Warwick Thornton. Photo by Ben King.
Camera d’Or award-winning director Warwick Thornton, known for Samson & Delilah and The New Boy, has signed on to direct the upcoming feature film First Warrior, an epic tale about the Aboriginal resistance fighter Pemulwuy.
Pemulwuy, a Bidjigal man from the Sydney tribes, led a 12-year resistance against British settlers during the late 1700s, defending his people’s traditional lands as Australia was colonised. First Warrior will bring this powerful story to the big screen, supported by the Bidjigal, Dharawal, and Dharug Elders, ensuring the cultural significance and authenticity of the film.
The all-Indigenous core creative team is led by Thornton, with Jon Bell (The Moogai, Cleverman) as writer and Andrew Dillon, a Dharug and Gomeroi descendent, as writer-producer through his Indigenous-owned production company, That’s-A-Wrap Productions.
Joining the team are notable Australian actors Sam Worthington (Avatar, Hacksaw Ridge) and Jason Clarke (Oppenheimer, Zero Dark Thirty), with a search underway for actors to portray Pemulwuy and Bennelong, the latter of whom was famously kidnapped by Governor Arthur Phillip to start a dialogue with Indigenous Australians.
The film also has the backing of renowned screenwriters Stuart Beattie (Collateral, Pirates of the Caribbean) and Phillip Noyce (Rabbit-Proof Fence, Salt), ensuring First Warrior is set to be an epic and culturally resonant production.
Thornton said, “I am so honoured to be a part of this amazing film. It’s an important story with an awesome script and legendary actors”.
Andrew Dillon said: “It has been a lifelong goal of mine to have our Indigenous warriors celebrated on the silver screen. I can’t wait for audiences to not only experience Warwick’s vision for this story but to leave the cinema with a newfound appreciation of Australia’s shared history”.
This article was sourced from a media release sent by Harriet Dixon-Smith of Nixco