The great Australian protest documentary Ningla-A’na is returning to cinemas with a new restoration timed for the 50th anniversary of the film and its subject. Capturing the early days of the Aboriginal Tent Embassy – a hugely influential symbol of sovereignty that began as a beach umbrella erected by four activists (Billy Craigie, Tony Coorey, Michael Anderson and Bert Williams) in 1972 – it’s not just a historical document but a kind of evergreen clarion call and electric time capsule, burning with white-hot energy and a searing sense of purpose all these years later.
The launch of the Tent Embassy marked the first time many saw First Nations people confronting the establishment. In Ningla-A’na we watch protestors congregate, march, occupy public spaces and clash with cops, including in one shocking sequence that became a widely seen and highly influential depiction of police brutality. This moment, as curator Liz McNiven wrote for the National Film and Sound Archive of Australia website, “brought international attention to Aboriginal people’s struggle for land rights and human rights” and even “fundamentally changed the way the world saw Australia”.
