The opening night film of Sydney film festival 2022, this anthology combines eight strands, spanning animation, speculative futures and war, with captivating results
his poignantly titled anthology production draws together film-makers from Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific to respond to the 250th anniversary of Captain Cook’s arrival in the region. Combining eight strands from 10 directors, the film reaches into the past, dramatising debates within Māori communities about whether to fight in theof 1864, for instance ; and visiting the trenches of Gallipoli where a Samoan soldier bonds with a Turkish enemy during the first world war .
There are the eight core strands, but also an overarching vision. The film returns to various threads unpredictably and the resolutions of certain chapters are left unclear, creating a mosaic-like final edit that has been elegantly constructed by montage director Beck Cole and editor Roland Gallois .
There hasn’t been much in the way of substantial cinema responding to the 250th anniversary of Cook’s arrival, perhaps reflecting shame, and uncertainty in how to represent a man who had a devastating impact on Indigenous people. One interesting exception is the SBS documentary, presented and co-written by one of Australia’s most under-used comedians Stephen Oliver.