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Katele (mudskipper): Katele makes an unexpected appearance
Title:
Katele (mudskipper): Katele makes an unexpected appearance
NFSA ID
1708304
Year
2022
Courtesy
Kalori Productions, Brown Cabs Productions
Warnings
WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following program may contain images and/or audio of deceased persons
Martha (Elma Kris) tends to a shaky Katele (mudskipper) (Waangenga Blanco), who has slid out of one of the washing machines at the laundromat Martha works at, a shell filled with mud in hand.
As she washes him, he slathers himself in mud until recognition settles on Martha – she knows Katele. This is a reunion.
Summary by Amal Awad
Premiering at Flickerfest in 2023, Katele (Mudskipper) won Best Australian Short Film, also collecting Best Australian Short at MIFF in the same year. The short, from director John Harvey, tells the story of the worn-down Martha (Elma Kris), a Torres Strait Islander woman whose thankless job at a laundromat goes from mundane to extraordinary when she is offered a glimpse into another life by an unexpected visitor, Katele (mudskipper) (Waangenga Blanco). It’s a moving story of longing for home, but one that also tells us that in truth we are always connected to our origins no matter where we are.
Included in Best of Australian Shorts 2023 tour and Indigenous Spotlight Shorts 2023, as well as featuring in SBS’ No Ordinary Black hub, this evocative tale depicts mythology that has a Saibai Island worldview and philosophy, offering a glimpse into the beauty of cultural heritage and the connections that bind us.
Notes by Amal Awad
The National Film and Sound Archive of Australia acknowledges Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the Traditional Custodians of the land on which we work and live and gives respect to their Elders both past and present.