A specially curated program of shorts celebrating the power of First Nations voices, presented to you by Bank Australia. Shining a spotlight on some of the world’s unsung and most inspiring defenders of the environment, EFFA’s Elders & the Earth package offers a celebration of First Nations champions from Australia, The Pacific, North America and South America.

Honing in on a selection of the First Nations leaders fighting head-on the threats of colonialism and greed which terrorise their land, this showcase of inspiring and urgent stories of vulnerability and great strength alike offers an essential look at some of the world’s most essential, unsung heroes.

Renowned Native American Rights activist Madonna Thunder Hawk and her family explore what it means to navigate leading a movement, motherhood and legacy, while under the rule of a colonising government that meets your resistance with violence. Angry, hopeful and full of resilience, the Warrior Women deserve your full attention.

2018 | 64’ | USA | Christina King & Elizabeth Castle

While pruning, chopping and harvesting, local farmers on the French Island of Martinique explain the long-lasting impact of slavery & colonisation on their lives and their island’s biodiversity. Lively interviews alternate with tranquil scenes of lush greenery and beautiful dangling bunches of bananas… wrapped in plastic.

2019 | 70’ | France | Florence Lazar

Home to two critically endangered birds, the ultramarine lorikeet and iphis monarch, as well as a wealth of cultural heritage, the Maquesas island of Ua Huka relies on its guardians to protect and maintain it.

In this gentle short documentary, guardian Tuhuna introduces you to his home, the wildlife who live there, and the ancient, proud culture he is conserving for the next generation.

Filmed in a unique window of time, before the fossil trackway was concealed and covered in tonnes of sand for conservation, this film explores the ancient and continued connection to Country experienced by Australia's First Nations people and their struggle for recognition of Indigenous knowledge.

As climate change poses the biggest threat to our oceans, islands, diversity, Indigenous knowledge and conservation practices developed over thousands of years have something to teach us. This communal film poem meditates on the environmental knowledge of the people of Pukapuka/Nassau, an atoll in the Northern Group of the Cook Islands.

"We’re all part of that river, we drink one water from the one main rainfall. Everybody."

Senior Gooniyandi artist Mervyn Street shares his art and storytelling about the waters of the Warlibiddi/Margaret and Martuwarra/Fitzroy Rivers catchment, and their vital significance to the Country and people’s lives.

A small group of atolls in the South Pacific Ocean is at the forefront of climate change, both in terms of seeing the direct impact on their islands and in leading the way for change; VAKA introduces you to Tokelau, the first nation in the world to aim for 100% solar energy.