A new feature length documentary Putuparri and the Rainmakers is scheduled for release at Event Cinemas on the 9th of October.
The film takes audiences on a rare and emotional journey to meet the traditional rainmakers of Australia’s Great Sandy Desert. Ten years in the making, the film is an extraordinary eyewitness account of the living traditions of Putuparri’s people. The film spans 20 transformative years in the life of Tom “Putuparri” Lawford as he navigates the deep chasm between his Western upbringing and his determination to keep his traditional culture alive. Director Nicole Ma documents Putuparri’s journey, travelling with him and his family on numerous occasions to Kurtal, a sacred waterhole in the Great Sandy Desert where they ritually make rain. Kurtal is a site of deep spiritual significance for Putuparri and his family and the subject of a long term native title claim over the area.
“Putuparri and the Rainmakers is an astonishing ten-year labour of love by filmmaker Nicole Ma, documenting the fragile line by which endangered Indigenous cultures are passed from one generation to the next. The fragility of this slender thread has been observed in other films, but rarely with such compassion, honesty and richness of detail. The poignancy of the film is profound as we gradually come to understand the personal burden of responsibility which drives Spider and Dolly, and transforms the lives of the next generation.” Mr. Andrew Pike Ronin Films commented.
“At the heart of Putuparri is the story of a man caught between two worlds who finds redemption through the discovery of his traditional culture and the acceptance of his responsibility for passing it on. The underlying cultural philosophy, ‘if you take care of country it will take care of you,’ is made manifest through the rituals and ceremonies that ‘Spider’, Putuparri’s grandfather, performs. Central to their culture are the rainmaking ceremonies performed at Kurtal. These ceremonies are intended to influence the weather through a complex belief system about the spiritual inhabitants of the landscape, one that interweaves family, ancestors and the environment into a holistic cosmology.” Director Nicole Ma Commented