https://www.nfsa.gov.au/sites/default/files/2025-02/Colour%20TV%20Mega%20Menu%203%20TVs_1000x745%20px.jpg
From Sand to Celluloid - Payback: Tomorrow payback
Title:
From Sand to Celluloid - Payback: Tomorrow payback
NFSA ID
511515
Year
1996
Warnings
WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander viewers are advised that the following program may contain images and/or audio of deceased persons
It is lockdown in the jail cells. The light falls across inmate Paddy (George Djilaynga) sitting on his bed and singing begins. Paddy looks out through the jail windows searching for the source. A spirit man (Charlie Matjiwi) walks down the corridor of the jail, towards the inmate’s cell. The spirit man enters the jail cell and tells the inmate tomorrow is the day for payback. Paddy clings to the wall, afraid.
Summary by Romaine Moreton
Warwick Thornton’s Payback is the story of the Western legal system and the Indigenous legal system. The concept of payback in this film suggests that Indigenous law is equally enforceable. Shot in black-and-white, Payback is one of Thornton’s earliest attempts at drama, his later dramatic works including films such as Green Bush and Mimi.
Payback Synopsis
A short drama about payback, the Indigenous traditional law system. After 20 years, Paddy (George Djilaynga) is released from jail into tribal law.
Notes by Romaine Moreton
Production company
Blackfella Films
Producer
Penny McDonald
Supervising producer
Graeme Isaac
Director
Warwick Thornton
Writer
Warwick Thornton
Cast
Peter Datjing, George Djilaynga, Charlie Matjiwi, Larry Yapuma
Acknowledgements
Produced with the assistance of the Indigenous Branch of the Australian Film Commission
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.