Harlisha Newie-Joe of Point Frederick has won the First Nations Award for her film Roots in the SF3 (SmartFone Flick Fest) Online festival for films made on smartphones.
The NAISDA Dance Academy student picked up a prize package valued at $7,000 at the awards ceremony on November 5.
“I was very surprised when my name was called out,” she said.
“In fact I pretty much froze and gave a very awkward acceptance speech – I was not mentally prepared.”
The film had its beginnings with an assessment unit for Newie-Joe’s studies at NAISDA.
“I had to do a cultural dance assignment in 2020 and the idea came from there,” she said.
“During the COVID-19 lockdown I returned home to Cape York in Queensland when we were all studying online.
“My uncle came to visit while I was there and I took the opportunity to talk to him about the history of the family.
“I had grown up as a Torres Strait Islander but during our conversations, my uncle told me some things about my ancestors and where we came from.
“I hadn’t realised that I also had ancestors from Samoa and Niue – a small island in Polynesia.
“So I made a painting based around that and took the idea through to a dance film for the assessment.”
As Newie-Joe began to do more research and have even more conversations with family members the film started to take shape.
“I hadn’t realised my ancestry was so varied – it was quite a shock and I was really happy to discover it,” she said.
“I started researching and planning in May.
“It took quite a while because I wanted everything to be correct and respectful as far as the dance and costumes went.
”It was fascinating learning about new cultures and dance.
“I filmed it over three-four weekends at Spoon Bay.”
Newie-Joe consulted experts in Samoan and Niuean dance and featured them in the film.
Now hooked on filmmaking, her next project will probably be a more in-depth cultural exploration of her family line or her own story.
Films in the SF3 competition will continue to be available online until Nov at www.sf3.com.au.
Terry Collins