Black Chicks Talking
Author | Leah Purcell |
---|---|
Publisher | Hodder Headline Australia |
Publication date
|
2002 |
Pages | 363 |
ISBN | 0-7336-1070-6 |
Black Chicks Talking | |
---|---|
Directed by | Brendan Fletcher Leah Purcell |
Produced by | Brendan Fletcher Bain Stewart |
Cinematography | Himman Dhamija |
Edited by | Reva Childs |
Production
company |
|
Release dates
|
2001 |
Running time
|
52 minutes |
Country | Australia |
Language | English |
Black Chicks Talking is an arts project by Australian actress Leah Purcell featuring a 2001 documentary film, a 2002 book, a stage production and an art exhibition. The film is co-directed by Brendan Fletcher and features Indigenous Australian women including Purcell, actress Deborah Mailman and politician Kathryn Hay. Following the book and film, Purcell wrote a fictionalised dramatisation under the same title.[1]
Book
Purcell got the idea for a book featuring interviews of Indigenous Australian women following the success of her semi-autobiographical play Box the Pony.[2] After seeing the play someone suggested that Purcell find other Indigenous women to tell their stories.[2] Purcell sought out nine women who personally inspired her, some professional, some not.[2] The interviewees included politician and former Miss Australia Kathryn Hay, actress Deborah Mailman, netball player Sharon Finnan, United Nations youth delegate Tammy Williams, Rosanna Angus and Cilla Malone.[1][3] To initiate discussion, Purcell asked each woman the question "Out of the five senses, which one do you relate to and what is your first pleasurable memory of that sense?"[2] Her partner Bain Stewart gave her the idea of filming the interviews and using them as the basis for a documentary.[2] Further interviews were conducted over the telephone, particularly when participants felt uncomfortable opening up on-camera.[1] The interviews explored the topics of identity, family and culture in relation to Indigenous Australian women.[4]
Film
Purcell used the documentary footage of the interviews as the basis for the film. Only five of the women from the book are featured in the film — Hay, Mailman, Williams, Angus and Malone.[5] In addition to the solo interviews conducted for the book, Purcell filmed the women talking over dinner at a restaurant in Sydney.[3] The documentary was finished before the book was published.[2]
Release and reception
The film premiered at the inaugural Tribeca Film Festival[6] and was shown at the Melbourne and Sydney film festivals.[3][7] It was screened on the Australian network SBS on 30 August 2002.[2] It won the Inside Film Award for Best Documentary.[8] The book was published in June 2002 by Hodder Headline Australia.[7] Realist artist Robert Hannaford painted portraits of each of the nine women which, along with stills from the documentary, made up a travelling art exhibition.[7] A stage adaptation of Black Chicks Talking by Purcell and Sean Mee opened in December 2002.[4] The play is a fictional story with five female characters, one of whom, Elizabeth, is played by Purcell.[9]
References
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External links
- Use dmy dates from October 2012
- Use Australian English from October 2012
- All Wikipedia articles written in Australian English
- English-language films
- 2001 films
- 2002 books
- Australian non-fiction books
- Australian films
- 2000s documentary films
- Australian documentary films
- Books about Indigenous Australians
- Documentary films about Aboriginal Australians
- Documentary films about women