Black Chicks Talking
Encyclopedia
Black Chicks Talking is an arts project by Australian actress Leah Purcell
featuring a 2001 documentary film, a 2002 book, a stage production and an art exhibition. The film is co-directed by Brendan Fletcher and features Indigenous Australian
women including Purcell, actress Deborah Mailman
and politician Kathryn Hay
. Following the book and film, Purcell wrote a fictionalised dramatisation under the same title.
. After seeing the play someone suggested that Purcell find other Indigenous women to tell their stories. Purcell sought out nine women who personally inspired her, some professional, some not. The interviewees included politician and former Miss Australia
Kathryn Hay
, actress Deborah Mailman
, netball
player Sharon Finnan, United Nations
youth delegate Tammy Williams
, Rosanna Angus and Cilla Malone. To initiate discussion, Purcell asked each woman the question "Out of the five senses, which one do you relate to and what is your first pleasurable memory of that sense?" Her partner Bain Stewart gave her the idea of filming the interviews and using them as the basis for a documentary. Further interviews were conducted over the telephone, particularly when participants felt uncomfortable opening up on-camera. The interviews explored the topics of identity, family and culture in relation to Indigenous Australian women.
. The documentary was finished before the book was published.
and was shown at the Melbourne
and Sydney
film festivals. It was screened on the Australian network SBS
on 30 August 2002. It won the Inside Film Award
for Best Documentary. The book was published in June 2002 by Hodder Headline
Australia. Realist
artist Robert Hannaford
painted portraits of each of the nine women which, along with stills from the documentary, made up a travelling art exhibition. A stage adaptation of Black Chicks Talking by Purcell and Sean Mee opened in December 2002. The play is a fictional story with five female characters, one of whom, Elizabeth, is played by Purcell.
Leah Purcell
Leah Purcell is an Australian actor, director and writer.-Biography:She is a film, television and theatre actor, singer, director and playwright. She is the youngest of seven children of Aboriginal and white Australian descent. Her father was a butcher and a boxing trainer...
featuring a 2001 documentary film, a 2002 book, a stage production and an art exhibition. The film is co-directed by Brendan Fletcher and features Indigenous Australian
Indigenous Australians
Indigenous Australians are the original inhabitants of the Australian continent and nearby islands. The Aboriginal Indigenous Australians migrated from the Indian continent around 75,000 to 100,000 years ago....
women including Purcell, actress Deborah Mailman
Deborah Mailman
Deborah Mailman , is an Australian television and film actress. She was the first Aboriginal actress to win the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role...
and politician Kathryn Hay
Kathryn Hay
Kathryn Isobel Hay is a Tasmanian Labor politician and former member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly in the electorate of Bass...
. Following the book and film, Purcell wrote a fictionalised dramatisation under the same title.
Book
Purcell got the idea for a book featuring interviews of Indigenous Australian women following the success of her semi-autobiographical play Box the PonyBox the Pony
Box the Pony is a 1997 play co-written by Australian actress Leah Purcell and Scott Rankin. It is a semi-autobiograhical one-woman show, set in an Aboriginal community in Queensland...
. After seeing the play someone suggested that Purcell find other Indigenous women to tell their stories. Purcell sought out nine women who personally inspired her, some professional, some not. The interviewees included politician and former Miss Australia
Miss Australia
Miss Australia is the title for the winner of the Miss Australia Quest/Awards, which ran from 1954 until 2000, when the last Miss Australia was named....
Kathryn Hay
Kathryn Hay
Kathryn Isobel Hay is a Tasmanian Labor politician and former member of the Tasmanian House of Assembly in the electorate of Bass...
, actress Deborah Mailman
Deborah Mailman
Deborah Mailman , is an Australian television and film actress. She was the first Aboriginal actress to win the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role...
, netball
Netball
Netball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ...
player Sharon Finnan, United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
youth delegate Tammy Williams
Tammy Williams
Tammy Williams, is an American softball player who plays for the USA national softball team. She is Northwestern's softball team's all-time home run leader. Her natural position is shortstop.- College :...
, Rosanna Angus and Cilla Malone. To initiate discussion, Purcell asked each woman the question "Out of the five senses, which one do you relate to and what is your first pleasurable memory of that sense?" Her partner Bain Stewart gave her the idea of filming the interviews and using them as the basis for a documentary. Further interviews were conducted over the telephone, particularly when participants felt uncomfortable opening up on-camera. The interviews explored the topics of identity, family and culture in relation to Indigenous Australian women.
Film
Purcell used the documentary footage of the interviews as the basis for the film. Only five of the women from the book are featured in the film — Hay, Mailman, Williams, Angus and Malone. In addition to the solo interviews conducted for the book, Purcell filmed the women talking over dinner at a restaurant in SydneySydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
. The documentary was finished before the book was published.
Release and reception
The film premiered at the inaugural Tribeca Film FestivalTribeca Film Festival
The Tribeca Film Festival is a film festival founded in 2002 by Jane Rosenthal, Robert De Niro and Craig Hatkoff in a response to the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center and the consequent loss of vitality in the TriBeCa neighborhood in Lower Manhattan.The mission of the festival...
and was shown at the Melbourne
Melbourne International Film Festival
The Melbourne International Film Festival is an acclaimed annual film festival held over three weeks in Melbourne, Australia. It was founded in 1951, making it one of the oldest in the World....
and Sydney
Sydney Film Festival
The Sydney Film Festival is an annual film festival held in the Australian city of Sydney and is held over 12 days in June. The competitive film festival draws international and local attention, with films being showcased in several venues across the city centre and includes features,...
film festivals. It was screened on the Australian network SBS
Special Broadcasting Service
The Special Broadcasting Service is a hybrid-funded Australian public broadcasting radio and television network. The stated purpose of SBS is "to provide multilingual and multicultural radio and television services that inform, educate and entertain all Australians and, in doing so, reflect...
on 30 August 2002. It won the Inside Film Award
Inside Film Awards
The Inside Film Awards is an annual awards ceremony and broadcast platform for the Australian film industry, a format created by Australian Producer Andrew Dillon...
for Best Documentary. The book was published in June 2002 by Hodder Headline
Hodder Headline
Headline Publishing Group is a British publishing company. It was founded in 1986 by Tim Hely Hutchinson, and acquired Hodder & Stoughton in 1992 to form Hodder Headline. It was acquired by Hachette Livre, from the WHSmith Group PLC, in 2005....
Australia. Realist
Realism (arts)
Realism in the visual arts and literature refers to the general attempt to depict subjects "in accordance with secular, empirical rules", as they are considered to exist in third person objective reality, without embellishment or interpretation...
artist Robert Hannaford
Robert Hannaford
Robert Lyall Hannaford , is an Australian realist artist.Known as Alfie, Hannaford was born and grew up on his family farm in Riverton, South Australia....
painted portraits of each of the nine women which, along with stills from the documentary, made up a travelling art exhibition. A stage adaptation of Black Chicks Talking by Purcell and Sean Mee opened in December 2002. The play is a fictional story with five female characters, one of whom, Elizabeth, is played by Purcell.