The Screen Diversity and Inclusion Network (SDIN) and Screen Producers Australia (SPA) have announced multi award-winning short film Marungka Tjalatjunu (Dipped in Black) as the winner of the annual SDIN Award, at the 22nd Annual SPA Awards.
Marungka Tjalatjunu (Dipped in Black) is a short docu-fiction film voiced completely in Yankunytjatjara, the language of South Australian artist and performer Derik Lynch, who co-directed and co-wrote the film with South Australian filmmaker Matthew Thorne. Produced by South Australian producer Patrick Graham of Switch Productions and Thorne of Other Pictures, the film follows Derik, an initiated Anangu and queer-identifying man, on a road trip from the oppression of white city life in Adelaide back to country – Aputula in the Northern Territory – to perform on sacred Inma ground, while memories from his youth growing up on country return.
Made with support from both SDIN member the South Australian Film Corporation (SAFC) and the Adelaide Film Festival Investment Fund (AFFIF), the SDIN Award is the latest accolade for the acclaimed short which won both the Silver Bear Jury Prize and the Teddy Award for best LGBTQI short film at Berlinale 2023, as well as the Documentary Australia Award at the 2023 Sydney Film Festival and Best Short Documentary at 2023 MIFF.
Announced tonight at SCREEN FOREVER 38 on the Gold Coast, the SDIN Award recognises an Australian-based project, producer and/or production company and/or screen organisation that has made a significant contribution, through excellence or impact to diversity and inclusion either on or offscreen, within the Australian screen industry.
This year’s shortlist also recognised TV series Erotic Stories produced by Lingo Pictures, The First Inventors produced by Ronde Media, In Our Blood produced by Hoodlum Entertainment and Strait to the Plate (S2) produced by Lone Star Production Group, and feature film Limbo produced by Bunya Productions.
SDIN Co-Chairs Olivia Khoo, Head of Film and Screen Studies at Monash University, and Loani Arman, SBS Scripted Commissioning Editor, said: “Marungka Tjalatjunu (Dipped in Black) is a moving portrait of Derik Lynch, a queer Yankunytjatjara theatre artist. The documentary follows Lynch from Adelaide to his hometown of Aputula in the Northern Territory. Weaving memory, storytelling, and personal history, the film presents an intimate portrayal of how Lynch navigates and inhabits a life lived between different worlds. The jury was thrilled to recognise this extraordinary achievement by awarding the SDIN Award to this film.”
The SDIN is a network of broadcasters, screen funding agencies, business associations, guilds and industry-aligned education and training organisations who have committed to work together towards a more inclusive and diverse screen industry. Find out more at sdin.com.au
MEDIA CONTACT: Cathy Gallagher for SDIN | 0416 227 282 | [email protected]
