NT: Son walks in father's footsteps at AFI Awards

AAP General News (Australia)
12-07-2006
NT: Son walks in father's footsteps at AFI Awards

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By Tara Ravens

DARWIN, Dec 7 AAP - Jamie Gulpilil walked in his father's footsteps at Australia's
top movie awards in Melbourne tonight.

The young Aboriginal star from remote Arnhem Land faced the flashing cameras of the
media pack as his movie, Ten Canoes, vied for the Australian Film Institute's (AFI) best
film award.

He walked a red carpet similar to that trod by his father, David Gulpilil, after he
was launched on to the Australian film scene 35 years ago.

David Gulpilil, who first appeared in Nicolas Roeg's Walkabout in 1971, is arguably
Australia's best known indigenous actor and in 2002 took out the AFI best actor award
for his role in The Tracker.

David Gulpilil also had an unseen role in Rolf de Heer's Ten Canoes, acting as the
narrator in Australia's first indigenous language feature.

But David Gulpilil was a long way from Melbourne tonight.

Worlds away from the glitz and glamour, he was on the streets of Darwin in the stifling
December heat, looking for a place to sleep and drinking beer in the scrub scratched around
the city's edges.

"I'm bored, I got nothin' else to do," he told reporters this week.

"All I do is get money, drink beer to keep my nerves down a little bit, and then I
smoke ganja to slow me down from the alcohol and then I sit down and write a script or
do a painting.

"I got no job and no government is ever helping me for my work. I'm on the dole, mate."

Australia has all but forgotten him, he said.

Enter Jamie Gulpilil, his 22-year-old son, who made his film debut in Ten Canoes, and
which was tonight tipped to beat Candy, Jindabyne or Kenny to win best film.

Shot with an entirely Aboriginal cast, speaking only local languages, the film has
acquired landmark status.

It has been selected as Australia's official entry for consideration for best foreign
language film at next year's Academy Awards.

"Dad has told me about how he does acting, making movies Storm Boy and Tracker, now
I'm doing it," Jamie said at the film's official launch in March.

On hand to help the young talent through his first press conference, director Rolf
de Heer shed further light on the father and son relationship.

"Jamie is young and learning. David is an old master," he said.

"Jamie is quite shy but must have learnt something from his old man because he knows
how to strike a pose."

But Jamie Gulpilil does not have his father's infamous gift of the gab and the shy,
unassuming actor is still dazzled by the attention.

David Gulpilil has appeared in more than 30 TV and film roles, including Crocodile
Dundee and Rabbit-Proof Fence, and has travelled the world and most of Australia.

He left big shoes for his son to fill.

AAP tr/sp

KEYWORD: AFI GULPILIL (FILE PIX AVAILABLE)

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