Frame by Frame review: Rachel Perkins interviews First Nations screen icons

Talking up the work of our local artists is something we don’t do often enough in Australia. Unless you exist as a celebrity, you barely exist; the idea that artists have careers and influences and experiences that shape their work is considered far less interesting than, say, someone’s struggle with a serious illness.

SBS series Frame by Frame up-ends that dynamic. It’s an interview series hosted by acclaimed filmmaker and proud Arrernte and Kalkadoon woman Rachel Perkins, talking to a range of leading First Nations screen storytellers. The focus is on their culture, their creative journey and their work and the result is something far more engaging than the usual personal dramas that make up most interview programs.

Frame by Frame: interviewing the greats

Perkins interviews five filmmakers and performers across five episodes: writer-actor-director Leah Purcell, actor Hunter Page-Lochard, trailblazing executive Sally Riley, writer and producer Tanith Glynn-Maloney, and documentary filmmaker Erica Glynn. Each subject also talks about a short film that they had creative involvement with and that helped shape their work, whether as a formative experience or a major stepping stone.

The first episode focuses on Purcell, and considering Perkins’ lengthy introduction running through Purcell’s CV, this hour only scratches the surface. She’s not only one of the leading actors of her generation, but she’s been spearheading her own projects for years, culminating in the recent The Drover’s Wife: The Legend of Molly Johnson, which she wrote, directed and starred in.

Perkins is a sharp interviewer, and while the tone is consistently warm and friendly throughout the series, things always stay on topic. Purcell has a lot of stories to tell about how she came up in the business, how Molly Johnson started out as a play, and the way she was able to take all the aspects of her career to date – being a known draw as a performer, having a play that was being taught in schools – to build a case for financing it as a feature film.

Beyond that, the episode also touches on her approach to creativity, which has seen her become one of Australia’s premiere screenwriters despite failing English at school (‘I’m still a shocking speller’). Not to mention it’s always great to hear an artist talk about how things work in the real world – which is to say, making connections in the community and encouraging real responses can be just as important as anything else.

Frame by Frame: the short films that had big impacts

The short film she discusses is She. Say. from 2012, which looks at the aftermath of domestic violence. Here, Purcell plays a woman dealing with the father of her daughter after he gets out of prison for domestic abuse – a crime her testimony put him away for. It’s a powerful watch, and one with an ending that even now Purcell leaves open.

Future episodes see Erica Glynn looking back over her career – which she assures us isn’t over yet – which stretches back to her start in Alice Springs in the 80s and her 1997 short My Bed Your Bed. Hunter Page-Lochard, best known as the lead in Cleverman and for his award-winning role in The Newsreader, also goes in deep on the 2019 short he wrote and directed, Closed Doors.

Being First Nations creatives is what unifies these at times very different stories, taking in both the legacy they’re working with and the future they’re making their way towards. There are constant references to the communities they’re working with, a network of mob that’s out there providing feedback, supporting their work and connecting it to a wider purpose.

And sometimes there’s just a striking metaphor, as when Purcell compares the work of her production company to the ceremonial way of hunting a dugong – in both examples, the idea is to make productive use of every single element.

There are far too few outlets left where creatives can talk directly about their work (RIP DVD commentary tracks). This repeatedly shows that learning about how something was made can be just as interesting as the finished product. Not to mention this is also a rare chance to see locally-made short films on our screens. SBS has been doing good work in this area of late and hopefully they’ll continue down this path.

Frame by Frame is a spotlight on the work of Indigenous film makers stretching across generations, examining their past while pointing the way forward. There’s also some top notch storytelling going on in the short films, which are worth checking out all on their own. It’s first-rate arts programming of a kind we don’t get anywhere enough of. Don’t let it pass you by.

Frame by Frame premieres 9 July on NITV and SBS On Demand.

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