Green Bush

Warwick Thornton
Australia 2005
26 min

Every night, Indigenous DJ Kenny hosts the Green Bush show for Aboriginal inmates and their families. Isolated at the station, he takes requests from those on the inside and out while at the same time coping with the results of a wild night outside and learning his place in the circle of violence.

Green Bush is based on Warwick Thornton's real-life experience as a DJ in Alice Springs and celebrates an era of music, working for the cause and getting things done. But not in the way you would expect.

[Green Bush is] a film that crackles with the music of politics, humanity, ideas and humour as it tells the story of a man's daily struggle to sustain his fragmented community and keep the pain at bay.—Berlin International Film Festival award notes

Cast	Ted Egan Jangala Audrey Napanangka Martin David Page Leo Jampinjinpa Wayne old man Tjipli Rose DJ Kenny Steven
Release dates	January 2005, Sundance Film Festival
Video/DVD Release Date	not available
Awards	Panorama Best Short Film award: Berlin International Film Festival Best Fiction Over 15 Minutes, The Rouben Mamoulian Award, The SBS Language Services Award: 52nd Sydney International Film Festival
Rating	PG - Parental Guidance (adult themes; my rating)
Language level	easy
Distributor	not available
Soundtrack	A collection of Aboriginal music recorded in Alice Springs by CAAMA Music during the eighties and nineties.
Genre	Drama
Notes	Green Bush is part of the Dramatically Black series (an initiative of the Indigenous Unit of the AFC and SBS Independent). Other movies by Warwick Thornton: Photographic Memory: A Portrait of Mervyn Bishop (1999) Mimi (2002) Yeperenye Federation Festival: The Road Ahead Concert (2003) Rosalie's Journey (2003) Nana (2007) Warwick Thornton recalls what led to Green Bush: "Where I grew up in Alice I was a DJ for a radio station. The station began a film unit and so I watched people pack cameras and equipment into cars and take off to make films. I was alone at the radio station and I thought that I really wanted to go with them. That's how it started, I made a film called Green Bush which is basically about that time." Green Bush marks Bangarra Dance Theatre's David Page film acting debut in a leading role. Green Bush was filmed around Alice Springs, NT.

Where to from here?

• Explore the many artists of Aboriginal music
• Learn more about Aboriginal people
• More Aboriginal culture articles