Radiance

Rachel Perkins
Australia 1998
83 min

Three sisters reunite after some years apart, for their mother's funeral.

Cressy, the eldest of the three, is a diva — an opera singer who is reluctant to visit the past and definitely doesn't want to share it with her sisters.

Mae, has stayed behind looking after mum, and believes that Cressy hasn't shared enough.

Nona, the youngest and the party girl, just wants them to all be one happy family. She may even help grow the family if her pregnancy test is accurate...

Deep and dark family secrets and personal conflicts start to unravel, but not all is gloom. (Urban Cinefile)

Cast	Rachael Maza Trisha Morton-Thomas Deborah Mailman Cressy Mae Nona
Release dates	October 8th, 1998 - Australia
Video/DVD Release Date	April 21st, 1999 (e.g. at Mongrel Media)
Awards	Best actress (1998 Australian Film Institute Awards) Best film (1998 Australian International Film Festival) Best sound design (1998 Australian Screen Sound Guild) Best actress (1998 Film Critics' Circle of Australia) Best feature film (1998 Sydney Film Festival) Best full length film (1999 Creteil Film Des Femmes Festival) Best actress (1999 Turin Film Festival Italy) Best direction (2000 Tudawali Film and Video Awards) Byron Kennedy Award (44th annual Emirates AFI Awards 2002)
Rating	PG - parental guidance (some rate M 15+)
Language level	medium
Distributor	Polygram Filmed Entertainment (AUS); Beyond Films (international)
Soundtrack	Alistair Jones
Genre	Drama / Adaption
Notes	Based on the stage play "Radiance" by Louis Nowra first performed in 1993 at the Belvoir Street Theatre. According to Amanda Meade in 'Shifting Visions', The Australian, Monday, June 1998, Radiance is the third feature to be made by an Aboriginal - and only the second to get a theatrical release. (Source: Bonza film database) Interview at Urban Cinefile Several interview videos are on Gavin Walburgh's page. "Notes on the Significance of Home and the Past in Radiance" & Interview with film's director, Rachel Perkins Metro Magazine, Number 119, 1999 by Dr Catherine Simpson. An online excerpt of Media Worlds gives some details on Rachel Perkins' life. (Chapter 1: Screen Memories - Resignifying the Traditional in Indigenous Media) See also One Night The Moon by the same author.