PERSPECTIVE

MIRANDA TAPSELL IS BLAZING A TRAIL ACROSS OUR SCREENS. AFTER BREAKOUT ROLES IN THE SAPPHIRES AND LOVE CHILD, SHE’S CO-WRITTEN AND STARS IN SUNDANCE HIT TOP END WEDDING – A HUGE COUP FOR INDIGENOUS CINEMA

Miranda Tapsell wants Indigenous stories told.

“THE WONDERFUL ACTOR LEAH PURCELL once said to me, ‘Just remember, you were once the girl from the bush who wanted this.’ She was right. When I was growing up in Jabiru, in the Northern Territory, I wanted nothing more than to move to Sydney and become an actor.

I’ve always loved performing. I was constantly putting on shows for my parents in the living room. If I was with cousins, I’d often direct them. It was more than the thrill of being onstage: people saw the best version of me. I never hated myself for being short and Aboriginal but I was often made to feel like being both was a disadvantage. But when I was onstage, they felt like my strengths – especially when people would come up to me afterwards to say, ‘I had no idea you had it in you, Miranda.’ My mother Barbara and father Tony never deterred me from chasing this dream. They weren’t performers, but they loved stories, and passed that love on to me. So long as I graduated high school and was willing to work in a bar or a cafe in-between roles, I could pursue acting. I just had to be dedicated. I’m grateful that my parents created those foundations for me.

Justine Saunders, Rachael Maza, Lisa Flanagan, Ursula Yovich and Deborah Mailman are among the trailblazers who created a path for me. But while they have succeeded, we as a public have failed to shift the conversation around them. It’s disheartening that I’ve been repeating a lot of the things they’ve already said about needing a bigger voice in the stories Australia tells. I want the younger generation to be able to focus on their craft without having to educate people around them. I want them to continue to create depth to the way Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are portrayed in film, television and theatre.

I feel powerless when I think about how high incarceration rates are for Indigenous Australians [27 per cent of the prison population], or how short the average life expectancy is [10.6 years less than non-indigenous Australians] or how overlooked violence is towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women [they are 35 times more likely to be hospitalised from family violence]. These issues hurt the community that has shaped me and given me so much love and joy. I can’t pretend they don’t exist. It breaks my heart when I read about them and it breaks my heart to think some non-indigenous Australians believe we would make up things like this.

I don’t know if my work as an artist changes any of those things, but if it can give humanity back to my brothers and sisters, then I have a reason to get out of bed. It doesn’t mean I’ll get things right or be able to sum up everything about my community, which is why I’m so passionate about more of our stories being told. I learnt a lot from wonderful filmmakers like Beck Cole, Dena Curtis, Leah Purcell and Rachel Perkins. The work of these hardworking and intelligent black women is so varied, insightful and captivating, and I appreciate what they have to say about Australia.

It was incredibly difficult to write Top End Wedding – I wanted to put in everything I loved about where I grew up and the people who live there. My co-writer Josh Tyler and I adore romantic comedies and the Territory. I learnt a lot from him. At first it was a pipe dream, but as more people started backing the project, you start to think, ‘Holy cow, this could actually get made.’ Then when you get the money to get your film made, you think it might be the last film you ever make. I kept feeling this might be my one and only time to reflect what I know and how I’ve walked this earth.

It’s scary to express feelings that are not always reflected in the media. The pain it’s taken for us to still be here is so clear. Why is celebrating the world’s oldest living culture threatening? It helps that there has been a stream of rom-coms to come out recently such as The Incredible Jessica James, The Big Sick and Crazy Rich

Asians, which have celebrated Americans of a non-european lineage. They know what it’s like to be pressured to define yourself without a compass and to live in a society that wants people like you to go away.

Audiences from non-european backgrounds deserve to see things in pop culture that resonate in their life. If I can sit back and enjoy Transformers or The Fast And The Furious as much as my non-indigenous peers, then I’m sure they can do the same when they see Top End Wedding.

” Top End Wedding is in cinemas May 2