MIFF or the Melbourne International Film festival is over for another year. I estimate I sat through 1170 minutes or 19.5 hours of cinema in two and a half weeks. I saw some excellent animation and short films. The highlight was one in the Australian Accelerator Program “River of No Return” about Frances Daingangan’s dream of being a movie star. Frances is a Yolgnu woman of the Gupapuyngu tribe in North East Arnhemland, Australia. She is a 45-year old mother of three and grandmother of six. Frances speaks 11 different languages including English.
Frances Daingangan actor
She had dreamed of being an actor all her life, her hero was Marilyn Monroe. She was caste in the role of ‘Nowalingu’, the second wife in Rolf de Heer’s film “Ten Canoes.” After the fine job she did, it was a shock when her application to attend a TAFE Acting Program in Queensland was rejected.
There is a poignant moment at the end of the film when she, a Yolgnu woman, who ancestors go back thousands of years, is speaking on a mobile phone, in the middle of Arnhemland to Phillip Noyce (Director of “Rabbit-Proof Fence”). He reminds her that she is an actor now that she has been rejected!
http://www.melbournefilmfestival.com.au/films?film_id=10865
