Rachel Perkins’ is a member of the Arrernte nation whose lands surround Alice Springs and the Kalkadoon people from the MT Isa region. Rachel has served on a number of federal agencies including Screen Australia, the Australian Film Commission, and the Australian Film Television and Radio School. She was a founding board member of NITV, which she was instrumental in establishing. She has also served on the boards of various Aboriginal organisations and industry associations, including Bangarra Dance Theatre. She currently serves on the board of the Australian Heritage Commission. Her company Blackfella Films, established in 1993, is a leader in the creation of Indigenous content, including the series First Contact (2016), Redfern Now, First Australians (2008), Ready For This and its latest production DNA Nation. Her work as director includes documentaries such as Freedom Ride (1993) and the more recent Black Panther Women (2014) as well as movies Radiance (1998), Bran Nue Dae (2009), One Night the Moon (2001), Mabo (2012) and Jasper Jones (2017). She also works in the cultural sector, directing festivals, such as the Yeperenye Festival for the Centenary of Federation. She researched and published The Black Book, a director of Indigenous people working in the cultural sector. In more recent times she has focussed on the development of Arrernte culture, the first project being an Arrernte Women’s Camp, which recorded and revived the repertoire of Arrernte women’s traditional musical heritage.
The Asia Pacific Screen Academy expresses its respect for and acknowledgement of the South East Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We pay our respects to the Traditional Owners of country, including the custodial communities on whose land works are created and celebrated by the Asia Pacific Screen Awards. We acknowledge the continuing connection to land, waters and communities. We also pay our respects to Elders, past and present. We recognise the integral role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and First Nations peoples continue to play in storytelling and celebration spaces.
