Araatika: Rise Up!

Through the lens of sport, AFL legend Michael O'Loughlin shines a light on the history and experience of the Indigenous Australian people. Current AFL players, Michael Walters and Tarryn Thomas, join O'Loughlin to unpack racism, discrimination and the unbreakable bond they each share with their indigenous communities.

Jindalee Lady tells the story of a young Aboriginal woman sets out to build a career in the fashion industry. It is an urban love triangle involving an Aboriginal fashion designer, her white music executive husband and an Aboriginal cinematographer. It is considered the first feature film ever directed by an indigenous person in Australia.

The story of Dujuan, a 10-year-old Aboriginal boy living in Alice Springs, Australia, who is struggling to balance his traditional Arrernte/Garrwa upbringing with a state education.

Barbara was caring for her grandchildren when her granddaughter Tiara was taken from school by welfare workers. Barbara fought for the next seven months to have her returned and finally won but the consequences of the removal on the family will never go away.

Rejected by his family and struggling with his identity, a young man finds a new clan to belong to – Australia's first gay Rugby Union club, The Sydney Convicts.

An exploration of the trauma and legacy of footballer Nicky Winmar's stand against racism, with players sharing their thoughts.

The Maralinga people survive aggressive colonisation, including dispossession to enable atomic testing, and through their tenacious spirit and cultural strength fight to retain their country.

Larissa Behrendt uncovers the extraordinary story of the three landmark Yirrkala Bark petitions that sparked the flame toward recognition of Aboriginal rights. In August 1963, two bark petitions—traditional documents prepared and signed by Yolngu people—were sent to the Australian Parliament and became the first documented recognition of Indigenous people in Australian law. When a fourth bark petition is found in Derby, Western Australia, in 2022, the community begins the ceremony of guiding its journey back to Yolngu Country. The repatriation provides the opportunity to track the long political campaign—through petition, song, dance, and campaigning—to keep culture strong and to have a voice for country.

Suellyn thought the Department of Community Services (DOCS) would only remove children in extreme cases, until her own grandchildren were taken in the middle of the night. Hazel decided to take on the DOCS system after her fourth grandchild was taken into state care. Jen Swan expected to continue to care for her grandchildren but DOCS deemed her unsuitable, a shock not just to her but to her sister, Deb, who was, at the time, a DOCS worker. The rate of Indigenous child removal has actually increased since Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered the apology to the ‘stolen generations’ in 2008. These four grandmothers find each other and start a national movement to place extended families as a key solution to the rising number of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care. They are not only taking on the system; they are changing it…

The life and provocative work and writings of First Nations artist, Richard Bell. The film reveals the "two Richards" – "Richie" the provocateur and enfant terrible of the art world who challenges its whiteness, and the Richard who spent his childhood living in a tin shed, learnt his politics on the streets of Redfern and is known in his own community as an "activist".