Manapanmirr, in Christmas Spirit (2012)

Yolngu Christmas rituals start in October when the first wolma thunder clouds form, heralding the coming wet season. As the distant rumbling triggers memories of lost loved ones, quiet tears start to flow. So begins a season in which stories brought by missionaries in the mid 20th century provide the basis for a celebration of the cycling transformations of life, death and rebirth - and for claiming the enduring place of the ancestral in the contemporary world. Manapanmirr means being joined or brought together. In this film, what begins as an experiment with using digital media to 'connect cultures through feeling' as director Paul Gurrumuruwuy put it becomes through the very process of image-making a catalyst for vision, innovation and connection for Yolngu themselves.