Palm Acquires Ten Canoes

Palm Pictures has acquired North American rights to TEN CANOES directed by Rolf de Heer and Peter Djigirr. The film premiered in the Cannes Film Festival’s Un Certain Regard section, winning the Special Jury Prize. The film, which was shot in the forests of Australia’s remote far north, is the first movie in the Aboriginal language (predominantly in Ganalbingu).

It is the distant past, tribal times. Dayindi (played by Jamie Gulpilil, son of the great David Gulpilil) covets one of the wives of his older brother. To teach him the proper way, he is told a story from the mythical past, a story of wrong love, kidnapping, sorcery, bungling mayhem and revenge gone wrong.

Ten Canoes is a feature film that was shot on and around the Arafura Swamp in north-eastern Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory of Australia in May and June, 2005. Indigenous people from the area are involved at most levels of the production, from input into and editorial control of the script to the casting and selection of locations.