Friday, April 20th - 9:15 pm - Bell Auditorium Sunday, April 22nd - 12:30 pm - Oak St. Cinema   Director: Rolf de Heer Ten canoes and ten aboriginal men paddle out to search for food in the remote Arafura Swamp in North Eastern Australia. The tribe's leader has three wives, but his cunning, jealous and younger brother plans to steal one of his wives. The leader tells an ancient tale to his brother, a tale of murder, violence, betrayal, and lust in times long ago.

Ten Canoes is a surreal tragi-comedy in the Ganalbingu, the first Australian feature film in their indigenous language. English narration is done by David Gulpilil, the most well known and respected Aboriginal actor in Australia who also plays the role of the tribe's leader. As a whole the film feels like a privileged glimpse into another time and place rendered stunningly authentic by the art of storytelling that’s as revelatory as the story itself.

Ten Canoes is director Rolf de Heer's follow-up to The Tracker, where he explored Aboriginal life in modern Australia.

Ten Canoes was Australia's Foreign Language Film entry for the 2006 Oscars. Cannes Film Festival Selection, 2006; Toronto Film Festival Selection, 2006

In English & Ganalbingu with English subtitles, Austrailia, 92 minutes, 2006, 35mm

Presented by: University of Minnesota Institute for Global Studies