Bitchin: The Sound and Fury of Rick James
Saturday 15 January 07:30 PM
Bitchin: The Sound And Fury Of Rick James is a raw and intimate documentary look at the wildly colourful life of legendary funk artist Rick James from acclaimed director Sacha Jenkins, featuring rare footage of James’ incredible live shows and never-before-seen home video. Original interviews with artists, collaborators and friends focus on the ‘punk-funk’ music James left behind while illuminating his fearless attitude, social justice advocacy and bold musical aspirations.
The Sit In
Sunday 16 January 08:30 PM
While the United States was embroiled in a divisive election with racial tensions flaring, Civil Rights activist and trailblazing performer Harry Belafonte guest hosted The Tonight Show for one week in 1968.
Award-winning director Yoruba Richen examines the importance of this lost broadcast history through vibrant interviews with Belafonte, Whoopi Goldberg, Questlove, and guests who appeared that week including Petula Clark, Dionne Warwick, and Freda Payne. This documentary features rare archival footage, including interviews with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Robert F. Kennedy, which are among the last television appearances before both were assassinated.
Araatika! Rise Up
Wednesday 26 January 09:30 PM
2012, a group of Indigenous NRL players including Dean Widders, Preston Campbell, Timana Tahu and George Rose came together to develop a pre-game ceremony that would be a response to New Zealand’s much loved, universally recognised and hugely respected haka. Rather than simply taking an existing dance, the players came up with a series of movements that reflected cultural symbols - the clan, the warrior, the boomerang, the spear. They concluded their new dance with a moment of reflection - to them, this emphasised that the silences are just as important, or even more important, than the spoken words.
Through this process the players also recognised that there was no equivalent to a war dance in the Aboriginal cultures. Instead, in these millenniums’ old cultures, we hunt quietly. Since then, the original cohort, led by Dean, has collaborated to build support for their vision - including the mighty Indigenous All-Stars teams – to engage with the pre-game cultural performance. For the players, it is a way of highlighting the contribution that Indigenous players have made to the game of rugby league - heroes like Arthur Beetson , Laurie Daley , Preston Campbell , Larry Corowa , Anthony Mundine - and the role the game has had in empowering many Aboriginal sports people.
Dean seeks advice from Bangarra Theatre Company’s Stephen Page (a co-creator of the dance) and Wesley Enoch , artistic director of the Sydney Festival, about the best ways to take stories of culture to the world. Wesley sets Dean a challenge. If Dean can persuade a high-profile group of people to participate, Wesley will include the dance at the The Vigil, the Survival Day ceremony that will be held at the Barangaroo headland and televised nationally in January 2021.