Terra Australis Incognita

Singing the Future and the Past

An animated film by Jenny Chapman

The ‘dreamtime’: people emerge, and ‘sing’ their tjukurrpa (dreamings) into the land — for over forty thousand years. Eventually, British convict ships arrive; the ‘singing’ is almost silenced.

But now it swells again. As hands marked the cave walls, it touches the cities of the world. The serpent continues his eternal circle.

The film uses multiple-layered effects to convey something of the complexity of Aboriginal experience and culture — including a non-linear sense of time, and the overlaying of images and sounds.

Artwork in a range of traditional media was captured direct to disk; then the film was digitally composited, using a range of advanced processing techniques.

Running time: 9mins 11secs

Awards

Awarded ‘Special Prize for Educational and Children’s Film’, DIFECA’97 Seoul, Korea