the start I the casting I the boys I the shoot

HOW IT ALL STARTED

A boyhood spent in Darwin had instilled Director Stephen Johnson with a deep love of the Northern Territory and its people. Following several years abroad where he honed the skills that would help him in realizing his dream, he came home to Darwin in 1990 and established Burrundi Pictures, arguably the Northern Territory's first film production company. "I returned with the intention of making a film," explained Johnson, "but at that time there was really no movie industry in the Northern Territory so I just started my own business and freelanced. I wanted to explore different types of work that would reunite me with Aboriginal culture, people and the landscape, because that's what I wished to draw upon in order to tell this story. I always knew that one day I'd return to shoot a film, but before I could meet the challenge I had to go away and learn a great many things."

Around the time that Johnson established Burrundi Pictures, Dr. Patricia Edgar, Director of the Australian Children's Television Foundation (ACTF), was in need of someone to shoot documentary footage for the ACTF's program, Lift Off. She commissioned Johnson over the phone and was subsequently supplied with spectacular footage that revealed an unconventional style and a rare talent for showcasing the subject at hand. Intrigued by the flair of this maverick filmmaker, Edgar decided to visit Darwin to observe him at work. "I asked him whether he'd thought of doing a feature and he said, 'Absolutely!' so I decided there and then that we needed to establish a team that would fully support what he wanted to achieve," said Edgar. So began the ACTF's journey in making its first feature film.

©2000 The Australian Children's Television Foundation