Willaberta Jack [from the CAAMA Collection]

This is the outstanding short film that inspired filmmaker David Tranter to expand the story into a screenplay for the award-winning feature film SWEET COUNTRY (2017). Tranter's original documentary is a factual story of the Northern Territory in the 1920s when it was Australia's last frontier - rugged and harsh. This atmospheric re-telling of Jack's story, and the tragic aftermath of his trial, is a riveting account of the perils of being a black man who challenged the white man's dominance.

"Sweet Country comes from my family, and Philomac was my grandfather. I made a documentary about him and his older brother called Willaberta Jack. My friends said it would make a great movie. And I said yeah - but I'm not a writer. But I wanted to try so I started drawing the story in pictures and it took me about two weeks. In the end, I got help and we finished the screenplay. I'm just happy to share the story with Australia, with the rest of the world. I just really hope that Australia will embrace it, and have a look at their past because it's not just our story, it's everybody's story." - David Tranter