NAIDOC week is a time in Australia each July that celebrates the history, culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The week in 2019 runs from the 7th of July to the 14th of July, where people of the community hold celebrations of their culture.
When speaking with Dylan River, a next generation Indigenous filmmaker with prestigious roots in Indigenous film, he acknowledged that NAIDOC week can feel limiting for Indigenous artists.
All of our films end up screening in NAIDOC week, for some reason, and that’s just another cliche, isn’t it?
Dylan River is the son of Warwick Thornton, director and cinematographer of Sweet Country (2017), as well as director and writer of Samson and Delilah (2009) – both important pieces of Aboriginal film.
Dylan would like to see Aboriginal art championed outside the parameters of NAIDOC week.
As much as NAIDOC week is beautiful and celebratory of everything Aboriginal in this country, you don’t want it to be the one week that everyone celebrates and then forgets about it for the rest of the year.
Dylan goes on to explain that Aboriginal stories are ever-present, and need to be reflected as such.
It’s really important that there’s interest in Aboriginal stories throughout the year in our everyday lives, and then we’ll really come to a beautiful place as a country.”
Dylan’s newest venture is a short series on SBS On Demand entitled Robbie Hood. The six episodes of straight-up perfect Aussie comedy follow the antics of young Robbie, who is living in a remote Aboriginal community in Central Australia, staying busy getting rowdy with his mates.
Get amongst it, no matter what week it is.
