BLACK SWAN

A film by Ella Connoley

The film’s director, twenty-year-old student Ella lives on her family farm neighbouring Lake Connewarre. Setting out to understand the history of the once abundant landmark within the Bellarine Peninsula, she is confronted with difficult truths and a past buried beneath its muddy surface.  Lake Connewarre derived from the Indigenous term ‘Kunawarr keelingk’ meaning black swan is both a character in the film and a point of exploration. The short film is a discovery of past, present, and the relationships between environment and identity.

BLACK SWAN from Media Factory on Vimeo.

Thanks to:  Kim Munro, Matthews family, Shaun Connoley & RMIT University Media Department

To examine and reflect upon your environment and the landscape, in which your collective memory is associated, is to look within and consider its influence on your identity. This film is my story and my relationship with the lake, but far more importantly, it’s the realisation and perpetuation of my white privilege. It always was and always will be Aboriginal land.

Approaching this studio my desire was always to investigate the relationship between environment and identity. To engage and represent experiences, it is valid to consider not only your experience, but also that of other individuals or communities, and perhaps how they inform and shape each other. Black Swan challenges our understanding of post-colonized Australian land.