Night Cries: A Rural Tragedy

A short film about the relationship between an Aboriginal daughter and her white mother. The daughter, now the sole carer of her dying mother, dreams of far away places, the haunted look in her eyes loaded with a sense of what could have been. Famous Aboriginal singer, Jimmy Little, sings 'Royal Telephone', evoking the presence of Christianity and its role in the assimilation of Aboriginal people. The final scene sees the daughter lying in a foetal position next to her mother, crying. Assimilation, then, can be understood as a pain experienced by both the Aboriginal daughter as well as the white mother.

• Release date
• December 31, 1990
• Runtime
• 19 min
• Genres
• Drama
• Director
• Tracey Moffatt

Cast

Marcia Langton Daughter

A

Agnes Hardwick Old Mother Jimmy Little Singer

A

Alkira Fitzgerald Young Daughter

E

Elizabeth Gentle Young Mother

L

Liam Wridgeway Boy

S

Shaun Saunders Boy