Reviews

Review from Michael Scott on his Zach’s Ceremony experience.

The first thing I got told when I started teaching in the desert was the places I wasn't allowed to go. Law grounds, men's places, waved out of bounds with vague gestures. Just don't walk in that direction. Or that direction. They are places for the initiated. There are secrets and ceremonies there that are only for men's eyes. Don't even point a camera there. "If they could help all boys to grow into young men as aware and culturally conscious as Zach, it would do our country a world of good." Michael Scott (reviewer)

https://letterboxd.com/walypala/film/zachs-ceremony/

Film Review: Zach’s Ceremony (Variety)

A perceptive, benevolent documentary about a contemporary and particularly high-stakes rite of passage from young adolescence to manhood.

http://variety.com/2016/film/reviews/zachs-ceremony-review-1201824896/

FilmInk Interviews Zach’s Ceremony – Anthony O’Connor

Anthony O'Connor talks to director, Aaron Petersen, Associate Producer, Alec Doomadgee, and Zach Doomadgee, the subject of the excellent indigenous doco, Zach's Ceremony.

Growing up isn’t easy, especially for Zach who is rapidly making the transition from boyhood to manhood, in both the modern world and his ancient culture. Pressures from his loving, but staunch father, the temptations of city life and the ever present spectre of racism all take their toll. Ultimately Zach must embrace the traditions and knowledge of his ancestors and awaken the warrior within.

https://filmink.com.au/2016/interview-zachs-ceremony/

The Entertainment Junkie

Empathy is a crucial component of Zach's Ceremony (grade: A-), Aaron Petersen's new documentary. The film follows Zach, an Aboriginal teenager in Sydney who, with the encouragement and pressure of his dad Alec, wants to have an initiation ceremony, a significant ritual of manhood in his nation's culture. Set over six years, the film charts Zach's complex relationship with his dad and his heritage, from the racial bullying he endures in school to connecting with his ancestral land in northwest Queensland, and finally the ceremony itself, which had never been captured on film before.

http://imthecautionarywhale.blogspot.com.au/2016/06/sydney-film-festival-day-four-timely.html

Screen NSW – Ted Rose

Zach’s Ceremony filmmaker Aaron Petersen spent six years following a ten-year-old Aboriginal boy from Sydney, Zach, as he prepared for his transition into manhood on his father’s country in Far North Queensland. Ahead of the films Australian premiere at Sydney Film Festival, we catch up with Aaron Petersen to learn about the making of the film and what he learnt in the process..

http://bit.ly/2a7zBN5

Next Projection – Kamran Ahmed

Peterson’s coming-of-age documentary chronicles six years in the life of Zachariah Doomadgee, an aboriginal growing up in Sydney, far away from his peoples land claim and culture. His father teaches him about his people, in an effort to maintain the culture, but Zach feels always split between the blackfella and whitefella, ostracized both by his aboriginal ancestry as well as his urban present. Peterson provides a highly intimate portrait of Zach’s struggle, from preteen ambition to teenage angst, all the while offering voice to Zach’s culture and people.

http://bit.ly/1OnVmmh

Toronto Film Scene – Andrew Parker

Making its international premiere at Hot Docs 2016 as a part of the Made in Australia program, the family drama Zach’s Ceremony takes a multi-year look at one aboriginal teenager’s difficult coming of age story.

http://bit.ly/2aaN6fc

Movie Quotes & More – Douglas Gosse

Rites of passage have existed since the beginning of time, serving to affirm membership within a group, and acknowledgement of change in status. Traditional rites of passage are of particular importance among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. In Zach’s Ceremony, related themes of colonialism, marginality, sense of belonging, and perseverance, collide with the complex relationship between a father and son of Aboriginal heritage living in Sydney – Alec and Zach Doomadgee, lending this film broad universal appeal.

http://bit.ly/2a6DsXr