Source: Artlink
Director
Bruce McGuiness
Writer
Bruce McGuiness
Producer
DOP
Year
1972
Location
Melbourne, VIC
Type
Documentary
ASO Link
Synopsis
The first film written and directed by an Aboriginal filmmaker. "Black Fire is a 20minute B&W 16mm film that consists of a series of connected ideas and a take on both the state of Anthropology and Aboriginal Affairs in 1972. In the film the camera turns its gaze onto an examination of the Anthropologist Lorna Lipmann (who was Bruce’s Anthropology lecturer), so that the academic becomes the subject and object rather than the Aborigine. McGuinness also playfully injects now historic footage of the Fitzroy Stars Aboriginal community football team into sequences that include a hilarious scene whereby an obviously Aboriginal man (Harry Williams) walks along Bourke Street in Melbourne asking people, "Who discovered Australia?" There is also a satirical take on an Aboriginal debutant quest and a gentle dig at the conservative political approach of Pastor Doug Nicholls. All of this footage is unique material that reveals the state of Aboriginal politics and society in Melbourne at an important historical intersection." (from Dr. Gary Foley’s article ’Time to Dream’ published on Tracker Magazine in May 2013 http://www.kooriweb.org/foley/essays/tracker/tracker23.html)
