Dungog Film Festival

Presented by NFSA

Sunday, 30-May-2010

9:00 AM

at: James Theatre

Credits: Dir: Charles Chauvel / Scr: Charles & Elsa Chauvel / Prod: Charles Chauvel / Cast: Paul Reynell, Betty Suttor, Ngarla Kunoth, Robert Tudawali / 1955, Rated G

Duration: 85 mins

Charles Chauvel’s Jedda has to be one of Australia’s most famous and infamous classic films. By 1955, Chauvel was much more experienced at working with actors and Ngarla Kunoth in the title role was thrust in the limelight. Jedda is an Aboriginal girl born on a cattle station in the Northern Territory. When her mother dies giving birth to her, the child is brought to Sarah McMann, (Betty Suttor) the wife of the station boss. Sarah has recently lost her own newborn baby to illness. She intends to give the baby to one of the Aboriginal women who work on the station, but ends up raising Jedda as her own, teaching her European ways and separating her from other Aborigines. When Jedda grows into a young woman, she becomes curious about an Aboriginal man from the bush named Marbuck (Robert Tudawali). She is lured to his camp one night by a song. Marbuck abducts her and sets off back to his tribal land, through crocodile-infested swamps.

Joe, (Paul Reynall), a half-caste stockman in love with Jedda, tracks them for several days. They travel across high, rocky country, and down a river until Marbuck reaches his tribe. The tribal council declares that Marbuck has committed a serious crime by bringing Jedda to them, because she is not of the right 'skin' group. They sing his death song as punishment. Marbuck defies the elders and takes Jedda into an area of steep cliffs and canyons, taboo lands. This moving drama is a must see for anyone interested in Australia’s living cinema history.

Courtesy of the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia’s Kodak/Atlab Collection

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