The Tall Man (2011 film)

Last updated

The Tall Man
The Tall Man (2011 film) poster.jpg
Film poster
Directed byTony Krawitz
Written byTony Krawitz
Produced by Darren Dale
CinematographyGermain McMicking
Edited byRochelle Oshlack
Music by David McCormack
Antony Partos
Distributed by Blackfella Films
Release date
  • 2 March 2011 (2011-03-02)(Adelaide)
Running time
78 minutes
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish

The Tall Man is a 2011 Australian documentary film directed by Tony Krawitz. It is about the death of Cameron "Mulrunji" Doomadgee in police custody on Great Palm Island, Palm Islands, Queensland on 19 November 2004.

Contents

The film premiered at the 2011 Adelaide Film Festival on 2 March 2011.

Synopsis

The Tall Man explores the community reaction and events surrounding the death of Cameron Doomadgee, a 36-year-old Palm Island man who, while walking home intoxicated singing his favourite song Who Let the Dogs Out? , was arrested for harassing and attacking public bystanders. Doomadgee was arrested by Sergeant Chris Hurley, or 'the tall man', and was 45 minutes later found dead in police custody with his liver almost split in two, four broken ribs, a ruptured spleen, severe bruising to his head and a torn portal vein. The police claimed that his death was caused by him tripping on a step and colluded to protect Chris Hurley from facing any charges over the incident.

In response to the news that police were claiming Doomadgee's death was the result of an accidental fall, up to 200 Palm Islanders rioted and burnt down the local police station, adjoining courthouse and police barracks. 80 reinforcement police officers carrying machine guns were flown in by helicopter to the island and 28 locals were arrested. Almost all of the 28 locals served jail sentences.

Due to media attention and public protests, manslaughter charges were laid against Chris Hurley, making him the first police officer in Australian history to even have to appear in court for the death of an Aboriginal Australian in police custody.

Believing themselves to be above the law and not required to be accountable for their actions, police around Australia staged protests demanding that Chris Hurley should not face prosecution. Although Chris Hurley was found not guilty at his trial, a final inquest by Coroner Brian Hine delivered an open finding, that Doomadgee was assaulted, but police collusion on evidence meant that he could not determine if the death was deliberate or accidental. [1] [2] [3] [4] [5] [6] [7]

Cast

Production

Script

The film's script was based on the book The Tall Man by Chloe Hooper. [5]

Casting

The film aims to include Aboriginal Australians telling their own stories in their own voices, in accordance with Blackfella Films's main objective. [2]

Despite months of negotiations, the Queensland Police Service declined to be involved and no members of the Queensland Police were willing to be interviewed. [1]

It is telling, I think, that the Commissioner of Police in Queensland still doesn't feel that he needs to talk, on the record, about one of the most important moments in race relations in our current history. That no one felt the need to give even a simple interview. I think that mirror is too big to hold up.

—  Darren Dale, The Sydney Morning Herald . [2]

Release

The film premiered at the 2011 edition of the Adelaide Film Festival on 2 March 2011, [9] and was also selected for the Toronto International Film Festival in the same year, before being released in cinemas across Australia by Hopscotch/eOne [10] from 17 November 2011. [11] It was first broadcast on SBS Television in 2012. [10]

It was shown on 1 May 2021 on NITV, and thereafter streaming on SBS On Demand. [11]

Reviews

Margaret Pomeranz described The Tall Man as "one of the most explosive stories of our time". [6]

Awards

CeremonyCategoryResult
AWGIE Awards Best Public Broadcast DocumentaryWon [12]
imagineNATIVE Film + Media Arts Festival Best DocumentaryWon [12]
Walkley Awards Best Long-form Journalism DocumentaryWon [12]
AACTA Awards 2012 Best Feature Length Documentary Nominated [12]
AACTA Awards 2012 Best Direction in a Documentary Nominated [12]
AACTA Awards 2012Best Cinematography in a DocumentaryNominated [12]
AACTA Awards 2012Best Editing in a DocumentaryNominated [12]

In 2014 the film was selected by the Australian Directors Guild for entry to the Directors Guild of America's Directors Finder Series. [13]

See also

Related Research Articles

Bob Katter Australian politician

Robert Bellarmine Carl Katter is an Australian politician who has been a member of the House of Representatives since 1993. He was previously active in Queensland state politics from 1974 to 1992. Katter was a member of the National Party until 2001, when he left to sit as an independent. He formed his own party, Katter's Australian Party, in 2011.

Queensland Police Service State police service in Queensland, Australia

The Queensland Police Service (QPS) is the principal law enforcement agency responsible for policing the Australian state of Queensland. In 1990, the Queensland Police Force was officially renamed the Queensland Police Service and the old motto of 'Firmness with Courtesy' was changed to 'With Honour We Serve'. The headquarters of the Queensland Police Service is located at 200 Roma Street, Brisbane.

Palm Island, Queensland Locality consisting of a group of islands in Queensland, Australia

Palm Island is a locality consisting of an island group of 16 islands, split between the Shire of Hinchinbrook and the Aboriginal Shire of Palm Island, in Queensland, Australia. The locality coincides with the geographical entity known as the Palm Island group, also known as the Greater Palm group, originally named the Palm Isles. In the 2016 census, Palm Island had a population of 2,455 people.

Aboriginal deaths in custody Political and social issue in Australia

Aboriginal deaths in custody is a political and social issue in Australia. It rose in prominence in the early 1980s, with Aboriginal activists campaigning following the death of 16-year-old John Peter Pat in 1983. Subsequent deaths in custody, considered suspicious by families of the deceased, culminated in the 1987 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC).

Fantome Island Island in Australia

Fantome Island is one of the islands in the Palm Island group. It is neighboured by Great Palm Island and is 65 km (40 mi) north-east of Townsville, Queensland on the east coast of Australia. The island is small with an area of 7.8 km2 (3.01 sq mi) and is surrounded by a fringing reef. The Djabugay (Aboriginal) name for this island is Eumilli Island.

Doomadgee is a town and a locality in the Aboriginal Shire of Doomadgee, Queensland, Australia. It is a mostly Indigenous community, situated about 140 kilometres (87 mi) from the Northern Territory border, and 93 kilometres (58 mi) west of Burketown.

Shire of Mornington (Queensland) Local government area in Queensland, Australia

The Shire of Mornington is a local government area in northwestern Queensland, Australia. The shire covers the Wellesley Islands, which includes Mornington Island; the South Wellesley Islands; Bountiful Islands; and West Wellesley / Forsyth Islands groups in the Gulf of Carpentaria.

The 2004 Palm Island death in custody incident relates to the death of an Aboriginal resident of Palm Island, Cameron Doomadgee on Friday, 19 November 2004 in a police cell. The death of Mulrunji led to civic disturbances on the island and a legal, political and media sensation that continued for fourteen years.

"Black Tears" is a song by Australian alternative rock band Powderfinger, from their sixth studio album Dream Days at the Hotel Existence. The song is an acoustic ballad in a folk music style, beginning with one guitar and a lead vocal, later introducing a guitar with a synthesised effect from the first chorus. Following the Dream Days at the Hotel Existence release, live versions of the song have been released on other recordings.

Chloe Hooper Australian author (born 1973)

Chloe Melisande Hooper is an Australian author.

Gulf Country Region in Queensland, Australia

The Gulf Country is the region of woodland and savanna grassland surrounding the Gulf of Carpentaria in north western Queensland and eastern Northern Territory on the north coast of Australia. The region is also called the Gulf Savannah. It contains large reserves of zinc, lead and silver. The Gulf Country is crossed by the Savannah Way highway.

The trial of Lex Wotton relates to the events surrounding the Townsville, Queensland proceedings in the Federal Magistrates Court concerning the actions taken by Palm Island Aboriginal Shire Council member Wotton during the 26 November 2004 Palm Island riots.

Great Palm Island

Great Palm Island, usually known as Palm Island, is the largest island in the Palm Islands group off Northern Queensland, Australia. It is known for its Aboriginal community, the legacy of an Aboriginal reserve, the Palm Island Aboriginal Settlement. The original inhabitants of the island were the Manbarra people, also known as the Wulgurukaba, who were removed to the mainland by the Queensland Government in the 1890s. The island is also sometimes referred to as Bwgcolman, which is the name given to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from disparate groups who were deported from many areas of Queensland to the reserve in 1918, and their descendants.

Blackfella Films

Blackfella Films is a Sydney-based documentary and narrative production company, founded in 1992 by Rachel Perkins. The company produces distinctive Australian short and feature-length content for film and television with a particular focus on Aboriginal Australian stories. Its productions have included the documentary series First Australians, the documentary The Tall Man, the television film Mabo, and the TV series Redfern Now.

First Contact is an Australian reality television documentary series that aired on SBS One, SBS Two and NITV. It documents the journey of six European Australians who are challenged over a period of 28 days about their pre-existing perceptions of Indigenous Australians.

<i>Wotton v Queensland</i> (No 5)

Wotton v Queensland is a class action lawsuit brought against the State of Queensland and the Commissioner of the Queensland Police Service on behalf of 447 Aboriginal Australians and Torres Strait Islanders who live on Palm Island in Queensland, Australia.

<i>The Tall Man: Death and Life on Palm Island</i>

The Tall Man: Death and Life on Palm Island is a 2008 book by Chloe Hooper. It is about the events surrounding the death in custody of Aboriginal Australian man, Cameron Doomadgee. It won numerous awards and was shortlisted for many others in 2009.

Vernon Ah Kee Indigenous Australian artist

Vernon Ah Kee is an award-winning contemporary Australian artist, political activist and founding member of ProppaNOW. Based primarily in Brisbane, Queensland, Ah Kee is an Aboriginal Australian man with ties to the Kuku Yalandji, Waanji, Yidinji and Gugu Yimithirr peoples in Queensland. His art practice typically focuses on his Aboriginal Australian identity and place within a modern Australian framework, and is concerned with themes of skin, skin colour, race, privilege and racism. Ah Kee has exhibited his art at numerous galleries across Australia, including the Art Gallery of New South Wales (AGNSW) and the Museum of Contemporary Art Australia, and has also exhibited internationally, most notably representing Australia at the 2009 Venice Biennale and the 2015 Istanbul Biennial.

Palm Island Aboriginal Settlement Australian Aboriginal reserve (1914–1975) in Queensland

Palm Island Aboriginal Settlement, later officially known as Director of Native Affairs Office, Palm Island and also known as Palm Island Aboriginal Reserve, Palm Island mission and Palm Island Dormitory, was an Aboriginal reserve and penal settlement on Great Palm Island, the main island in the Palm Island group in North Queensland, Australia. It was the largest and most punitive reserve in Queensland.

Darren Dale is an Indigenous Australian film and television producer. Since joining Blackfella Films as a producer in 2001, he is as of 2021 co-director of the company, along with founder Rachel Perkins. Dale is known for co-producing many films and television series with Miranda Dear since 2010, with their most recent collaboration being the second season of Total Control.

References

  1. 1 2 "About". SBS . Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  2. 1 2 3 Hawker, Philippa (12 November 2011). "A tragedy retraced". The Sydney Morning Herald . Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  3. ↑ "The Tall Man: About The Show". National Indigenous Television . Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  4. ↑ "The critical events of the Mulrunji case on Palm Island". Treaty Republic. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  5. 1 2 3 "Movies - The Tall Man". CreativeSpirits.info. Retrieved 2 January 2015.
  6. 1 2 "The Tall Man - Press Kit" (PDF). Blackfella Films . Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  7. ↑ "The Tall Man - Timeline". SBS . Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  8. ↑ "Films & Events - The Tall Man". SIFF. Retrieved 3 January 2015.
  9. ↑ "The Tall Man (Film)". Creative Spirits. 21 December 2018. Retrieved 26 May 2020.
  10. 1 2 "About". Blackfella Films. Retrieved 15 November 2021.
  11. 1 2 Groves, Don. "The Tall Man Review". SBS Movies. Retrieved 7 June 2021.
  12. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 "The Tall Man". SBS . Retrieved 2 January 2015.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link)
  13. ↑ "Film-maker Tony Krawitz heads to US as part of Directors' Guild of America's Finders Series". Mumbrella. 17 October 2012. Retrieved 7 June 2021.

Further reading

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.