camera Operator Prod: Kath Shelpar, Film Depot/ AFC / SBSI Writer/Dir: Warwick Thornton Djarns Djarns 26 min SHORT Drama orig Super 16mm Colour fin 35 mm Colour Director of Photography / Camera Operator Prod: Kylie Du Fresne, RB Films/ AFC / SBSI Writer/Dir: Wayne Blair The Finished People FEATURE Drama orig Mini DV fin 35mm Colour Co - Director of Photography with Oliver Lawrance Prod: Khoa Do and Ahn Do Dir: Khoa Do Orange Love Story FEATURE Drama orig Digi Beta Co - Director of Photography with Hugh Miller Prod: Tom Cowan Dir: Tom Cowan Black Talk 10 min SHORT Drama orig Super 16mm fin 35mm Colour Director of Photography Prod: RB Films/ AFC/ SBSI Dir: Wayne Blair Documentaries: Embedded With Blackfellas 50 min Doco orig Mini DV Director Photography Prod: Beth Frey, Circe Films, Film Victoria, SBS Dir: Sophie Meyrick In A League Of their Own 3 X 30 min Doco Series orig Digi Beta Director of Photography Prod: Tony Collins, Carmel Young- LOTO Films, ABC, SAFC Dir: Steven McGregor When Colin Met Joyce 50 min Doco orig HDV Director of Photography Prod: Pauline Clague-Core Films/ AFC/ SBSI Dir: Rima Tamou LaPerouse Panthers 26min Doco orig MiniDV Director of Photography Prod: Lisa Duff/ AFC/ SBSI Dir: Michael Longbottom Island Fettlers 26min Doco orig MiniDV Director of Photography Prod: PJ Clague/ Core Prod/ AFC/ SBSI Dir: Kelrick Martin Big Girls Don t Cry - 26 min Doco orig Digi Betacam Director of Photography Prod: CAAMA Productions/ AFC/ SBSI Dir/Writer: Darrin Ballangarry 9

9 For Who I Am The Bonita Mabo Story 26 min Doco orig DV Cam Every Day Brave Series Director of Photography Prod: CAAMA Productions/ Film Australia/ Macumba Media Dir: Danielle Maclean Jetja Nai Medical Mob The Naomi Myers Story 26 min Doco orig DVC Pro Everyday Brave Series Director Photography Prod: Film Australia/ Macumba Media Dir: Catriona McKenzie Trek 55 min Doco orig Digi Beta Director of Photography Prod: MEFA Films for CANAL + France/ ABC Australia Dir: Pierre-Jacques Ober 10