Black Chicks Talking

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.[1]

Black Chicks Talking
AuthorLeah Purcell
PublisherHodder Headline Australia
Publication date
2002
Pages363
ISBN0-7336-1070-6
Black Chicks Talking
Directed byBrendan Fletcher
Leah Purcell
Produced byBrendan Fletcher
Bain Stewart
CinematographyHimman Dhamija
Edited byReva Childs
Production
company
Bungabura Productions
Release date
2001
Running time
52 minutes
CountryAustralia
LanguageEnglish

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.[2] After seeing the play someone suggested that Purcell find other indigenous women to tell their stories.[2] Purcell sought out nine other indigenous women who personally inspired her, some professional, some not.[2] 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.[1][3] 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?"[2] Her partner Bain Stewart gave her the idea of filming the interviews and using them as the basis for a documentary.[2] Further interviews were conducted over the telephone, particularly when participants felt uncomfortable opening up on-camera.[1] The interviews explored the topics of identity, family and culture in relation to Indigenous Australian women.[4]

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.[5] In addition to the solo interviews conducted for the book, Purcell filmed the women talking over dinner at a restaurant in Sydney.[3] The documentary was finished before the book was published.[2]

Release and reception

The film premiered at the inaugural Tribeca Film Festival[6] and was shown at the Melbourne and Sydney film festivals.[3][7] It was screened on the Australian network SBS on 30 August 2002.[2] It won the Inside Film Award for Best Documentary.[8] The book was published in June 2002 by Hodder Headline Australia.[7] Realist artist Robert Hannaford painted portraits of each of the ten women[9] which, along with stills from the documentary, made up a travelling art exhibition.[7] A stage adaptation of Black Chicks Talking by Purcell and Sean Mee opened in December 2002.[4] The play is a fictional story with five female characters, one of whom, Elizabeth, is played by Purcell.[10]

References
  1. Griffin, Michelle (30 June 2002), "Black chick talking", The Age, retrieved 20 January 2010
  2. Capp, Rose; Villella, Fiona A. (September 2002), "Interview with Leah Purcell", Senses of Cinema, archived from the original on 8 September 2009, retrieved 21 January 2010
  3. Webb, Carolyn (30 July 2002), "What does being black mean, anyway?", The Age, retrieved 19 January 2010
  4. Kermond, Clare (29 August 2002), "Women's business", The Age, retrieved 22 January 2010
  5. Collins, Felicity; Davis, Therese (2004). "Backtracking after Mabo". Australian cinema after Mabo. Cambridge University Press. pp. 17–19. ISBN 0-521-54256-1.
  6. Turner, Tonya (11 April 2008), "There's power in the past", The Courier-Mail, retrieved 19 January 2010
  7. Jopson, Debra (15 June 2002), "Aboriginal chicks decide to let the nation eavesdrop", The Age, retrieved 22 January 2010
  8. "IF Award Winners". Inside Film Awards. Archived from the original on 28 January 2010. Retrieved 19 January 2010.
  9. Black chicks Archived 10 March 2017 at the Wayback Machine, www.roberthannaford.com.au
  10. Dunne, Stephen (18 January 2003), "Black Chicks Talking, Drama Theatre", The Sydney Morning Herald, retrieved 22 January 2010
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