NAIDOC Week is a time for us to recognise and put a spotlight on our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander film practitioners, who have worked so hard to achieve the impossible during these interesting times.  

NAIDOC Week should not have to be celebrated only one week of the year; our achievements in storytelling should be celebrated 365 days a year. However, NAIDOC Week gives our Mobs a special opportunity to shine and to show to the community that we are here as filmmakers, as creatives, as the original storytellers of this Land.  

This is not the first pandemic we have survived, and our storylines will carry on long after COVID is a page in the history books. 

Today, on the first day of NAIDOC Week 2021, I acknowledge Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples as the Traditional Custodians of this country and recognise their connection to land, sea and community.  

At Screen Queensland, we pay our respects to First Nations People and their cultures, and to their elders past, present and emerging. We are committed to empowering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander screen practitioners to share their rich culture and varied perspectives with the Queensland and global communities through screen storytelling. 

The theme of this NAIDOC Week – Heal Country! – invites all Australians, from all cultures, backgrounds and histories, to embrace First Nations cultural knowledge and connection to Country as part of Australia’s national heritage.  

Screen stories, made by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander filmmakers, are a powerful medium for sharing this knowledge and strengthening respect for the oldest continuing culture on the planet. Equally, stories can be healing, a way to speak truth, expose injustice, drive change and give voice to those once made voiceless.

In the past year in Queensland, we have funded creative development and production by Indigenous-led companies including Lone Star Productions, Bunya Productions and Oombarra Productions, and supported a range of stories from Strait to the Plate for NITV and SBS Food, All My Friends Are Racist for ABC and feature documentary Incarceration Nation to air on NITV.

Screen Queensland is proud to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander practitioners through programs aimed at building careers and generating original and diverse screen content for local and global audiences alike – as well as finding the next generation of original storytellers. 

This NAIDOC Week 2021, we are delighted to showcase  just some of the talented Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander screen practitioners and their incredible projects, which Screen Queensland has supported. 

On behalf of the SQ team, we wish you all well this NAIDOC Week.  

Heal Country, heal our nation.