'Early in 2017, legendary Australian actor David Gulpilil was diagnosed with lung cancer. His doctors estimated six months for him but David, being David, was always likely to defy the odds. And he continues to do so with probably his last great work, My Name is Gulpilil. For the first time, it's all Gulpilil, his story, in his words. He takes us boldly on the journey that is his most extraordinary, culture-clashing life.'
Source: Adelaide Festival.
'Molly Reynolds has documented a remarkable half-century career'
'An aging man ambles down a dirt road, walking slowly away from the camera. He seems to be alone, until we realise he’s stalking an emu, which crosses to the other side of the track. He stops and turns to look at the camera, looks back to the emu, and begins walking towards us. The emu cautiously follows, and the pair walk up the hill in lockstep. This extraordinary cinematic moment provides an apt symbolic opening for Molly Reynolds’ documentary portrait of one of Australia’s finest actors, David Gulpilil. Its power, however, is immediately undercut by the subsequent image of the same man hooked up to medical equipment, receiving treatment for his now various ailments.' (Introduction)
'In 1955, Charles Chauvel’s Jedda – the first colour feature film made in Australia – was released. At the January première in Darwin, the two Aboriginal cast members, Rosalie Kunoth-Monks and Robert Tudawali, were the only ones permitted to sit with the white people. (Later that year it was released in the United Kingdom as Jedda the Uncivilized.)' (Introduction)
'Since the start of his cinematic career, David Gulpilil has occupied the living embodiment of Indigenous Australia on screen. This is a significant responsibility — as is the task of doing justice to Gulpilil’s considerable legacy.' (Introduction)
'In early 2017, when the legendary actor David Gulpilil was diagnosed with stage-four lung cancer and advised that he had only months to live, he told filmmakers Molly Reynolds and Rolf de Heer that he wanted to make one more film.'
Source : Introduction
'In 1955, Charles Chauvel’s Jedda – the first colour feature film made in Australia – was released. At the January première in Darwin, the two Aboriginal cast members, Rosalie Kunoth-Monks and Robert Tudawali, were the only ones permitted to sit with the white people. (Later that year it was released in the United Kingdom as Jedda the Uncivilized.)' (Introduction)
'An aging man ambles down a dirt road, walking slowly away from the camera. He seems to be alone, until we realise he’s stalking an emu, which crosses to the other side of the track. He stops and turns to look at the camera, looks back to the emu, and begins walking towards us. The emu cautiously follows, and the pair walk up the hill in lockstep. This extraordinary cinematic moment provides an apt symbolic opening for Molly Reynolds’ documentary portrait of one of Australia’s finest actors, David Gulpilil. Its power, however, is immediately undercut by the subsequent image of the same man hooked up to medical equipment, receiving treatment for his now various ailments.' (Introduction)
