Thursday, November 1, 2012

Everyone's Talking About...Redfern Now

Ever since I heard that this show was in development, I have been dying to see it. Finally, someone got around to producing an Australian TV show featuring real Australians in the form of Redfern, Sydney's indigenous community. This show is not your typical in-your-face exposé on indigenous life but rather an intellectual look at the modern day lives of this individual group. 

Redfern Now is a 6-part series produced for the ABC by Blackfella Films that tells the stories of six inner-city households in one street. In each episode, one seemingly insignificant event will completely change the course of the main characters' daily journeys. Family dramas, relationship problems, money troubles and everyday societal issues are just a few of the plot-lines explored in this series. Working closely with Jimmy McGovern (Story Producer), the producers of RN have created a series that closely follows the successful formula of the show which catapulted McGovern's career, The Street.

The thing that worked so well for me with Redfern Now was its impecable production values. Location, production design, editing, sound design and filming style are just a few elements that caught my eye and held it throughout the duration of the first episode. As a rule, I am instantly turned off my any television show or feature film that has a disregard for fine form. Redfern Now does not belong in this category. In fact, I would go so far as to say that the sheer amount of work that has gone into making this show look so damn good is a lot better than most of the drivel existing on mainstream Australian television right now (Yes, Channel 7. I am looking at you and Winners and Losers)

Many critics today will be launching into how much of a revolution Redfern Now is for the indigenous film and television community. This is a load of wirrilkaru crap. The reality is, indigenous production houses such as Blackfella Films have made some of Australia's best movies of late. In fact, our most successful home exports, particularly in the festival circuits, have come from indigenous producers. Samson and Delilah, Ten Canoes, The Sapphires, and Ivan Sen's Toomelah which was a big hit at the Sydney Film Festival last year. At the end of the day, this is a TV series to educate, inform, entertain and abolish the divide between what is "Australian" and what is "Indigenous." For me, as long as its all good TV, I don't care what you call it. 


Redfern Now screens Thursday on ABC1 at 8:30pm.