Yana Djamaga Ganji/Walk Good Fire by Directors Clancy Walker and Adam Nye filmed at Monga and Broulee picked up the Diversity Award ($500 + 1 year regional membership of Screenworks) at the 5th Annual Far South Film Festival in Merimbula on August 17th.

Clancy and Adam’s film features the cultural burning work of Walbunja Rangers, was produced by Andrew White, Roslyn Carriage, Les Simon, Adam Nye.

In late 2019, Australia’s South Coast burned red, hot, and black. When the ash settled, First Nations voices were the first to emerge from the deafening silence. Yana Djamaga Ganji / Walk Good Fire is an Indigenous-led film that follows the Walbunja Rangers back out onto Yuin Country, as they work with cultural fire to heal both the coast and their people.

Walking alongside Elders and youngsters across luxury resorts to crown lands, this documentary follows the resurgence of cultural burning in Australia’s Southeast, addressing the ongoing mismanagement of Country and the misconceptions around cultural burning as an isolated practice.

As out-of-control fires begin to spark again across the Australian continent, this documentary offers a well-overdue look into the holistic approach of First Nations’ land management practices, ultimately encouraging others to understand, and help reclaim, the healing benefits of walking good fire for all Australians.

About the Directors:

Adam Nye is a Walbunja/Yuin man passionate about returning Indigenous youth and communities to Country to simultaneously heal themselves and the land. He has over a decade of experience working directly on Country using traditional land management techniques, as well as coordinating events, programs and communities to engage more deeply with local Indigenous culture and knowledge. As co-director on Yana Djamaga Ganji, Adam brought the Walbunja community into tight collaboration with the production, provided invaluable local knowledge, and aligned the narrative with traditional storytelling.

Clancy Walker is documentary director and shooter/producer, and has worked on projects ranging from reality tv to feature film. He began his professional career with Animal Planet on the Emmy Award winning program Whale Wars, shot entirely onboard Sea Shepherd vessels in the Southern Ocean. In the years following, Clancy has worked as a shooter/producer on: Ocean Warriors (Animal Planet), which won Best Series at the Jackson Hole Wildlife Film Festival; as well as the feature documentary Chasing the Thunder (Brick City TV), which won the Impact Award at EarthXFilm Texas, among other awards.

Audiences attended four screening sessions of exceptional films by regional and rural filmmakers from around Australia with Q&As with filmmakers held in the afternoon, culminating with the Awards Ceremony and a Festival Celebration.

Festival Director Lis Shelley said “This Festival showcases regional films by regional film makers, not because they show some pretty countryside, or some quaint city view of what we should look like or how we should speak. Regional films come from the heart, with a genuine truth at their centre, reflecting the people who live and breathe and tell stories from their perspective. We all understand the extra challenges of living and working and filming in regions, and we hope that our festival, now in its 5th year, continues to nurture regional voices who have something to say.”

Watch the Trailer HERE