In the red glow of the outback an Aboriginal woman nurses her ill white mother. As we watch the old woman dying her daughter confronts the finality of death; the bitterness of memory. Shot entirely in a studio “Night cries” uses a stark set-design, a palette of colours as from a dream, and a haunting soundtrack: of bush noises, gasping breath, the wail of a dingo, to suggest a world that combines the frightening distortion of a nightmare and the painful isolation of human loss. Subtitled “a rural tragedy” the film’s portrayal of a personal agony illuminates and exposes the general horror of Australia’s race history. With Marcia Langton, Agnes Hardwick and Jimmy Little.
Credits
Collection metadata
ACMI Identifier
37403
Language
English
Audience classification
G
Subject categories
Aboriginal Australia → Aboriginal Australians - Producers and directors
Aboriginal Australia → Aboriginal Australians - Women
Experimental
Experimental → Experimental films - Australia
Family, Gender Identity, Relationships & Sexuality → Bereavement
Food, Health, Lifestyle, Medicine, Psychology & Safety → Bereavement
Short films
Short films → Short films - Australia
Sound/audio
Sound
Colour
Colour
Holdings
VHS; Access Print (Section 1)