Telling the story of Koori cultural fire, on Country
Documentary storytelling made with cultural humility, alongside the people whose story it is.
A film for Koori Country Cultural Fire Aboriginal Corporation
Speck of Dust is a Sydney video production company, and this is a documentary-style film we made with Koori Country Cultural Fire Aboriginal Corporation over several years, filmed across New South Wales and on Lyluequonny Country in Lutruwita (Tasmania). The Corporation works to revive traditional Aboriginal cultural burning, and the film was made to carry that knowledge to the people they work alongside and to the wider community.
The challenge
Koori Country Cultural Fire Aboriginal Corporation describe themselves as a not-for-profit working to revive traditional Aboriginal cultural practices of burning Country, with one primary objective: to care for Country, regardless of tenure or ownership. The knowledge has been passed to them by Aboriginal Cultural Elders and knowledge holders, and they now pass it on to others. Through their Firesticks Future project they ran cultural burn workshops across Country, and they needed a film that could do more than document a workshop. It had to carry the knowledge to the people they work alongside and to the wider community, as a resource that outlived the events themselves, and it had to be made in a way that respected whose story it was.
Our approach
We worked alongside the community over several years and across Country. The job was to listen, to follow the directors’ lead on what could be shared and how, and to bring documentary craft to a story that had to be handled with care. Cultural authority stayed where it belonged: the directors held the final say on every word and every image, and we approached the naming of Country and the featuring of people through consent, never assumption.
Den Barber, one of the Corporation’s directors, later put into words what that looked like from their side of the camera:
“Jose approached this work with a great respect, sensitivity, discretion and an acute sense of creative instinct that almost made him invisible while he recorded our activities and cultural practices. There was no ‘staging’ and very little direction given by Jose unlike I have encountered from other filmmakers while undertaking on ground works. We simply planned and communicated what aspects of the project he needed to be ready to capture on video.”
Den Barber, Director, Koori Country Cultural Fire Aboriginal Corporation
What we made
A documentary-style film for Koori Country Cultural Fire, built from cultural burns filmed across New South Wales and on Lyluequonny Country in Lutruwita (Tasmania), where the program was delivered alongside Tasmanian Indigenous fire practitioners and local Aboriginal organisations. It was made as a living educational piece, to support the program’s young participants and the corporation’s ongoing community outreach.
The outcome
The film became part of how Koori Country Cultural Fire shares its work, and was selected to screen at the Love Your Wildlife Festival in Cygnet, Tasmania, where the program introduced it as the story of how cultural burning protects, not destroys, wildlife. The work has kept serving the Corporation since, with the film and stills, in Den Barber’s words, “used for reporting to our grant funding providers and promotion of our work and organisation.” And the people closest to it felt it had honoured the story.
“This is incredible Jose, thank you for working with us all despite the many challenges. You have always shown amazing humility and kindness.”
Adam Ridgeway, Director, Koori Country Cultural Fire
Why we work this way
Story is the most powerful tool we know for helping people care. An argument invites debate, but a story carries an audience into another person’s world, and people come back from it changed. A story can only do that when it is true, and the people on screen share their truth when they trust the people behind the camera, so we treat the relationship as the work itself. We bring integrity to every stage, work closely and respectfully with the people whose story it is, and value the relationship far beyond the transaction. The people in our films appear as the authority on their own story, celebrated and respected, and on Indigenous-led work we follow cultural protocol and take guidance from the community. That is what makes a film audiences believe, and belief is where impact begins.
Common questions
Who made the Koori Country Cultural Fire film?
Speck of Dust, a Sydney video production company that makes documentary-style films for not-for-profits, education, Indigenous-led organisations and purpose-driven organisations across Australia. The film was made with Koori Country Cultural Fire Aboriginal Corporation, and their directors held final say on every word and every image.
How was this film made with the Corporation?
Cultural authority stayed with the Corporation throughout. Their directors held final say on every word and every image and led on what could be shared and how, and people and Country were named through consent rather than assumption. Den Barber, a director of the Corporation, described it this way: “There was no ‘staging’ and very little direction given by Jose unlike I have encountered from other filmmakers while undertaking on ground works.”
Can a film like this be used for grant reporting?
Yes. Den Barber says the film and stills have been “used for reporting to our grant funding providers and promotion of our work and organisation.” A single documentary shoot can serve acquittal reporting to funders, community outreach and public screenings from the same footage.
Where was the film made, and where does Speck of Dust work?
The film was made across New South Wales and on Lyluequonny Country in Lutruwita (Tasmania), where the program was delivered alongside Tasmanian Indigenous fire practitioners and local Aboriginal organisations. Speck of Dust is based in Sydney and works across NSW and Australia on impact video production for purpose-driven organisations.
Telling a story that needs to be handled with care?
If you are doing culturally sensitive or community-led work, let’s talk about how we’d approach it, respectfully and well.
Start a conversationOr call 0416 512 216
