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The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith

Fred Schepisi  •   Australia  • ​  1978
122 mins  •  HD  •   R18

A mixed-race Aboriginal man is provoked past endurance in this powerful adaptation of Thomas Keneally’s acclaimed novel.

​“A great and tragic national epic" 
– Variety
DIRECTOR: Fred Schepisi
PRODUCER: Fred Schepisi
SCREENPLAY: Fred Schepisi. Based on novel by Thomas Keneally
PHOTOGRAPHY: Ian Baker
EDITOR: Brian Kavanagh
PRODUCTION DESIGNER: Wendy Dickson
COSTUME DESIGNER: Bruce Findlayson
MUSIC: ​Bruce Smeaton
WITH: Tommy Lewis (Jimmie Blacksmith), Freddy Reynolds (Mort Blacksmith), Ray Barrett (Farrell),  Jack Thompson (Rev. Neville), Angela Punch McGregor (Gilda Marshall), Steve Dodd (Tabidgi),  Peter Carroll (McCready)

FESTIVALS: Cannes 1978


REVIEW

“One of the most important films in all of Australian cinema, and perhaps the key critical work of that country’s internationally acclaimed film movement of the 1970s, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith is nothing short of a masterpiece – a bracing and emotionally wrenching study of the effects of institutionalised racism and colonialism on a land’s indigenous peoples, and an unflinching look at the repercussions of violence for both aggressors and victims.

Based on the early 20th-century exploits of Jimmy Governor, Jimmie Blacksmith follows its title character, a half-Aboriginal, half-white young man attempting to make his way as a farmhand, but facing only prejudice and deception from society. When the parentage of his child is called into question and he is further robbed by his white employers, Jimmie’s barely suppressed rage explodes, triggering a wave of violence that would shock a nation.

Directed by Fred Schepisi (Six Degrees of Separation) from a Booker-nominated novel by Thomas Keneally (Schindler’s List), The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith stands alongside The Harder They Come and Sweet Sweetback’s Baadassss Song as one of the most powerful 1970s cinema explorations of rebellion and uprising, and the costs that are paid on both sides. Called “the one great Australian film that I have seen” by Pauline Kael, The Chant of Jimmie Blacksmith is a powerful experience.”

— Masters of Cinema


FILM SOCIETY SCREENINGS

Timaru
Monday, 15 March, 6.00pm

Wellington
Monday, 14 June, 6.15pm


New Plymouth
Wednesday, 21 July, 6.00pm

Whanganui
Monday, 6 September, 7.00pm

Canterbury
Monday, 11 October, 7.00pm

CLASSIC & CULT CINEMA selection >> 

Film Societies of Aotearoa New Zealand

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New Zealand Federation of Film Societies  |  PO Box 9544, Te Aro, Wellington, NZ  
Phone: +64 4 385 0162  |  Fax: +64 4 801 7304  |  Email: 
michael@nziff.co.nz
  • HOME
  • ABOUT
  • SOCIETIES
    • AUCKLAND
    • HAMILTON
    • TAURANGA
    • NEW PLYMOUTH
    • WHANGANUI
    • PALMERSTON NORTH
    • CARTERTON
    • WELLINGTON
    • NELSON
    • CANTERBURY
    • TIMARU
    • QUEENSTOWN
    • DUNEDIN
    • WESTPORT
  • 2021 SEASON
    • SPIKE LEE
    • SOUTH AMERICAN CINEMA
    • RUSSIAN CINEMA
    • CONTEMPORARY WORLD
    • CLASSIC & CULT
    • NZ FILM
    • FRENCH CONNECTIONS
    • GERMAN CINEMA
    • TILDA
    • KIAROSTAMI
    • MIDDLE EASTERN CINEMA
    • SPACES & PLACES