Gurrumul

"a rich, dense, stirring and soulful work"

"Gurrumul is incredibly uplifting, a rare glimpse into a culturally rich, family-strong, thriving community few of us will ever witness first-hand."

"Beautiful, raw, intimate...a remarkable film."

"A film that champions racial harmony and cultural diversity.. a moving musical celebration."

"A close-up of the celebrated Indigenous Australian singer and multi-instrumentalist, blind since birth, who died just three days after signing off on this film."

"Without quite saying it, the film makes us feel how strong that culture is on Elcho Island, and how difficult it was for Gurrumul to leave it. We meet his parents and relatives and get some idea of the closeness of bonds within his two different clans. Other films have tried to tell us about such things in Aboriginal culture. This one just tries to show it and that's a kind of breakthrough. I felt the film in my bones, more than my brain. It's also rare that a film respects the music, as much as the story. The sequences of Gurrumul working in studio with Hohnen and Veltheim, basing songs on traditional themes and totems, are simply sublime. They make the singer's death at 46 seem that much more tragic. One cannot watch this film and not ask the question: what might he have accomplished with better access to health care?" - 4.5 Stars