Konangal Outreach Programme Screening on 9th Sept 2007 : Rabbit-Proof Fence

Leaping The Fence Of Australia's Past

Rabbit-Proof Fence
A Film By : Phillip Noyce
Year : 2002, Run Time : 93 minutes ; Country: Australia
Screening on 9^th Sept 2007 at 5.45pm
Venue : Aruna Thirumana Mandapam , 279, 280 N S R Road (Opp.Spencer Supermarket ) Coimbatore.
Call : 94430 39630 , 98416 58466, 4382331 .

Rabbit-Proof Fence is based on the book ‘Follow The Rabbit Proof Fence’ by Doris Pilkington Garimara. It concerns the author's mother, and two other young mixed-race Aboriginal girls, who ran away from the Moore River Native Settlement, north of Perth, in which they were placed in 1931, in order to return to their Aboriginal families.

Based on true events, "Rabbit-Proof Fence" is a moving story of racial prejudice, agoraphobic desert vistas, and amazing endurance as three girls walk 1,500 miles to find their mothers in 30s Australia.

These are the shocking facts behind the movie: during the early years of the 20th century, white Australians panicked about the supposed disaster of an "unwanted third race" of "half-caste" Aborigine children.

Special detention centres were set up across the continent to keep the mixed race children from "contaminating" the rest of Australian society, and orders were given to forcibly remove "half-caste" children from their families. It was a disastrous, racist policy that brought about the misery of the so-called "stolen generations".

In "Rabbit-Proof Fence", Australian director Phillip Noyce gives us a perceptive, uplifting drama that highlights - and overcomes - that racist policy. Having been forcible separated from their natural mothers, three girls - Molly (Sampi), Daisy (Sansbury), and Gracie (Monaghan) - escape from the Moore River Native Settlement, presided over by AO Neville (Branagh).

With an epic journey ahead of them, the girls set out to find their way back home by following the rabbit-proof fence that stretches across the Outback. Cutting back and forth between the children's journey and Neville's increasingly desperate attempts to capture them, Noyce's sensitive dramatization swaps angry politics for emotional sympathy, concentrating on the plight of the children instead of ranting against the authorities.

By highlighting the realities of this hidden genocide (unbelievably, the policy continued until the early 70s), "Rabbit-Proof Fence" stands as a powerful, worthy testimony to the suffering of the stolen generations.

This screening is supported by : HOLLYWOOD DVD SHOPEE , NSR Road, Coimbatore ; Ph 4382331 , : 98416 58466

Phillip Noyce

(born April 29, 1950)

Noyce was born in Griffith, New South Wales, and began making short film at the age of 18, starting with Better to Reign in Hell, using his friends as the cast. He joined the Australian Film & Television School in 1973, and released his first professional film in 1977.

After his debut feature, the medium-length Backroads (1977), Noyce achieved commercial and critical success with Newsfront (1978), which won Australian Film Institute (AFI) awards for Best Film, Director, and Screenplay.

Noyce worked on two miniseries for Australian television with fellow Australian filmmaker George Miller: The Dismissal (1983) and The Cowra Breakout (1984).

Miller also produced the film that brought Noyce his greatest acclaim in the United States — the thriller Dead Calm (1989) which turned Nicole Kidman into a star. His greatest commercial success to date has been the Tom Clancy spy thriller Clear and Present Danger (1994) starring Harrison Ford.

Noyce achieved great acclaim in Australia for the "stolen generation" picture, Rabbit Proof Fence, which won the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Film in 2002.