Louis Nowra and Rachel Perkins and Beck Cole - First Australians
Louis Nowra, Rachel Perkins and Beck Cole - First Australians
Louis Nowra is an acclaimed author, screenwriter and playwright. His books include The Misery of Beauty, The Twelfth of Never and the most recent title Bad Dreaming, and his plays include Cosi, The Marvellous Boy and The Golden Age. His latest novel, Ice, is a book about the power of love, told with audacity and breathtaking imaginative power.
Rachel Perkins is from the Arrernte and Kalkadoon people. She began working in the film industry at the Central Australian Aboriginal Media Association (CAAMA) in Alice Springs 20 years ago. Since then she has independently produced and directed a number of major documentary series and has been an executive producer at SBS and ABC TV. She has directed two dramatic features, Radiance and One Night the Moon, which collectively screened at more than 100 film festivals worldwide including London, Toronto and Sundance, and received five AFI awards. She was also a recipient of the Byron Kennedy AFI award. Rachel is currently in post-production on her third feature, Bran Nue Dae. She was one of the directors, co-writers and producers of the seven-hour documentary series First Australians, which screened on SBS in 2008. Rachel serves on the board of National Indigenous TV service and the board of Screen Australia. She is a previous board member and graduate of the Australian Film, Television and Radio School.
Beck Cole hails from Alice Springs, she is a member of the Warramungu people of Central Australia. She is currently directing a one hour documentary for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation following the trials and tribulations of two young Aboriginal kids cast in Warwick Thornton’s debut feature film Samson and Delilah. Other documentaries written and directed by Beck include Wirriya: small boy, The Lore of Love and most recently First Australians. Beck also writes for television, having written episodes of the SBS series The Circuit.
Her drama Plains Empty screened at the Sundance Film Festival in 2005, the previous year her short film Flat also screened at Sundance and the Edinburgh Film Festivals.
Beck has written her first feature film The Place Between which she is set to direct this year.
About the series:
First Australians chronicles the birth of contemporary Australia as never told before, from the perspective of its first people. First Australians explores what unfolds when the oldest living culture in the world is overrun by the world's greatest empire.
Over seven episodes, First Australians depicts the true stories of individuals - both black and white - caught in an epic drama of friendship, revenge, loss and victory in Australia's most transformative period of history.
The story begins in 1788 in Sydney, with the friendship between an Englishmen (Governor Phillip) and a warrior (Bennelong) and ends in 1993 with Koiki Mabo's legal challenge to the foundation of Australia. First Australians chronicles the collision of two worlds and the genesis of a new nation.
First Australians is produced by Blackfella Films and Film Australia.
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