The Witchdoctor and the Windmill explores the life of the Indigenous artist, Linda Syddick Napaltjarri. She was the last of the world’s 6 ‘clever women’ who after experiencing a fully traditional, nomadic desert childhood went on to win Australia’s biggest art prize.

Linda’s insistence that she had her stepfather’s permission to paint his Dreaming stories (men stories are usually forbidden for women to paint amongst her people; the Pintupi) cast her as a maverick and led to a rift between family and community.

This film explores Linda’s personal and community struggles alongside the larger themes of colliding cultures as the Pintupi confronted new and bewildering intrusions into their country.

Credits

Director & Produc Robert Hamilton

Writer Sara Louise Bodinar

Producer Linda (Tjunkaya) Syddick Napaltjarri

Producer Simon Davis

Sound John Hamilton

Composer Ash Gibson Greig

Post Production Heckler

Post Producer Coralie Tapper

Editor Lucas Vazquez

Colourist Angela Cerasi