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Rabbit-Proof Fence

Horizons 2003 / Rabbit-Proof Fence / Australia 2002

This highly acclaimed film inspired by actual events centres on a journey made by a trio of Aborigine girls who resisted Anglicisation in 1931. They set out on a 1500-mile journey back home to their mothers, guided only by a rabbit fence cutting across the continent from a camp where they were ostensibly supposed to learn new manners. 

Rabbit-Proof Fence Rabbit-Proof Fence

Synopsis

It took 100 years for white settlers to subjugate the Aborigines. In 1931 a law was passed allowing the removal of children born to mothers in mixed marriages; they were ostensibly then to be raised as white. Keeping the law active became the lifelong goal of fanatical Aborigine “protector” A. O. Neville. Fourteen-year-old Molly Craig, her sister Gracie and their cousin Daisy are supposed to acquire new manners in a re-education camp. But the girls escape and set out on a journey back home. Their determination to travel the 1,500-mile stretch changes into a test of humanity for everyone the girls meet on the way. Their only aids are a rabbit fence running across the continent and their hearts’ longing for love. The drama, inspired by actual events, took the Audience Award at festivals in Valladolid, Aspen and Edinburgh; the Australian Film Institute Award for Best Film, Music and Sound; and the Film Critics’ Circle of Australia Award for Director and Screenplay. For Rabbit-Proof Fence and his latest drama The Quiet American (2002) Noyce was also awarded by San Francisco and London film critics and the National Board of Review.

About the film

94 min / Color, 35 mm

Director Phillip Noyce / Screenplay Christine Olsen podle románu / based on the novel by Doris Pilkington / Dir. of Photography Christopher Doyle / Music Peter Gabriel / Editor Veronika Jenet, John Scott / Producer Phillip Noyce, Christine Olsen, John Winter / Production Rumbalara Films / Cast Everlyn Sampi, Tianna Sansbury, Laura Monaghan, David Gulpilil, Kenneth Branagh / Contact Bontonfilm, a.s., HanWay Films
www: www.rabbitprooffence.com.au

About the director

Phillip Noyce

Phillip Noyce (b. 1950, Griffith, Australia) gained domestic popularity and the Australian Film Institute Award for his fourth film Newsfront (1978), to which he also contributed the script. He gained experience in television during the mid-1980s. He made his name on the international scene with the thriller Dead Calm (1989) starring Nicole Kidman. After moving to the USA he became primarily known as a thriller specialist and added the following films to his filmography: Sliver (1993), Patriot Games (1992), Clear and Present Danger (1995), The Saint (1997), The Repair Shop (1998) and The Bone Collector (1999). The adaptation of the Graham Greene novel The Quiet American followed Rabbit-Proof Fence.

Contacts

Bontonfilm, a.s.
Na Poříčí 1047/26, 110 00, Praha 1
Czech Republic
Phone: +420 257 415 111
E-mail: [email protected]

HanWay Films
8 Basing Street, W11 1ET, London
United Kingdom
Phone: +44 207 290 0750
E-mail: [email protected]

Guests

Jan Strnad

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