No. 25 - Two Laws: A Film in Four Parts

2 Kerr St, Fitzroy

Thursday the 23rd February, 7.30pm for an 8pm start

$20 membership for 3 consecutive months

Two Laws: A Film in Four Parts (1981)
16mm, colour, 2hrs 10mins, Australia.

Made by the Borroloola Aboriginal Community with Carolyn Strachan and Alessandro Cavadini.

Borroloola Tribal Council made Two Laws in collaboration with two white Australian filmmakers, Carolyn Strachan and Alessandro Cavadini. The concept of two laws – being colonial and Indigenous law – can also be spoken about as two ways of storytelling. The film delves into what two laws stand for, two ways of being and two ways of perceiving. 

The narrative of Two Laws challenges the conventions of documentary, and occurs more like a conversation. It is loosely constructed and provides the space for stories to occur, rather than being confined to a strict linear structure. Two Laws in this respect is very organic and, at the time that it was made, belongs to an era of 'making films that would express rather than merely observe Aboriginal culture’ (Film Quarterly). Along with Strachan and Cavadini, Two Laws was made by peoples belonging to Mara, Yanula, Garrawa and Gurdandji language groups. It is in four sections: Police Times, Welfare Times, Struggle for Our Land and Living with Two Laws.