Zach's Ceremony
Zach's Ceremony is an Australian coming of age documentary film. It looks at the transition to adulthood from an indigenous cultural perspective. It features Zach Doomadgee and his father Alec Doomadgee.
Zach's Ceremony | |
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Directed by | Aaron Petersen |
Written by | Sarah Linton |
Starring | Zac Doomadgee, Alec Doomadgee |
Release dates | 2 May 2016 Canada, (Hot Docs International Documentary Festival) 11 June 2016 Australia, (Sydney Film Festival) 7 August 2016 , Australia, (Melbourne International Film Festival) |
Country | Australia |
Language | English |
About the film
The film looks at what it means to be an indigenous Australian and Zach Doomadgee's cultural journey. Zach who is of indigenous and Caucasian descent is influenced by two cultures.[1] It also looks at how Zach is affected by being one of the few Indigenous children at his Sydney school, being too dark. It also looks at his being too light-skinned when he visits his father's community in far-north Queensland.[2]
Alec Doomadgee played a major part in the film in both direction and production.[3] The film was shown at New York's Margaret Mead Film Festival.[4]
The film was begin in 2009 when Zach was aged around 10.[5]
Theater screenings
It was announced by FilmInk that the documentary would open across Australia from Thursday 30 March, 2016, and screen at Cinema Nova in Carlton, Victoria.[6]
Awards
At the Byron Bay Film Festival, Zach's Ceremony along with Brendan Shoebridge's film, The Bentley Effect took the top awards. Alec Doomadgee was also winner of the Festival’s Best Documentary Award.[7] It also won Best documentary awards at both the Melbourne International Film Festival and the Sydney Film Festival.[8]
References
- The Guardian, Tue 28 Mar 2017 - Zach's Ceremony review – an affecting portrait of growing up Indigenous in two worlds
- SBS, 5 JUN 2020 - Zach's Ceremony: How a young indigenous man bridged worlds by Stephen A. Russell
- The Brisbane Times, DECEMBER 18, 2021 - Big trouble on a small Queensland hill by Zach Hope
- ABC, Wed 26 Oct 2016 - Zach's Ceremony, film about Aboriginal identity, shown at New York's Margaret Mead Film Festival By Lindy Kerin
- The Sydney Morning Herald, March 28, 2017 - Zach's Ceremony review: A flawed but unguarded glimpse of secret men's business By Jake Wilson
- FilmInk - Zach’s Ceremony to open at Cinema Nova
- Byron Bay Film Festival 2016 - Announcement - Awards - BBFF2016 Dec 31 Zach’s Ceremony and The Bentley Effect take top awards at BBFF
- FilmInk - Zach’s Ceremony to open at Cinema Nova