What Are The Critics Saying?

"Twenty years after it debuted at the Perth Festival, followed by sell-out performances throughout Australia, Jimmy Chi's indigenous musical makes an exuberant transfer to the screen under Rachel Perkins' sure direction. This is simply meant to be a good fun experience and that's what Perkins delivers. You should leave your cinema seat wearing a broad smile after this fun-filled experience, officially the first Aussiewood musical. 4 STARS." Des Partiridge COURIER MAIL "AN indigenous comedy musical road trip? Nope, we haven’t seen anything like "Bran Nue Dae", a popular stage show turned zippy movie that has been collecting audience favourite prizes at film festivals the world over. It’s Higgins who emerges as the standout, her hippie-chick routine showing a flair for low-key comedy. The absurd pandemonium of the finale’s confessions stretches to breaking point but befits a unique musical oddball that will prove strangely affecting to those swept up in it." Ben McEachen PERTH NOW "A universal journey of discovery and search for identity with specifically indigenous themes and a lovely sense of celebration, of rejoicing in diversity, Perkins pic does sometimes misstep (mostly due to the budget) but it scarcely matters, as this is a rousing entertainment with a cast who can sing, dance and act all at once! Strewth! 3 1/2 STARS." RIP IT UP "This version of the story is also a road movie of sorts. The performance that gives stature to the film comes from Dingo, reprising a role he first played on stage nearly twenty years ago. Rachel Perkins delightful musical comedy "Bran Nue Dae" is a film out of its time, in the best sense." Jake Wilson THE AGE "Yes, this is another Aussie road-trip flick. But it's also an indigenous comedy musical: when was the last time you saw one of those?' and it succeeds on every level. "There's nothing I would rather be than to be an Aborigine," sing the characters in this upbeat and thoroughly enjoyable indigenous Australian comedy musical. It's a catchy line and one you're likely to be singing as you leave the cinema. Bran Nue Dae, much like the Bible, wraps up with a good many revelations, and offers the viewer a fun, upbeat and feel-good movie-going experience. Hallelujah! 4 STARS." Colin Newton COURIER MAIL

"In the wake of Warwick Thornton’s Samson & Delilah, a powerfully intimate drama, comes Rachel Perkins’ Bran Nue Dae. The two movies are also a reminder that there’s no one set way to address an issue. Aboriginals only won the right to vote after a national referendum in 1967, but the 1969 version of Broome that opens the movie looks like a paradise, especially with the warm colours and sun drenched landscapes. Like another Australian musical "Starstruck from 1982", "Bran Nue Dae" carries the day with energy and self-belief. 3 1/2 STARS." Craig Mathieson SBS MOVIES "It's an ambitious film from Rachel Perkins, who pushed the boundaries in 2001 with her wonderful music-driven film "One Night the Moon", and this is a lively and life-embracing musical road trip in praise of Aborigines. Finding your own slice of heaven in a world filled with sinners is the film's thrust, and Perkins packs an incongruous gaggle of unlikely characters together." Louise Keller URBAN CINEFILE "Gloriously irreverent, musically inventive and effortlessly entertaining, Bran Nue Dae delivers on its promise to bring the highly acclaimed stage musical to the screen. Bran Nue Dae celebrates being Aboriginal in a wickedly humorous fashion. Bran Nue Dae can't be accused of failing to be a crowd pleaser, and word of mouth should help spread the film's accomplishments." Andrew L Urban URBAN CINEFILE "Until the hit drama "Rabbit-Proof Fence", directed by Phillip Noyce, films with Aboriginal themes were under-performers at the box office. This charmingly exuberant film is not an incisive, socially conscious statement but rather a celebration: "There's nothing I would rather be than to be an Aborigine," in the words of its most memorable musical number. It's true these words are meant ironically: note the following line runs, "and watch you take my precious land away". The next time someone tells you that "all Australian films are depressing", point them in Bran Nue Dae's direction. 4 STARS." Lynden Barber THE AUSTRALIAN "Based loosely on the experiences of its author, Jimmy Chi, and the members of his band Kuckles: all of whom grew up in Broome, but were sent to Catholic boarding school in Perth; the play’s popularity resides in its heartwarming mix of humour, irreverence, storytelling and showstopping tunes, as well as its confronting of indigenous issues without resorting to browbeating or histrionics. 4 STARS." Rod Yates EMPIRE MAGAZINE

The Inside Story - From Stage To Screen. Bran Nue Dae has a long and influential history in Australia: first as a collection of iconic songs, then as a stage musical that toured the country charming audiences (approx two hundred thousand patrons would see it) wherever it played. Set in the summer of 1969, the story of Bran Nue Dae was inspired by the teenage experiences of writer and musician Jimmy Chi and the members of his band Kuckles: Patrick Duttoo Bin Amat, Garry Gower, Michael Manolis Mavromatis and Stephen Pigram; who grew up in the tropical seaside port of Broome on Australia’s remote west coast. Like many bright kids of their generation they were sent south to Catholic boarding school in the city of Perth to gain a better education. What they often got along with that education, in a city far from home, was social and cultural dislocation. Chi wrote "Bran Nue Dae" as a way of coming to terms with the experience of separation and then return to his people, and of finding a way to combine his Indigenous and Asian cultural roots with a Catholic faith (that still holds him and many others in the Broome Aboriginal community). In the early 1980s Chi and Kuckles began writing and performing many of the songs that would later become part of the musical. These songs struck an instant chord with Indigenous communities around the country. They were funny, political, ironic, sexy: the voice of their people. Towards the end of the decade, Chi began writing a stage musical as a vehicle for the songs. After a series of workshops, "Bran Nue Dae" made its début at the 1990 Perth Festival and was immediately embraced by audiences, who were drawn to its exhilarating combination of energy and madcap humour. The show went on to tour nationally over the next few years to packed audiences and critical acclaim. It has been seen by over thousands of people, the songs have been released on CD, been published as stage play and has been on the English school curriculum in Western Australia. Amongst the numerous awards that have been given to the production and its authors, Chi was named a State Living Treasure by the West Australian Government in 2006. The "Bran Nue Dae" story begins and ends with Broome, a place renowned for its exotic beauty, cultural diversity and laid-back atmosphere. It is writer Jimmy Chi’s birthplace and where he still lives today. Where the desert meets the sea, Broome has a unique cultural and economic history. In the 1870s it was established as a pearling port attracting workers from all over South East Asia as well as European pearl traders, and with it the influence of Catholicism. This created a cultural melting pot of Malay, Chinese, Japanese, Indonesian, Filipino and Greek immigrants who intermarried with the local Indigenous community. Broome continues to be one of the most multicultural towns in Australia with its own distinctive accent, expressions and humour. Here you could o be both a saint and a sinner:but not in Perth, where you had to be one or the other. The Catholic Church, and in particular the German Pallottine missionaries, had an enormous influence on the lives of Aboriginal people in the North West, providing two successive Catholic bishops of Broome. The Pallottines also ran boarding schools for Aboriginal students down south in Perth where promising students (like Chi) from across the Kimberley were sent to be educated. Broome’s entertainment in the 1960s, when Chi was a teenager, centred on a fabulous outdoor cinema, Sun Pictures (the world’s oldest picture garden, established 1916), and it was here that he watched all the Hollywood musicals of the time, which remained a constant influence in his work. Both producers, Graeme Isaac ("In My Father's Country") and 2000 AFI Award winner Robyn Kershaw ("Looking for Alibrandi"), have had a long association with "Bran Nue Dae" in some form or another. Isaac’s goes back to 1981. He was just finishing his first feature Wrong Side of the Road about pioneering Aboriginal rock and reggae bands No Fixed Address and Us Mob who had formed at an Indigenous music centre in Adelaide where he had been working. When Jimmy Chi and his band Kuckles came to town he first heard some of the songs that would one day form the heart of "Bran Nue Dae". Isaac recalls, "Jimmy, even then, was talking about wanting to make a film. He was dead serious and was thinking about it from that time on." Kershaw met Chi independently six years later when she was touring a show for the Western Australia Theatre Company through the top end of the state. Stopping in Broome to see new work she recalls Chi presenting his ideas to her at the local high school. "He would put the tape recorder on with one song and say, 'so this song happens, and then he does this and this song happens.' It was hilarious and wonderful and wild." On her return to Perth she arranged for the play to have its first workshop. 2002 AFI Byron Kennedy Award winner Rachel Perkins was twenty-one years old when she first saw the stage production in Sydney in the early 1990s. Perkins, who had just moved from Alice Springs to Sydney, went with her boyfriend to the show. "It was just so much fun, the music was great, the Indigenous chorus was sexy and it had this fantastic vitality. I immediately wanted to be in the show!" Years later, after she had directed numerous film and television productions including dual Australian Writers' Guild Award for the musical drama "One Night The Moon", on hearing Isaac had optioned the film rights she called him to say she should be the one to direct. "I just thought I’d had the experience, and I thought it should be done by an Indigenous person because it’s such an iconic Indigenous work. He wasn’t put off my ambition to do the piece." Isaac had taken out the option after seeing the musical several times during its East Coast tour. "It got a standing ovation each time and each time I got the same buzz from it," he recalls. With the option came an increasing sense of responsibility. "It wasn’t just a flight of fantasy, it was a story that came from somewhere real and it was a story that mattered," says Isaac. But he was never in doubt that it could be a wonderful film. "I loved the simplicity of the story. In storytelling terms, very much like the journey of The Wizard of Oz. I also loved the energy, the cheekiness of the songs and that self-deprecating Broome sense of humour. Chi’s involvement in the adaptation began with his approval of Perkins, who he had never met previously, as director. Perkins admits it was a nerve-wracking experience presenting herself to someone she admired so much. "But he trusted me with the work and I was very honoured, but also really scared. It’s such a precious piece of work I really wanted to do the best I could. Because of Jimmy." Perkins was joined by Western Australian Reg Cribb to write the screenplay. Although Cribb is not indigenous, he was an ex-musician and shared with Chi the experience of going to Catholic boarding school as a boy, which underpins the story of Bran Nue Dae. "I understood what it’s like to be quaking in fear at the feet of someone wearing a cassock and carrying a Bible," Cribb says. When writing the screenplay the writers looked at a lot of musicals, particularly those with comedy in them such as Oh Brother, Where Art Thou? which they felt had a similar kooky edge. The ensemble cast for "Bran Nue Dae" is a remarkable mix of youth and experience, actors and musicians, new faces and original cast members, stars and rising talent. The act of getting them together for a seven week shoot in a remote l ocation was a feat of scheduling and, in many ways, drove the film into production. "That’s the thing about filmmaking, you must build up enough critical mass and then you’ve got to leap. If you don’t, it can all dissipate and suddenly the film won’t be made for 20 years," Perkins explained. Oscar ® and two time Golden Globe winner Geoffrey Rush, immediately agreed to be in the film. "I saw the show in Melbourne in about '92 and I remember saying to Robyn then, 'I’ve just seen this amazing bit of theatre. I’m really envious of its political provocation and its passion and its humour and the love that comes out it. It’s got a great country score and it rocks. I want to be in theatre like that!' Sixteen years later I get to be ze German." Playing opposite Rush in the role of Willie is Rocky McKenzie who was discovered during auditions in Broome. Rocky had never acted before but has a reputation in town as a basketball star. "I reckon Willie is pretty cool in a way because he actually chases after his dream in the end," McKenzie said. Two of Australia’s best-known female singers make their acting débuts in "Bran Nue Dae": Missy Higgins and Jessica Mauboy. Perkins knew Higgins was right for her role when she saw her performing at an outdoor concert. "She had the right vitality and freshness and spirit of adventure that Annie has." Mauboy, runner-up in the fourth season of "Australian Idol", plays Rosie, the girl who’s becoming a woman and wanting more out of life. Perkins believed she could be Rosie, noting "She has an internal and external beauty that shines through." For Mauboy, having grown up in a small town with aspirations to be a singer, the part of Rosie felt very real. "Wanting to break free to see the world and having that feeling of being on stage and everybody watching you; we definitely relate to one another." Deborah Mailman (whose mother is Maori and father is a Bidjara Aboriginal) had the role especially created for her. Mailman’s take on the 'proper Kimberley' woman Roxanne? "In two words: no Shame. She’ll try anything, drink anything, and dance anyone under the table. She’s just the life of the party basically." Lawford-Wolf was twenty-one years old when she appeared in the chorus of the premiere production of the stage musical in 1990. She returns to the screen as Willie’s devout single mother, Theresa. Perkins says Tom Budge ("Australian Rules" & "Last Train to Freo") "is a standout in everything he does." Budge plays Slippery, a highly-strung German boy who has travelled to Australia to reunite with his father. On the road he meets Annie and, as Budge says, "like many of us do for love, we change ourselves to fit our partner. He turns into a hippie pretty much overnight. A German wannabe hippie." Ernie Dingo is one of a number of actors in the cast who were part of the original stage productions. In the film he reprises the role of Uncle Tadpole. Toowoomba born Rush believes the character is "one of the great figures of literature." Tadpoles meeting with Willie forces him to confront his demons and in the words of Dingo, a freshwater man from the Yamitji nation, "step up to the plate or; to use a more Australian expression, pull his finger out." Magda Szubankski has a cameo role as Roadhouse Betty."It was a small role, but fun. The opportunity to be dressed the way I am and crack on to Geoffrey Rush." Dan Sultan, a rising talent who is making a name for himself as a musician and performer, debuts as Lester. Synopsis

It’s the summer of 1969 and young Willie is filled with the life of the idyllic old pearling port Broome, in the North of Western Australia: fishing, hanging out with his mates, and when he can, his girl Rosie. However his mother Theresa has great hopes for him. Deeply religious, she has raised her only son to be a good boy and, one day, become a priest. She returns him to the religious mission in Perth for further schooling. But after being punished by Father Benedictus for an act of youthful rebellion, Willie runs away from the mission. But to where. He’s too ashamed to go home, it will break his mother’s heart. Down on his luck he meets an old fella, who he calls ‘Uncle’ Tadpole, and together they con a couple of hippies, Annie and Slippery, into taking them on the two thousand five hundred km journey through spectacular landscape back to Broome, with Father Benedictus in pursuit.

The Verdict "Despite a gawd damn awful cameo by Magda Szubanski as 'Roadhouse Betty' (think dog-woman Brozzie Drewitt in "The Crocodile Hunter: Collision Course") and a few definately cringe-worthy moments within the storyline, "Bran Nue Dae", Australia's first 'indigiwood' production is, thanks to a likeable cast, great songs and its vaudevillian style of hamming it up at just the right moment: a breath of fresh air. If only Kumantjayi Perkins was here to see how far his daughter has come in her own right. Charlie (as he was known before his death on the 19th of Ocober 2000), had plenty of talent too. I for one liked Charlie, a clever bloke who was never afraid to speak his mind. He had a great sporting career playing and administrating 'real' football (the one played with your feet); he enjoyed family life and more important; he was a first nation man: a 'blackfella' who never ever forgot his roots (after leaving public life he returned to Alice Springs where he underwent tribal initiation). His daughter Rachel's career started with the Aboriginal owned TV Station Imparja Television which was followed by a moved to SBS Television. She went on to establish her production company Blackfella Films before being appointed Executive Producer of the ABC's Indigenous Programs Unit. In 1998 Rachel made her first feature film, "Radience" (for which Deborah Mailman won an AFI Award). This was followed in 2001 by the indelible magic of "One Night the Moon" (which she wrote and directed). Two time Golden Tripod winning cinematographer Kim Batterham, picked up an AFI Award for his beautifully haunting work on the film. Her latest feature brings iconic TV presenter Ernie Dingo back to the big screen. He and Geoffrey Rush are exceptionally talented Australians who are a joy to watch. From the opening in The Roebuck Bay Hotel to the finale in Broome, there's never a dull moment. Leave your prejudices at the door and enjoy. 4 STARS." Broome Tourism Images ©2010 - http://www.discoverwest.com.au - All Rights Reserved Who's Who?

Rocky McKenzie Ernie Dingo Jessica Mauboy 'Missy' Higgins Deborah Mailman Tom Budge Geoffrey Rush Magda Szubanski Dan Sultan Ningali Lawford

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Willie Uncle Tadpole Rosie Annie Roxanne Slippery Father Benedictus Roadhouse Betty Lester Theresa

The Crew

Director Writers Producers Original Music Cinematography Film Editor Production Designer Set Decoration Costume Design

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Rachel Perkins Reg Cribb/Rachel Perkins/Jimmy Chi Graeme Isaac & Robyn Kershaw Cezary Skubiszewski Andrew Lesnie Rochelle Oshlack Felicity Abbott Tania Einberg Margot Wilson

Run Time 85 minutes Rated PG [AUST] Copyright ©2010 - Village Roadshow Films - All Rights Reserved ©1999-2010 The Movie Pages & impact Internet Services All Rights Reserved. Protected by Australian and International Copyright. Trademark Laws and Intellectual Property Rights apply.