The Balanda and the Bark Canoes

A documentary about making the feature film “Ten Canoes”. It is May, 2005 in Central Arnhem Land: ‘We are making a movie. The story is their story, those that live on this land, in their language, and set a long time before the coming of the Balanda, as we white people are known. For the people of the Arafura Swamp, this film is an opportunity, maybe a last chance to hold on to the old ways. For all of us, the challenges are unexpected, the task beyond anything imagined. For me, it is the most difficult film I have made, in the most foreign land I’ve been to…and it is Australia.’ – Rolf de Heer