This film is followed by a prerecorded Q&A.

Marking Bangarra Dance Theatre’s 30th anniversary, Firestarter tells the story of how three young Aboriginal brothers—Stephen, David and Russell Page—took a newly born dance company and, alongside its founders and alumni, turned it into a First Nations cultural powerhouse.

But as Bangarra rose to the forefront as Australia’s premiere cultural ambassadors, so too did the brothers’ overwhelming sense of inherited trauma. “Bangara was in the business of reconciliation long before it became fashionable,” Stephen says. But at what cost? Profound tragedies have punctuated the strings of wide, critical acclaim more often than not, shaking the troupe to its core each time. Wayne Blair and Nel Minchin’s moving film explores the loss and reclamation of culture, the burdens of intergenerational trauma and—crucially—the power of art as a messenger for social change and healing.

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