'Keeping the story of Jandamarra alive sits in the hands of a few key people within the Bunuba nation. Since the passing of a key story-holder, old Banjo Woorunmurra, other senior people like George Brooking, Dillon Andrews, Selena Middleton and actor and singer, Danny Marr (all of whom appear in this documentary), have played an important role in the preservation of this historical saga and the passing of it on to all Australians.'
'The story-keepers believe that the spirit of Jandamarra is still alive and present in their community. They want to see him turn from a local Bunuba hero into a figure as famous as Ned Kelly and who can become a source of national pride. Filmmaker Mitch Torres, herself a Bunuba woman with a close association to Jandamarra’s story, is part of that process of taking the story to a wider audience. She is seen at work on a new feature-length TV documentary about Jandamarra and talks at length about her responsibility to the community in making the film – how the community not only owns the story itself but needs to own the process of making the film, to ensure that the story-telling is correct and consistent with Bunuba aspirations.' (Source: Ronin Films website)
'Stories of Indigenous resistance to colonisation were central to the Australian History wars and remain an area of contestation in Australian History. In recent years, documentaries by Indigenous directors have played a significant role in challenging orthodox histories of colonial conflict and Indigenous resistance. This paper reflects on this work by considering the production, form and style of Jandamarra’s War (2011) and Keepers of the Story: Jandamarra (2010), two historical documentaries by Indigenous director Mitch Torres that retell the story of the Bunuba freedom fighter Jandamarra from what she describes as a ‘Bunuba perspective’. It argues that by combining Indigenous storytelling practices with a process of textual hybridisation, Torres enacts a set of new historical practices that allows Bunuba people to reclaim Jandamarra’s story as their own, indeed as a story that comes from and belongs to their country. I therefore propose to consider Torres’ work not only as a new manifestation of the Jandamarra legend but as an historically significant strategic act of keeping the story of Jandamarra ‘alive’ by renegotiating the terms of its telling and reasserting its place in country.' (Publication abstract)
'Stories of Indigenous resistance to colonisation were central to the Australian History wars and remain an area of contestation in Australian History. In recent years, documentaries by Indigenous directors have played a significant role in challenging orthodox histories of colonial conflict and Indigenous resistance. This paper reflects on this work by considering the production, form and style of Jandamarra’s War (2011) and Keepers of the Story: Jandamarra (2010), two historical documentaries by Indigenous director Mitch Torres that retell the story of the Bunuba freedom fighter Jandamarra from what she describes as a ‘Bunuba perspective’. It argues that by combining Indigenous storytelling practices with a process of textual hybridisation, Torres enacts a set of new historical practices that allows Bunuba people to reclaim Jandamarra’s story as their own, indeed as a story that comes from and belongs to their country. I therefore propose to consider Torres’ work not only as a new manifestation of the Jandamarra legend but as an historically significant strategic act of keeping the story of Jandamarra ‘alive’ by renegotiating the terms of its telling and reasserting its place in country.' (Publication abstract)
