‘Bush to Belly’ began as a project teaching the students of the Yiyili Aboriginal Community School in the Kimberley how to source and prepare food, using both traditional and modern methods.
With former restaurateur Anthony ‘Gilly’ MacGillivray on board, they quickly picked up the skills to start a café serving tourists visiting the Laarri Gallery in their home community during dry season. In 2014, seven of the students packed their Italian espresso machine into the back of a four-wheel drive and took off to serve the 500 competitors in the annual Gibb River Road mountain bike race in northern Western Australia.
The film is a labour of love, supported by elders who want their children and grandchildren to have a happy, productive future with business skills and pride in their identities. Music by the Stiff Gins and the Walkabout Boys, and Deborah Mailman’s voiceover complement the Bush to Belly experience in the stunning landscape of the Kimberley.
