Yet there's a growing waving of Indigenous filmmakers setting out to change that. By tackling every genre from musicals to murder mysteries, here's five deadly directors you need to know about.
Wayne Blair
Wayne Blair’s The Sapphires was the highest grossing Australian film in 2012 and won 11 AACTA awards, including best film and Wayne being crowned best director. The Sapphires follows four Indigenous women who form a music group and travel to Vietnam to perform to soldiers during the war. He also has an extensive resume on some of television's most acclaimed shows, including Cleverman - which he also produced - and the Logie award-winning series Redfern Now where he appeared as an actor and directed two episodes.
Rachel Perkins
Director, producer, screenwriter and founder of Blackfella Films, Rachel Perkins is a force in the Australian filmmaking industry. Founding her production company back in the early 90s, it's responsible for multi-award winning seven-part documentary series First Australians, TV movie Mabo, and Redfern Now. Perkins is also the producer of the eye-opening SBS reality series First Contact and the director behind hit musical Bran Nue Dae. Her most recent film Jasper Jones is based on the best-selling Australian novel of the same name and follows the journey of a teenage boy, Charlie Bucktin, who aims to overcome racism after being caught up in the aftermath of a murder.
Catriona McKenzie
Catriona is best known for her feature film Satellite Boy in 2012, but she's also an author and one of the country's most experienced TV directors. As well as her involvement in Emmy-nominated series Dance Academy, she has directed episodes of My Place, Redfern Now, Camp, The Gods Of Wheat Street and Netflix Shadowhunters: The Mortal Instruments.
Warwick Thornton
Since his debut feature Samson and Delilah swept the international film festival circuit in 2009 and received a standing ovation at Cannes, Warwick Thornton has become one of Australia’s most visible Indigenous filmmakers. Offering an unflinching view into contemporary Indigenous Australia, he has also directed several award-winning short films and documentaries including The Darkside which was a collection of Indigenous ghost stories.
Ivan Sen
In 2002, Ivan Sen burst onto the Australian film landscape with his debut feature Beneath Clouds which is based on his experience growing up in Alice Springs with an Aboriginal mother and an absent European father. He added something truly original to the sphere of Aussie crime films with Mystery Road and it's sequel Goldstone, which track the exploits of Indigenous detective Jay Swan.
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“Our films are ambassadors for our nation”: A conversation with Jasper Jones director Rachel Perkins
