Backroads

The story of two men on the run from the police in outback NSW, Backroads was the first feature film in which First Peoples made a major creative contribution, other than fine acting. The dialogue between the two main characters elevates the film into an angry polemical statement about white responsibility for the poverty and destitution of Indigenous people. Essie Coffey, playing herself, talks about her people’s struggle for land rights.

Also stars Gary Foley, Bill Hunter and Julie McGregor and features photography by Russell Boyd.

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Credits

production company

Backroads Productions

producer/director

Phil Noyce

Duration

00:57:00:00

Production places

Australia

Production dates

1977

Collection metadata

ACMI Identifier

324582

Language

English

Audience classification

MA

Subject categories

Aboriginal Australia → Aboriginal Australians - Land tenure

Courtroom, Crime, Espionage & Thrillers

Courtroom, Crime, Espionage & Thrillers → Police films

Drama

Drama → Road movies

Economics, Philosophy, Politics, Religion & Sociology → Aboriginal Australians - Social conditions

Feature films

Feature films → Feature films - Australia

History → History

Sound/audio

Sound

Colour

Holdings

VHS; Access Print (Section 1)

Collected

9 times

Please note: this archive is an ongoing body of work. Sometimes the credit information (director, year etc) isn’t available so these fields may be left blank; we are progressively filling these in with further research.

Cite this work on Wikipedia

If you would like to cite this item, please use the following template: {{cite web |url=https://acmi.net.au/works/80565--backroads-a/ |title=Backroads |author=Australian Centre for the Moving Image |access-date=2 December 2021 |publisher=Australian Centre for the Moving Image}}

Australia, 1977