A new lens on the invasion

By MARTIN FABINYI

Bunker: The Last Fleet  is a short film that will screen as part of Flickerfest 2023’s Indigenous Spotlight Shorts on January 26. Natasha Wanganeen plays Tjarra, a strong Aboriginal warrior in dystopian 2057 where she is confronted by the arrival of The Last Fleet.

Wanganeen’s acting credits include Philip Noyce’s Rabbit-Proof Fence and Yolanda Ramke’s Cargo. In Bunker: The Last Fleet, which Wanganeen also co-wrote, she is caught in the maelstrom of an unearthly storm as a last survivor of her people.

“The first time I met Natasha was during a school excursion for an Aboriginal school called Warriapendi. At the time I was running the media department and Natasha was leading an acting workshop for our students. I remembered her confidence and improv was really quite amazing – our students just loved every minute in the classes held at Tandanya performing Arts,” says co-director and co-writer, Rowan Pullen.

“Natasha was able to provide a cultural perspective and quickly we found ourselves unpacking the historic events of the first ever alien invasion on the shores of Australia and retelling this historic event in a future context but through the lens of indigenous perspective – hence the title, Bunker: The Last Fleet.”

Both directors and co-writers Rowan Pullen and Stephen Potter have created a CGI world of desert and dust in this remarkable short film which has been four years in the making.

“Sci-Fi filmmaking is a tough genre because if you don’t pull off the world you’re trying to throw the audience into it can fall over quickly,” says Pullen.  

Bunker: The Last Fleet won Best Achievement in Indigenous Filmmaking at the St Kilda Film Festival and has played in festivals around the world, including one of the most important sci-fi festivals, the 10th Annual Philip K Dick Film Festival in New York where it won an Honourable Mention in 2022.

“Now, we are just so delighted we can screen this film at Flickerfest Sydney especially on Survival Day January 26th. We feel like this is a dream come true to show our film now in the official program. Jessica Giacco, our Sydney based producer can’t wait to show Bunker to the Sydney crew – and we will be right there too.”

flickerfest.com.au/film/bunker-the-last-fleet/