SHORT SYNOPSIS:
Toomelah is about ten year old boy called Daniel, who wants to be a gangster and his daily life growing up in a remote Aboriginal community – a provocative and yet comic story that transports audiences inside the community, creating an authentic world and way of life that is “Toomelah” …

SYNOPSIS:
Toomelah is a deeply personal story, that intimately depicts mission life in contemporary Australia. The film reveals the challenges facing the young Gamilaroi people of Toomelah Community, in northwest NSW. They live in a world of limbo. Robbed of much of their traditional culture by Government policy, they are still largely disconnected from modern Australia. It is a community on a cultural edge, struggling for an identity.

The story will be told through the eyes of a young boy, Daniel who has grown up on Toomelah. Through the story of Daniel and his family, we enter a tough world, but one that is balanced by an authenticity and an intimacy that delivers real poignancy.

Daniel becomes a drug courier and trainee gangster for the local dealer Linden and his teenage posse. When a another dealer sets up on the community, a showdown ensues and Daniel is thrust into a world of violence that leads to a major bust in Toomelah. Linden and his gang are taken off to jail.

Daniel is suddenly alone and has to work out where his life is heading …

THE MISSION:
Toomelah is an Aboriginal community of around 300 Gamilaroi people in northwest NSW. It is positioned on the banks of the Macintyre river on the border of Queensland and NSW. During heavy rain, the mission becomes an island, cut off from the outside world, like it was for so many years under government policy.

Toomelah is surrounded by flat grasslands which give way to Eucalypt covered riverbanks. Cotton farming and grazing take up much of the local land. The old Mission where the community live is only a few hundred acres in size, but is surrounded by thousands of acres of farmland.

During the 1980s, Toomelah gained national publicity for some of the worst living conditions in Australia. The Toomelah people still suffer from the many health and social issues that plague Australia’s Indigenous communities. A major issue is the future for the many young people and this is the central theme of the film.


WRITER, DIRECTOR STATEMENT:
Toomelah Mission is where my mother and her family grew up. The community is at the core of my Aboriginality. For many years I have photographed and filmed the people and the area to express this connection.

CAST:
Daniel Conners plays the lead role of "Daniel". Along with a great supporting cast drawn from the Toomelah community and headed up by gang leader "Linden" compelling played by Christopher Edwards.


PRODUCERS STATEMENT:
Toomelah is an intimate portrayal of a contemporary Aboriginal community that is both gut wrenching and deeply moving. Ivan made the film pretty much on his own and it is a testament to his outstanding abilities as a filmmaker.

BUNYA Productions makes low budget, high quality digital feature films and is based out of Sydney, Australia. BUNYA is currently in preproduction on Ivan Sen's new feature "Mystery Road".


Toomelah by Ivan Sen

© 2012
BUNYA Productions.