This Friday is the International Day of the World's Indigenous Peoples and in the lead to the , NITV will proudly be celebrating Indigenous Languages and Peoples with a curated selection of programs in language from Australia and around the world.
NITV will be presenting a variety of programs, ranging from premieres of films such as Maliglutit, Anori and Tia and Piujuq to short films, documentaries and an animated series in language.
All programs will be available on SBS On Demand after going to air on NITV (Ch. 34).
Australian Premieres
Maliglutit (Searchers) - Wednesday 7 August 9.30PM
Maliglutit (Searchers) centres on Kuanana (Benjamin Kunuk), a man who returns from hunting to discover that much of his family has been killed and his wife and daughter have been kidnapped. This neo-Western story is partly based on the 1956 John Ford film The Searchers, except it is set in Northern Canada in 1913 and told in an Inuit way, filmed with an entirely Inuit cast.
Maliglutit Source: Supplied
The dialogue is spoken in Maliglutit Inuktitut-language. This Canadian drama was directed by Zacharias Kunuk and Natar Ungalaaq.
Zacharias is commonly referred to us the Godfather of Native Cinema, most notable for his film Atanarjuat: The Fast Runner, which was the 2001 winner of Caméra d'Or (Golden Camera) at Cannes.
Anori - Thursday 8 August 9PM
Anori is a tragic love story inspired by the old Greenlandic myths. It tells the story of a woman who believes only in all that is good in life, but when confronted by the dark forces of nature, Anori is determined to bring back the light.
Anori Source: Supplied
This modern story - set amongst the incredible Greenlandic landscapes and the intensely crowded New York takes you on a journey where myth comes to life.
Directed by Pipaluk Kreutzmann Jørgensen, Anori is the first female directed feature film from Greenland. This film is a journey where myth comes to life.
Tia and Piujuq - Friday 9 August 7.30PM
Tia and Piujuq is the story of two ten-year old girls. Tia is a Syrian refugee who has recently moved to Montreal with her parents. The summer moves by slowly for Tia as she struggles to make new friends while her father takes classes and her sick mother is confined to her bed. But it all changes when Tia finds a magic portal that transports her to the arctic tundra.
Tia and Piujuq Source: Supplied
It is here that she befriends Piujuq, an Inuk girl who is camping with her grandmother. She starts making frequent trips, becoming more confident through her adventures until strange things begin to occur, as if a mysterious force is following her. When something or someone threatens Tia’s return, the girls immerse themselves in a world of Inuit myth and magic, using all their bravery and smarts to bring Tia home.
Series in Language
Little J and Big Cuz (In Language Episodes) - Friday 9 August
Nan, Little J and Big Cuz Source: NITV
Old Monster Dog (Pitjantjatjara) - 9.15AM
Wombat Rex (Pitjantjatjara) - 9.30AM
Lucky Undies (Walmajarri) - 9.45AM
Hopalong (Arrernte) - 3PM
Lucky Undies (Arrernte) - 3.15PM
New Tricks (Arrernte) - 3.30PM
Night Owl & Morning Maggie (Djambarrpuyngu) - 3.45PM
Nothing Scares Me (Djambarrpuyngu) - 4PM
Right Under Your Nose (Yawuru) 4.15PM
Hopalong (Palawa Kani) - 4.30PM
Goanna Ate My Homework (Pitjantjatjara) - 4.45PM
Songlines On Screen - Friday 9 August
Bulunu Milkarri - 8.55PM
Songlines on Screen, an NITV production, is recording Indigenous people telling their own stories. Source: NITV
Goorrandalng: Brolga Dreaming - 9.25PM
News and Current Affairs
The Point - Wednesday 7 August 8.30PM
The Point traveled to North East Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory for the 2019 Garma Festival and explored this year’s theme of 'Pathways to our Future'. We also unpack all the latest news, speeches, music, and entertainment that Yolŋu culture have to offer. And we look ahead to the Telstra NATSIAA Awards. Hosted by Rachael Hocking and John Paul Janke.
The Point with hosts Rachael Hocking and John Paul Janke. Wednesdays, 8.30pm on NITV. Source: NITV
NITV News: Nula - Friday 10 August 7PM
NITV News is marking the United Nations Year of Indigenous languages with its weekly news program NITV News: Nula. Nula is a locational word in the Sydney based Dharug language meaning here, there or everywhere. Natalie Ahmat is on the road in North East Arnhem land at the 21st annual Garma Festival in Gulkula in Arnhem Land, NT.
NITV News: Nula Source: NITV
Extra Programs on SBS On Demand
Lil Bois (Short Film) - Available Now
Lil Bois is the first film in the traditional and endangered Australian Indigenous language of Ngandi. It also features the languages of Wagilak and Roper Kriol.
Lil Bois - Short Film Source: Supplied
Written and directed by the Ngandi man Grant Thompson, this fictionalised frontier story follows a group of young boys whose worlds have been forever changed by white missionaries and pastoralists inhabiting their country.
Blackbird (Short Film) - Available Monday 12 August
'Blackbird' tells the story of Solomon Islander siblings, Rosa and Kiko, who were kidnapped from their island home to work on a sugar cane plantation in Queensland, Australia in the late 1800s.
(L-R) Regina Lepping and Jeremy Bobby play indentured labourers in the award-winning film, Blackbird Source: Facebook / Blackbird Film Project
Skindigenous (Documentary Series) - Available Now
This series explores Indigenous tattooing traditions around the world, discovering the tools, techniques, the symbols and traditions that shape their tattooing art. The art of tattoo becomes a lens for exploring some of the planet's oldest cultures and unique perspectives on life, identity and the natural world. This is a 13 part series.
Skindigenous Episode 5 Source: Supplied
Native America (Documentary Series) - Available Wednesday 7 August 8.30PM
Native America challenges everything we thought we knew about the Americas before and since contact with Europe. It travels through 15,000 years to showcase massive cities, unique systems of science, art and writing, and 100 million people connected by social networks and spiritual beliefs spanning two continents. The series reveals some of the most advanced cultures in human history and the Native American people who created it and whose legacy continues, unbroken, to this day.
Native America - Mashpee Marcus Hendricks Source: Supplied
Tunniit (Feature Documentary) - Available Sunday 11 August
Traditional Inuit face tattoos have been forbidden for a century and almost forgotten. Past meets present in this intimate story of one woman's journey of self-empowerment and cultural understanding.
Tunniit. Source: Supplied
