Black Chicks Talking
{{short description|Arts project by Australian actress Leah Purcell}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=December 2021}}
{{Use Australian English|date=October 2012}}
{{Infobox book
| name = Black Chicks Talking
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| image = BlackChicksTalkingBook.jpg
| caption =
| author = Leah Purcell
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| publisher = Hodder Headline Australia
| pub_date = 2002
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| pages = 363
| isbn = 0-7336-1070-6
| oclc =
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{{Infobox film
| name = Black Chicks Talking
| image =
| alt =
| caption =
| director = Brendan Fletcher
Leah Purcell
| producer = Brendan Fletcher
Bain Stewart
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| starring =
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| cinematography = Himman Dhamija
| editing = Reva Childs
| studio = Bungabura Productions
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| released = {{Film date|2001}}
| runtime = 52 minutes
| country = Australia
| language = English
| budget =
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}}
Black Chicks Talking is an arts project by Australian actress Leah Purcell featuring a 2001 documentary film, a 2002 book, a stage production and an art exhibition. The film is co-directed by Brendan Fletcher and features Indigenous Australian women including Purcell, actress Deborah Mailman and politician Kathryn Hay. Following the book and film, Purcell wrote a fictionalised dramatisation under the same title.{{Citation | last = Griffin | first = Michelle | title = Black chick talking | newspaper = The Age | date = 30 June 2002 | url = http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/06/29/1023864668791.html | access-date =20 January 2010}}
Book
Purcell got the idea for a book featuring interviews of Indigenous Australian women following the success of her semi-autobiographical play Box the Pony.{{Citation | last1 = Capp | first1 = Rose | last2 = Villella | first2 = Fiona A. | title = Interview with Leah Purcell | newspaper = Senses of Cinema | date = September 2002 | url = http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/02/22/purcell.html | access-date = 21 January 2010 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090908152626/http://archive.sensesofcinema.com/contents/02/22/purcell.html | archive-date = 8 September 2009 | df = dmy-all }} After seeing the play someone suggested that Purcell find other indigenous women to tell their stories. Purcell sought out nine other indigenous women who personally inspired her, some professional, some not. The interviewees comprised politician and former Miss Australia Kathryn Hay, actress Deborah Mailman, netball player Sharon Finnan, United Nations youth delegate Tammy Williams, Rosanna Angus, Cilla Malone, Frances Rings, Lisa Fraser-Gooda and Rachel Perkins.{{Citation | last = Webb | first = Carolyn | title = What does being black mean, anyway? | newspaper = The Age | date = 30 July 2002 | url = http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/07/29/1027926853332.html | access-date =19 January 2010}} To initiate discussion, Purcell asked each woman the question "Out of the five senses, which one do you relate to and what is your first pleasurable memory of that sense?" Her partner Bain Stewart gave her the idea of filming the interviews and using them as the basis for a documentary. Further interviews were conducted over the telephone, particularly when participants felt uncomfortable opening up on-camera. The interviews explored the topics of identity, family and culture in relation to Indigenous Australian women.{{Citation | last = Kermond | first = Clare | title = Women's business | newspaper = The Age | date = 29 August 2002 | url = http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/08/29/1030508090634.html | access-date =22 January 2010}}
Film
Purcell used the documentary footage of the interviews as the basis for the film. Only five of the women from the book are featured in the film — Hay, Mailman, Williams, Angus and Malone.{{Cite book | last1 = Collins | first1 = Felicity | last2 = Davis | first2 = Therese | title = Australian cinema after Mabo | chapter = Backtracking after Mabo | publisher = Cambridge University Press | year = 2004 | pages = 17–19 | chapter-url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-EonrYXRj94C&pg=PA17 | isbn =0-521-54256-1 }} In addition to the solo interviews conducted for the book, Purcell filmed the women talking over dinner at a restaurant in Sydney. The documentary was finished before the book was published.
Release and reception
The film premiered at the inaugural Tribeca Film Festival{{Citation | last = Turner | first = Tonya | title = There's power in the past | newspaper = The Courier-Mail | date = 11 April 2008 | url = http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,23516480-7642,00.html | access-date =19 January 2010}} and was shown at the Melbourne and Sydney film festivals.{{Citation | last = Jopson | first = Debra | title = Aboriginal chicks decide to let the nation eavesdrop | newspaper = The Age | date = 15 June 2002 | url = http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2002/06/14/1023864347064.html | access-date =22 January 2010}} It was screened on the Australian network SBS on 30 August 2002. It won the Inside Film Award for Best Documentary.{{Cite web | title = IF Award Winners | publisher = Inside Film Awards | url = http://www.ifawards.com/About_Us/Winners.aspx | access-date = 19 January 2010 | url-status = dead | archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100128234040/http://www.ifawards.com/About_Us/Winners.aspx | archive-date = 28 January 2010 | df = dmy-all }} The book was published in June 2002 by Hodder Headline Australia. Realist artist Robert Hannaford painted portraits of each of the ten women[http://www.roberthannaford.com.au/blackchicks/blackchicks.html Black chicks] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170310223313/http://www.roberthannaford.com.au/blackchicks/blackchicks.html |date=10 March 2017 }}, www.roberthannaford.com.au which, along with stills from the documentary, made up a travelling art exhibition. A stage adaptation of Black Chicks Talking by Purcell and Sean Mee opened in December 2002. The play is a fictional story with five female characters, one of whom, Elizabeth, is played by Purcell.{{Citation | last = Dunne | first = Stephen | title = Black Chicks Talking, Drama Theatre | newspaper = The Sydney Morning Herald | date = 18 January 2003 | url = http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/01/17/1042520775390.html | access-date =22 January 2010 }}
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb title|0297793}}
{{Films and television series about Aboriginal Australia}}
Category:2002 non-fiction books
Category:Australian non-fiction books
Category:2001 documentary films
Category:Australian documentary films
Category:Books about Indigenous Australians
Category:Documentary films about Aboriginal Australians
Category:Documentary films about women
Category:2000s English-language films