Film screening: The New Boy

Well respected Indigenous Australian director Warwick Thornton’s most recent film examines questions of faith, against the backdrop of 1940’s forced societal assimilation.

Told in the “magical realism” style, Thornton’s film presents us with a 9 year old unnamed Indigenous boy (Aswan Reid) possessed of mystical powers and his journey to adulthood under the care of a renegade nun (Cate Blanchett), operating out of a monastery far from the eyes of an overseeing government. It’s a film that through metaphor looks at the spiritual costs of transition into a new world, and whether a reconciliation of old and new ways can be a harmonious one.

Rating : (M) Mature Themes

Duration: 1hour 56 minutes

Location: Auditorium 1 on level 2 of State Library of Queensland

Cost: Free, Eventbrite bookings essential

Cultural warning: This film may contain images, voices, or names of deceased individuals.