• June 13, 2016

The Entertainment Junkie

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.