Like last year’s wonderful HERE OUT WEST, WE ARE STILL HERE is a film collage that interweaves eight powerful tales, written and directed by Indigenous filmmakers from Australia, Aotearoa (New Zealand) and the Pacific to tell a sweeping story of hope and survival.

Through the eyes of eight protagonists, WE ARE STILL HERE traverses a millennium from a dark past, through to a resilient future to explore stories of kinship, loss, grief, and resilience, illustrating the strength of love and hope to overcome shared traumas that Indigenous people from Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific have continued to face.

Employing lush animation, we get to picture this: a traditional fisher woman and her daughter fishing plentiful and pristine seas landing an ominous ship, foreshadowing conquest and colonisation. Their future is Cooked.

Forward to 1862, a British Settler, a stupid fucking white fella, threatens an Aboriginal man to lead him to safety. His white supremacy is so entrenched it trumps his self preservation need for his thirst to be quenched.

In New Zealand, tribes debate strategies on how to defend their sovereignty, showing their critical thinking when confronted by the threat of invasion during the 1860’s New Zealand land wars. Showcasing the determination of the Ngāi Tūhoe people, their fight to retain tinorangatiratanga (absolute sovereignty) and the ensuing loss they endured. This was a poignant moment in history when the electrifying haka ‘Te Pūru’ was first performed by Ngāi Tūhoe, garnering support and encouragement for their warriors setting off to fight British troops

Jump to 1915, men from the Pacific were sent to support the British Colony in World War One fighting for a land that isn’t theirs, with uncertainty of ever seeing home again. Poignancy and irony reign supreme.

Alice Springs, now, in a segment called Grog Shop. Unrelenting racism slapping down a romantic comedy with a cheeky rallying to get the upper hand. Gold.

Flashing forward into a dystopian future, a young child must navigate her way through a dangerous underground marketplace to save her grandfather and survive.

WE ARE STILL HERE showcases the expansive landscapes of the Central Australian Desert to the lush green rain forests of New Zealand.

In spite of colonialism, racism, imperialism and the attempted erasure of Indigenous lives, irrespective of the loss of life, land, language and harm to culture over the past 250 years, this film delivers a resounding and unyielding message, to those that perpetuate prejudice, the fight is not over, and to those who have suffered, WE ARE STILL HERE.