“As an Anangu person,” explains Derik Lynch in the opening seconds of Dipped in Black, “when I go to a different Country, I don’t feel at home.” The film, a hugely evocative hybrid documentary that is directed by Lynch and Matthew Thorne, depicts his journey back to Country from his urban life in Adelaide for what is, effectively, spiritual rejuvenation. It explores elements of growing up queer in an Aboriginal community, the complex relationships we have with places, and the restorative power of reconnecting with the land that bore us– in Derik’s case via performance on sacred ground reserved for traditional storytelling.
Against the presentation of Derik’s homecoming, he and Thorne intersperse several sequences that re-enact memories of his growing up (Dominic Roberts. Christopher Stewart, and Dale Baker all play him at various stages of his childhood). Typically, these don’t strike a nostalgic tone, but instead, find Derik in a reflective mood about the traumas and behaviours that have brought him to where he is. That said, Andrew Gough’s cinematography captures the Aputula landscape in all its natural stillness and splendour, and the warmth of the photography lends the whole film a sense of yearning and melancholy, even if the events portrayed do not suggest the application of a rose-tinted retrospection.
Instead, any wistfulness is reserved for Country. During the drive back from Adelaide, Derik describes seeing the turn-off for Aputula and feels the weight of “all the whitefella bullshit” lift from his shoulders. Once back in the community, he undertakes Inma, which is a form of traditional verbal and physical storytelling that he describes as connecting “everything and everyone.” Derik’s performance is unequivocally rhapsodic, and the transition that we see in him from the despair of early scenes to the strength and freedom he embodies in the final one is not only astonishing but overwhelming. While the relationship an Australian Aboriginal person has to Country is a specific, complicated, and multivalent one, Dipped in Black is quite the reminder of potential contained in reconnecting with our homeland to replenish our life force.
Directors, screenplay: Matthew Thorne, Derik Lynch
Cast: Derik Lynch, Dominic Roberts. Christopher Stewart, Dale Baker
Producers: Matthew Thorne, Patrick Graham
Cinematography: Andrew Gough
Editing: Nicola Powell
Music: Jed Silver
Sound design: Marlon Beatt, Cosimo Flohr
Sound: Nicholas Koulianos, Nick Whelan, Adam Galea
Production companies: Other Pictures, Switch Productions (Australia)
Venue: Berlin Film Festival (Berlinale Shorts)
In Yankunytjatjara
25 minutes
