Luku Ngärra: The Law of the Land

Winner of the ‘Change Award’ at the Adelaide Film Festival 2022, this independent Indigenous funded film is an unflinching presentation of how the dominant paradigm has forced itself upon the lives of Australia’s First Nations people, creating chaos and devastation to their everyday lives, their culture and their law.

Luku Ngärra: The Law of the Land is set in the Yolngu Nation of Northeast Arnhem Land and is driven by one of the country’s most respected Indigenous elders, the late Rev Dr Gondarra OAM, who was a tireless beacon for freedom and justice for his people for the last 40 years.

The film will deeply challenge audiences' understanding of the Yolngu world, their history, culture and their highly sophisticated but often misrepresented Maḏayin System of traditional law.

Featuring rare footage of law ceremonies that have been in practise for over 60,000 years as well as an intimate lens into the harsh reality currently facing remote communities in Arnhem Land today, audiences will be compelled to question their own world and the views and structures that come with it.

The film is a showcase of Indigenous Australian knowledge and talent with a stunning soundtrack featuring Yothu Yindi, Yirrmal, Mau Power and Shellie Morris, narration by actress Rarriwuy Hick (True Colors, Wentworth) and the supporting voices of Mark Yingiya Guyula (Australia's First Independent Indigenous MP) and Baykali Ganambarr (winner of the Marcello Mastroianni Award for The Nightingale).

Combined with his well-known directness, his wisdom as a spiritual teacher as well as his authority as a senior initiated law man, Dr Gondarra insists that we finally look at the big questions around law and freedom, whilst offering an illuminating message for all of humanity.