'Putuparri And The Rainmakers' wins CinefestOZ Film Prize

“Putuparri seems to work with audiences because the story touches people’s hearts,” producer John Moore told ScreenDaily.

“We have had many people come up to us after screenings with a tear in their eye saying it has helped them understand what Aboriginal culture is all about.

“We hope that winning the prize will help us find an international sales agent who can get the film into some big international festivals.”

The CinefestOZ Film Festival has been running in Western Australia’s (WA) Margaret River region for eight years and – especially since the introduction of the prize last year – has become a significant gathering place for Australian filmmakers.

The festival also provided an opportunity for state government agency ScreenWest to stage several industry events, including a day-long series of discussions about the importance of the audience and a two-day exploration of co-production opportunities between China and Australia.

The latter kicked off with the launch of the China Australia Film Collaboration (CAFC) and the signing of a memorandum of understanding between the China Film Producers Association, Australia China Business Council, ScreenWest and CinefestOZ.

The CinefestOZ awards night also saw actor Hugo Weaving win the Legend Award and local writer Heather Wilson and her feature film Another Time win the $14,300 (A$20,000) Bill Warnock Initiative, presented by ScreenWest in conjunction with the Australian Writers Guild and Screen Australia.

But the big honour was Putuparri’s and it was actor, CinefestOZ patron and jury president David Wenham who announced the win, saying that the film had a story so compelling and emotionally engaging and it was told in such a way that it “reinforced the power of cinema to entertain, touch us deeply and stay with us forever.”

Director Nicole Ma’s modern-day story of Aboriginal tradition and ceremony is told via the cultural awakening of Tom “Putuparri” Lawford, who accepts the responsibility of passing on the old ways after learning about them from his grandparents and from travelling back to their old home at Kurtal in the Great Sandy Desert.

The film’s underlying themes include the importance of protecting the environment and the struggle faced by Aboriginal people in contemporary Australia due to government policy, loss of land and other factors.

Ma also produced the film with Moore, who got on board after it was selected for the inaugural Pozible crowdfunding campaign of the 2013 Australian International Documentary Conference.

Key partners are broadcaster NITV, government agencies Screen Australia and Film Victoria, Australian distributor Ronin Films and the Melbourne International Film Festival Premiere Fund.

Ma first met Lawford and his family when she made a short film in his home of Fitzroy Crossing in the Kimberley region of WA in 2001 and has filmed them regularly ever since.

She hooked up with her Putuparri co-writer and cinematographer Paul Elliott in 2007 during the creation of a major museum exhibition about Australia’s famous 2000-kilometre Canning Stock Route, which had a big impact on the traditional lives of indigenous people.

Putuparri was up against four fictional features: Michael Petroni’s tense mystery Backtrack starring Adrien Brody, Sam Neill and Robin McLeavy; Simon Stone’s dramatic directorial debut The Daughter starring relative newcomer Odessa Young, Ewen Leslie, American actor Paul Schneider, Geoffrey Rush, Sam Neill and Miranda Otto; Wayne Hope’s comedy Now Add Honey starring Robyn Butler, Portia de Rossi and Lucy Fry; and Paul Ireland’s slice-of-life comedy drama debut Pawno, starring John Brumpton and the film’s writer Damian Hill.

The CinefestOZ Film Prize last year was awarded to the family film Paper Planes, which went on to gross $6.89m (A$9.65m) in its home market, the second highest Australian performer released this year after Mad Max: Fury Road (The Water Diviner has also been a big hit but launched on December 26).

CinefestOZ also celebrates French films, in recognition of the region’s history, and has a comprehensive schools programme.