Henry and the Water Truck
We had a generator with us as we headed out to Gunbalanya which we haven’t had in years prior for NTTFF screenings in Gunbalanya. With the extra freedom that comes with power on tap at any location we decided we would setup the screen down by the billabong. A beautiful site. It would make a spectacular photo for social media – cringe. It also felt close to the creative and community action of the moment as bands prepared for Stone Country Festival – outside the Injalak art centre, and locals and visiting workers ended their day overlook or walking along the billabong.
We set up in the early afternoon, blowing up the screen early is our best community marketing tool. The big screen lets everyone know that the film festival is on. We have been visiting for 5 years now and locals now have a sense of what to expect.
We dropped the screen down while we had an early meal and got changed for the night ahead.
When we went to blow the screen back up the wind had picked up and was racing straight at the strut of the screen – bending it to the point that it swayed and tugged until it broke one of the strap. We pulled it down and waited, we tried again 20mins later with new ropes but again the wind tossed it around. We brought it down again. By this stage the audience had gathered, eaten and settled on to the rugs for the films. I let everyone know we were going to wait half an hour in the hope that the wind would die down, which often happens post sunset. We asked everyone to ask the wind to go to sleep. We retreated to behind the trailer to wait out the long half an hour, hatching multiple plans to make take on the wind.
Henry, an old local man approached us. He asked if he could help. I explained the screens realities and how it response to the wind. He asked if a couple of cars parked close would be a good wind break. This was a great idea. My colleague looked and me and then looked at Henry and said “I saw a big water truck today, could we have that?” Henry would see what he could do. 10mins later we had a water truck, we also had a wind that was starting to rest and so the film program kicked off.
I often talk about NTTFF as a service. We are delivering cinematic experiences to predominantly remote Indigenous audiences. I have always wanted the technical experience to be high quality, the content to reflect the people, places and ideas of the audience and partnerships with local community partners to be simple. The desire for simple partnerships is in part due to my capacity with often over 30 locations and multiple partners in each but more importantly it is meant to be a night off for local partners, and opportunity to chill out, snuggle up and enjoy, rather than have to be in delivery mode.
As we waited for the water truck, Henry told me that he had been a key part of bringing the Stone Country Festival to life – we were the first night of three days of activities. He wanted to the festival so that the community got to have positive activities, something to look forward to, be proud of, come together and share their place and culture with visitors. He said it was important that we could make the screening happen “as everyone is here with their families ready to enjoy”.
I often say to staff that if things go wrong on the road – just let me know as we have a network of people in the NT, we can reach out to. For lost speaker cords, mechanic quick fixes or some local knowledge. I didn’t know Henry before the screening, we didn’t exchange numbers after but he is part of that network. Our collaboration is born out a shared desire to achieve a community outcome, there is trust that has built with the community over the years as we visit each time and a knowledge that our program reflects their values and interests. Henry and I in that moment boh felt responsible to make the screening for the community happen, drawing on our resources, knowledges and creative problem solving to make it manifest. Delivering NTTFF requires staff to embody these practices, trust them and intuitively look to or for the collaborators known and yet to be met.