NITV launch 'Pecan Summer': the Australian cinematic premiere of the first Indigenous Opera at ACMI

NITV Producer Julie Nimmo says, "Watch the documentary, because all of those really important stories come to light and you can see and feel the power of all their ancestors stories, really lifting up every singer."

Julie Nimmo & Mark Ella (NITV) launch The Australian cinematic premiere of the first Indigenous Opera 'Pecan Summer' Australian Centre For The Moving Image. Source: Kirstyn Lindsay SBS Radio Living Black

NITV Executive Producer Mark Ella and Director Producer Julie Nimmo launched the screening of Short Black Opera's documentary 'The Secrets of Pecan Summer' at the Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne last week.

Speaking to Living Black Radio, NITV Executive Producer and Opera enthusiast Mark Ella says "We are good at art, we are good at sport and we are great at Opera - we've got to tell our stories."

The documentary takes us on an emotional journey behind the scenes of the rehearsals of Pecan Summer at the September 2016 Sydney Opera House performance. 

Mark Ella says, "When it comes to our culture, emotions mean a lot."

Pecan Summer is an opera based on the story of Yorta Yorta Soprano and member of the Stolen Generations, Deborah Cheetham. 

Cheetham was sadly taken from her family and adopted by a non-Indigenous family.

Deborah Cheetham and Mark Ella at the launch of the cinematic premiere of the first Indigenous Opera Pecan Summer-ACMI Source: SBS Radio Living Black

Short Black Opera's Pecan Summer tells the story of how her people who lived and were born on Dhungala (Murray River) made a historical decision and walked off the Cummeragunga mission in 1939, refusing to live under the conditions of abuse and slavery forced upon them during European settlement and colonisation.

Julie Niimo said before she set off on the journey of recording the documentary that she wasn't ready for what her ears were about to hear. She said 'I couldn't believe how powerful and emotional it was all going to be'.

Julie's Grandmother was taken as a child and she points out 'That with twenty years of being a reporter and covering these stories, nothing has touched me as much as when I heard their story through the song. It's incredibly emotional'.

'The Secrets of Pecan Summer' premiered on Feb 4 on #NITV and #SBS TV. Watch the documentary below or at SBS OnDemand.  

[videocard video="860269123625"]