‘Reclaiming Identity’

‘Reclaiming Identity Through Australian and New Zealand’s Indigenous Cinema’ ​

By Hunter Demers 

Submitted for FILM 509 with Dr. Modgill 

Indigenous cinema serves as a powerful medium of cultural resistance and narrative reclamation, challenging the colonial traditions that have historically and intentionally misrepresented Indigenous histories and identities. Through Indigenous-made films from Australia and New Zealand, Indigenous filmmakers are able to assert the sovereignty of their communities, reclaim cultural storytelling, as well as foreground relational perspectives within their land and communities. Drawing from critical frameworks such as “third” and “fourth cinema,” these filmmakers and their works actively counter oppressive colonial narratives of the past while also fostering unique spaces of creativity for Indigenous worldviews to present themselves. Through examining works such as In My Blood It Runs (2019), Sweet Country (2017), and Once Were Warriors (1994), an exploration can be delved into considering how Indigenous cinema within the two countries engages in themes of cultural resilience, colonial resistance, and the reclamation of communal identity, ultimately working to reinforce Indigenous worldviews and perspectives within the global filmic landscape.

Reclaiming Narrative Sovereignty
    Indigenous cinema represents a visual medium of cultural, narrative, and spiritual reclamation, starkly contrasting with colonial-based filmmaking traditions which have historically sought to depict Indigenous communities and perspectives through a western, Eurocentric lens, often misrepresenting and altering Indigenous histories, narratives and spiritual practices. In opposition, Indigenous storytelling places an emphasis on relationality, respect for land, and cyclical notions of time, fostering an authentic connection between the viewer and Indigenous cultural identities and values. Critical theoretical frameworks such as “Third Cinema” and “Fourth Cinema” provide a critical lens for analyzing Indigenous filmmaking, with “third cinema” actively resisting oppressive colonial systems through anti-colonial narratives, while “fourth cinema” expands upon this by highlighting the distinct creative spaces Indigenous filmmakers occupy to express their unique worldviews and cultural specificities. As Nathaniel Cummings-Lambert asserts in his writing ‘Fifty Years of Resistance on Film,’ Indigenous filmmakers use the medium of film as a powerful tool to assert sovereignty, challenge colonial narratives, and foreground relational ethics with land and community, utilizing filmic storytelling as a method of cultural reclamation, resistance, and resilience. 

    The profound interweaving of land, identity, and spirituality within Australian and New Zealand Indigenous cinema is exemplified within films such as In My Blood It Runs (2019), Sweet Country (2017), and Once Were Warriors (1994). Each of these films address themes of cultural reclamation, colonial resistance, and the enduring impacts of systemic oppression through distinctive yet interconnected perspectives from Australia and New Zealand. In My Blood It Runs intimately explores tensions between Indigenous knowledge systems and colonial education through the experiences of Jujuan Hoosen, a young healer whose cultural identity is repeatedly undermined by the workings of the colonial educational framework within the country. Joanne Faulkner’s analysis of the film highlights how the director centres the importance of family and relational support systems amidst institutional alienation, emphasizing resilience and active resistance against mainstream portrayals that often depict Indigenous youth as disempowered. Similarly focused on themes of justice, land, and colonization while taking a more historical approach, Sweet Country from Australia symbolically and visually reinforces the profound Indigenous relationship with the land, utilzing its landscapes not merely as backdrops, but as stark reminders of colonial dispossession and spiritual disconnection. As well, the film critiques colonial legal systems, notably illustrated through the unjust killing of Sam Kelly by unseen townsfolk after his acquittal, demonstrating colonial law’s deep failure to deliver adequate justice for Indigenous peoples within Australia. Sweet Country’s historical setting deliberately emphasizes the then ongoing colonization processes rather than merely post-colonial outcomes, highlighting a grounded historical reality of systemic oppression. In contrast, Once Were Warriors from New Zealand offers a harrowing exploration of intergenerational trauma resulting from colonial legacies within a contemporary, post-colonial context. The film addresses how systemic colonial legacies have fractured and impacted Indigenous families and communities, focusing on issues of domestic violence, stark poverty, and disconnection from one's cultural and historical origins. Echoing Faulkner’s emphasis on familial dynamics and cultural reclamation, Once Were Warriors portrays the profound resilience required to reclaim identity and community despite enduring colonial legacies. Collectively, these films illustrate how Indigenous cinema within Australia and New Zealand reclaims narratives by confronting colonial impacts from complementary perspectives: In My Blood It Runs addresses immediate educational and cultural erasure, Sweet Country documents historical dispossession and colonial injustice, while Once Were Warriors examines contemporary repercussions of colonial trauma. By emphasizing land, cultural identities, and familial relationships, Indigenous filmmakers within Oceania’s two largest countries utilize the artistic medium of film in order to foster dialogues of resistance and resilience, working to challenge the dominance of settler-colonial narratives while affirming Indigenous sovereignty and cultural identities.


Resistance, Sovereignty, and Cultural Revival
Indigenous cinemas within Australia and New Zealand employ visual symbolism, innovative narrative structures, and subversion of the imperial gaze to reclaim cultural identity, resist colonial narratives, and assert Indigenous sovereignty. These films prominently utilize landscapes, sacred sites, and natural elements as profound symbols of Indigenous spiritual and cultural identity, challenging colonial perceptions of land as mere property. For instance, Sweet Country vividly illustrates the violent dispossession of Indigenous peoples from ancestral lands through contrasting visuals of the Australian outback’s beauty and the brutal depictions of colonial violence. Similarly, In My Blood It Runs integrates healing practices and symbolic imagery within its narrative, showcasing the persistence and resilience of Indigenous knowledge systems despite oppressive colonial institutions. In Taika Waititi’s New Zealand film Boy (2010), traditional carvings and gestures celebrate Māori culture, actively countering narratives of cultural erasure while reclaiming elements stolen from settler-colonial forces. Narratively, Indigenous cinema often departs from traditional Western stereotypes of linear storytelling, instead reflecting widespread cyclical Indigenous conceptions of time and interconnectedness. In My Blood It Runs exemplifies this narrative structure, with Dujuan’s return to his ancestral homeland mirroring broader, ongoing struggles against colonial oppression. In contrast, Sweet Country employs a largely linear structure scattered with flashbacks, disrupting that traditional Western storytelling in order to highlight historical immediacies and personal traumas associated with colonial injustices. Relational storytelling, central to Indigenous narrative approaches, foregrounds interpersonal dynamics and familial bonds, with films such as Boy and Once Were Warriors emphasizing how familial relationships and intergenerational trauma profoundly shape Indigenous cultural identities, exploring both the fractures caused by systemic colonial violence as well as the potential for familial bonds to become vehicles for healing and cultural reclamation. Indigenous filmmakers actively subvert the “colonial gaze” by reclaiming representational power within the medium of cinema. In Boy, Waititi uses nostalgic and comedic elements to critique colonial cultural dominance, eventually reframing Western societal influences like Michael Jackson for cultural reflection and self-awareness. As well, Servant or Slave (2016) directly challenges colonial narrative by foregrounding lived experiences of Indigenous women subjected to forced assimilation policies, employing archival footage and testimonies to resist a passive colonial portrayal of their culture and identity. 


    Globally, Indigenous cinemas share themes of resistance, sovereignty, and reclamation of representation, joined through a common history of systemic, colonial injustices like residential schools, the forced removal of children, and intergenerational trauma inflicted upon these communities through the course of colonialism. However, Oceania’s Indigenous cinematic traditions present several distinct cultural specificities—Australian Indigenous films often foregrounding land and spirituality, as exemplified through In My Blood It Runs and Sweet Country, wherein land dispossession acts to symbolize broader colonial injustices, while New Zealand’s Indigenous cinema frequently centres on familial relationships and the effects of intergenerational trauma on these relationships, with films like Once Were Warriors exploring the devastating impacts of colonial violence upon Indigenous communities and pathways to healing and cultural reclamation through familial reconnection and bonding. Indigenous filmmakers within both countries face significant systemic barriers within mainstream production and distribution systems that prioritize commercial viability and westernized, colonial narratives over that of authentic Indigenous stories. Limited theatrical releases and significantly constrained streaming availability hampers the global accessibility and educational impact of these films, in spite of their substantial, perhaps even revelatory cultural values. However, opportunities for increased exposure are emerging through an expansion of Indigenous film festivals, such as New Zealand’s Wairoa Māori Film Festival, as well as an inclusion in broader artistic celebrations such as Australia’s National Indigenous Music Awards. Building on this already growing representation, a wider move by global streaming companies, such as Netflix and Apple, to further recognize the importance of Indigenous art presents an avenue for broader circulation of Indigenous narratives, despite ongoing discoverability issues within these platforms. 

The works of Indigenous cinema within New Zealand and Australia stands as a powerful medium of cultural reclamation, resistance, and Indigenous sovereignty, working to challenge the colonial narratives that have long defined misrepresented accounts of Indigenous histories and identities. Through visual symbolism, innovative storytelling, and the subversion of the colonial gaze, Indigenous filmmakers within Australia and New Zealand are able to assert the worldviews of their communities, centering on themes of land, relationality, and intergenerational resilience. While these films face systemic barriers in their distribution networks and accessibility, increasing recognition through film festivals and global streaming platforms signal a growth in space for Indigenous voices within contemporary filmmaking. Through continuing down the path of reclamation of narrative storytelling in our modern age, Indigenous filmmakers are able to not only resist historical erasures, but also affirm the enduring strength and life of their cultures and communities.

Bibliography:

Cummings-Lambert, Nathaniel. “Fifty Years of Resistance on Film.” HAU: Journal of Ethnographic Theory 13, no. 3 (December 1, 2023): 721–29. https://doi.org/10.1086/728981.
Faulkner, Joanne. 2024. “‘A Universal Father and Son Story’? The Representation of Father-Son Relationships in Zach’s Ceremony, In My Blood It Runs, and Robbie Hood.” Australian Feminist Studies, July, 1–20. doi:10.1080/08164649.2024.2375574.
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Pearson, Wendy Gay, and Paula Sequeiros. “Reverse Shots: Indigenous Film and Media in an International Context: Pearson, W. G., & Knabe, S. (Eds.), 2014, Waterloo, Canada, Wilfrid Laurier University Press.” Sociologica On Line, no. 15 (December 2017): 119–22. https://doi.org/10.30553/sociologiaonline.2017.15.6.
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Films Referenced:

Boy. Film. New Zealand: Paramount, 2010.
In My Blood It Runs. Film. Australia: Closer Productions, 2019.
Kanehsatake: 270 Years of Resistance. Film. Canada: NFB, 1993.
Once Were Warriors. Film. New Zealand: Footprint Films, Voyager Co, 1994.
Servant or Slave. Film. Australia: No Coincidence Media Pty. Ltd., 2016.
Slash/Back. Film. Canada: Shudder, 2022.
Sweet Country. Film. Australia: Contemporary Arts Media, 2017.