Terra Nullius

Loosely based on the filmmaker's personal experience, "Terra Nullius" is an impressionistic account of an eight year old Koori girl, Alice, growing up in a white adoptive family which denies her Aboriginality. The film examines how unacknowledged shame and fear passes from one generation to the next, from one culture to another. The last scene depicts a silent meeting between the young Alice and the adult Alice. In order to reclaim her life, Alice decides she must confront the pain and confusion of her childhood.

• australia
• trauma
• based on true story
• racism
• racial slur
• racial prejudice
• generational
• impressionist
• woman director
• indigenous australians
• australian aboriginal
• 1960s
• adoptive parent
• self-harm
• traumatized child
• short film
• adopted girl
• inner child
• remastered