form y separately published work icon The Balanda and the Bark Canoes single work   film/TV  
Alternative title: 18 Canoes; The Making of 'Ten Canoes'
Issue Details: First known date: 2006... 2006 The Balanda and the Bark Canoes
The material on this page is available to AustLit subscribers. If you are a subscriber or are from a subscribing organisation, please log in to gain full access. To explore options for subscribing to this unique teaching, research, and publishing resource for Australian culture and storytelling, please contact us or find out more.

AbstractHistoryArchive Description

The Balanda and the Bark Canoes is a 52 minute documentary that is concerned not only with the day to day production issues, including the practicalities of working with non-professional actors in crocodile infested Arnhem Land, but also the complex consultations with the Aboriginal cast and community members (many who speak little or no English) and who put forth views on the path Ten Canoes ought to follow. The film similarly explores the cross-cultural issues tackled by directors Rolf de Heer and Peter Djigirr and their Aboriginal collaborators, while illustrating storytelling methodology on both sides of the cultural divide.

Notes

  • Originally titled 18 Canoes, the documentary was re-named The Balanda and the Bark Canoes when it premiered at the 2006 Sydney Film Festival. The title was again changed (to Making Ten Canoes) when broadcast on SBS Television in July 2006.

Publication Details of Only Known VersionEarliest 2 Known Versions of

VIEW PUBLICATION DETAILS FOR ALL VERSIONS ()

Related Works

form y separately published work icon Ten Canoes Rolf De Heer , ( dir. Rolf De Heer ) Australia : Fandango Australia Vertigo Productions , 2006 Z1262398 2006 single work film/TV (taught in 11 units)

A story within a story and overlaid with narration, Ten Canoes takes place in two periods in the past. The first story, filmed in black-and-white as a reference to the 1930s ethnographic photography of Donald Thompson, concerns a young man called Dayindi who takes part in his first hunt for goose eggs. During the course of several trips to hunt, gather and build a bark canoe, his older brother Minygululu tells him a story about their ancestors and the old laws. The story is also about a young man who had no wife but who coveted one of his brother's wives, and also of the stranger who disrupted the harmony of their lives. It is cautionary tale because Minygululu is aware that Dayinidi desires his young and pretty third wife.

The second story (shot in colour) is set much further back in time. Yeeralparil is a young man who desires the third wife of his older brother Ridjimiraril. When Ridjimiraril's second wife disappears, he suspects a man from another tribe has been seen near the camp. After he spears the stranger he discovers that he was wrong. Knowing that he must face the man's relatives he chooses Yeeralparil to accompany him during the ritual payback. When Ridjimiraril dies from his wounds the tribe's traditions decree that Yeeralparil must inherit his brother's wives. The burden of these responsibilities, however, is more than the young man expects.

VIEW ALL RELATED WORKS (1)

Works about this Work

Respecting Protocols for Representing Aboriginal Cultures Jared Thomas , 2014 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 14 no. 3 2014; 'This essay undertakes a detailed discussion of how respecting protocols for representing Indigenous cultures supports the interests of Indigenous communities and producers of stories with Indigenous content. To highlight the importance of Indigenous protocols I review the prominence and reception of Aboriginal stories in Australian film and literature and discuss how protocol guidelines can prevent problematic representations. I demonstrate how protocols influenced writing Calypso Summer (2014), a novel exploring issues relating to my cultural group, the Nukunu, to illustrate the challenges encountered and benefits gained from employing Indigenous representation protocols. ' (Author's introduction)
Reel Indigeneity : Ten Canoes and Its Chronotopical Politics of Ab/Originality Cornelis Martin Renes , 2014 single work criticism
— Appears in: Continuum : Journal of Media & Cultural Studies , vol. 28 no. 6 2014; (p. 850-861) 'The awarded film Ten Canoes (2006) broke new ground in the cinematic representation of Indigenous Australia. Indigenous life in the remote area of Arnhem Land's Arafura Swamp was both documented and fictionalized in collaboration between the independent Dutch-Australian filmmaker Rolf de Heer and the Yolngu community in Ramingining. This essay draws on Homi Bhabha's work on the articulation of cultural difference in his essay ‘DissemiNation’, published in his volume Nation and Narration (1990), Martin Nakata's work on the Indigenous/non-Indigenous contact zone in the Australian context (2007), and the film's accompanying documentary, The Making of Ten Canoes, to analyse the eventful process of Ten Canoes' creation. The questions and doubts raised about the film's structure and content inside and outside the Aboriginal community reveal a dynamic yet tense ‘Cultural Interface’ of cross-cultural collaboration. Its very nature issues a call to veer away from a nostalgic search for Indigenous-Australian ‘authenticity’, ‘fidelity’ and ‘originality’ when Indigenous-Australian cultural dynamics inevitably move towards the incorporation of new, hybrid means of cultural production, as Ten Canoes' fruitful spin-off activities amongst the Yolngu prove.' (Publication abstract)
Working Together : Two Cultures, One Film, Many Canoes Therese Davis , 2006 single work criticism
— Appears in: Senses of Cinema , October - December no. 41 2006; 'An examination of director Rolf de Heer's unique collaboration with the Yolngu people of Ramingining of Northern Australia on Ten Canoes and the behind-the-scenes documentary Balanda and the Bark Canoes.' (Publisher's abstract)
Working Together : Two Cultures, One Film, Many Canoes Therese Davis , 2006 single work criticism
— Appears in: Senses of Cinema , October - December no. 41 2006; 'An examination of director Rolf de Heer's unique collaboration with the Yolngu people of Ramingining of Northern Australia on Ten Canoes and the behind-the-scenes documentary Balanda and the Bark Canoes.' (Publisher's abstract)
Respecting Protocols for Representing Aboriginal Cultures Jared Thomas , 2014 single work criticism
— Appears in: JASAL , vol. 14 no. 3 2014; 'This essay undertakes a detailed discussion of how respecting protocols for representing Indigenous cultures supports the interests of Indigenous communities and producers of stories with Indigenous content. To highlight the importance of Indigenous protocols I review the prominence and reception of Aboriginal stories in Australian film and literature and discuss how protocol guidelines can prevent problematic representations. I demonstrate how protocols influenced writing Calypso Summer (2014), a novel exploring issues relating to my cultural group, the Nukunu, to illustrate the challenges encountered and benefits gained from employing Indigenous representation protocols. ' (Author's introduction)
Reel Indigeneity : Ten Canoes and Its Chronotopical Politics of Ab/Originality Cornelis Martin Renes , 2014 single work criticism
— Appears in: Continuum : Journal of Media & Cultural Studies , vol. 28 no. 6 2014; (p. 850-861) 'The awarded film Ten Canoes (2006) broke new ground in the cinematic representation of Indigenous Australia. Indigenous life in the remote area of Arnhem Land's Arafura Swamp was both documented and fictionalized in collaboration between the independent Dutch-Australian filmmaker Rolf de Heer and the Yolngu community in Ramingining. This essay draws on Homi Bhabha's work on the articulation of cultural difference in his essay ‘DissemiNation’, published in his volume Nation and Narration (1990), Martin Nakata's work on the Indigenous/non-Indigenous contact zone in the Australian context (2007), and the film's accompanying documentary, The Making of Ten Canoes, to analyse the eventful process of Ten Canoes' creation. The questions and doubts raised about the film's structure and content inside and outside the Aboriginal community reveal a dynamic yet tense ‘Cultural Interface’ of cross-cultural collaboration. Its very nature issues a call to veer away from a nostalgic search for Indigenous-Australian ‘authenticity’, ‘fidelity’ and ‘originality’ when Indigenous-Australian cultural dynamics inevitably move towards the incorporation of new, hybrid means of cultural production, as Ten Canoes' fruitful spin-off activities amongst the Yolngu prove.' (Publication abstract)
VIEW ALL WORKS ABOUT (3)
Last amended 23 Mar 2017 09:59:09
Molly Reynolds
Rolf De Heer
Tania Nehme
Subjects:
  • Ten Canoes Rolf De Heer , 2006 single work film/TV
  • 2005-2006
Settings:
  • Arnhem Land, Top End, Northern Territory,
Newspapers:
    Powered by Trove
    X