TV

Deborah Mailman: Australia Is Now Realising The Worth Of Indigenous Work

'Cleverman' is just the beginning.

by Meg Watson  3 June 2016

Want more Junkee in your life? Sign up to our newsletter, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook so you always know where to find us.

After months of anticipation including an announcement of a second season before the first episode even aired, Australia had its first look at Cleverman last night. The overwhelming consensus: the hype has been worth it.

In case you missed it and/or haven’t been on the internet over the past month or so, Cleverman is the latest original drama from the ABC, made in production with SundanceTV in the US. Created by Ryan Griffen as a means of providing an Aboriginal superhero for his son, the show tells the story of a dystopic Australia in which a group of “subhumans” called “Hairys” are segregated off from the rest of the population. 80 percent of the show’s cast (including all “Hairys”) are Indigenous, and the show purposefully draws parallels with the nation’s real-life racism and xenophobia.

In a recent interview with Junkee’s Annabel Brady-Brown, one of the show’s stars Deborah Mailman emphasised the importance of this. “There were only one or two Indigenous actors [on TV when I was young] but nothing that was familiar to me,” she said. “I guess I grew up North American, because there was nothing I could relate to. It’s about time that we started.”

Encouraged by the overwhelmingly positive reception the show received after premiering at the Berlin International Film Festival earlier this year, Mailman chalked its success up to a few things. Firstly: an investment in “raising the bar in terms of the quality of drama that we can make”. But also, the new spaces being created for Indigenous storytelling.

“It is exciting, and it’s right across the board,” she said. “I think what’s happening in the Indigenous industry is some of the most exciting work coming out at the moment. And I think people are realising that. To have that targeted support [of directors Wayne Blair and Leah Purcell] for two decades to develop our voices, from that you get shows from Redfern Now to Black Comedy. It takes that time and that effort. And it’s great — as artists, outside of being blackfellas — we’re now getting the opportunity to tell our stories in whatever way we want, whatever genre we want.”

It’s clear there are plenty of people eager to hear them.

–

Read our full interview with Deborah Mailman here or catch up on the first episode of Cleverman here.