Penelope McDonald

Movies

Audrey Napanangka
Producer
The story of a Warlpiri woman, Audrey, and her Sicilian partner Santo as they navigate through colonial systems to keep the children they care for together. Audrey Napanangka was born at a time when the world was changing for the people in the Central Australian Desert. Settler colonisation was permeating the desert and forced changes and the fusion of two worlds shifted Audrey’s life forever. Today, Audrey raises young people to walk in many worlds, by centering culture, language, and Law in their lives alongside mainstream education. The intimate footage filmed over 10 years in Mparntwe (Alice Springs), Yuendumu and Audrey’s Warlpiri country Mount Theo, showcases a heartwarming story about the power of kinship and family in what is known as Australia.
Audrey Napanangka
Director
The story of a Warlpiri woman, Audrey, and her Sicilian partner Santo as they navigate through colonial systems to keep the children they care for together. Audrey Napanangka was born at a time when the world was changing for the people in the Central Australian Desert. Settler colonisation was permeating the desert and forced changes and the fusion of two worlds shifted Audrey’s life forever. Today, Audrey raises young people to walk in many worlds, by centering culture, language, and Law in their lives alongside mainstream education. The intimate footage filmed over 10 years in Mparntwe (Alice Springs), Yuendumu and Audrey’s Warlpiri country Mount Theo, showcases a heartwarming story about the power of kinship and family in what is known as Australia.
Finding Jedda
Development Producer
Betty and Rosalie are best friends living on a Northern Territory mission. When cinema titans Charles and Elsa Chauvel arrive, searching for the perfect star for their revolutionary moving picture, the girls are forced to decide whether to rise up to the occasion.
Finding Jedda
Thanks
Betty and Rosalie are best friends living on a Northern Territory mission. When cinema titans Charles and Elsa Chauvel arrive, searching for the perfect star for their revolutionary moving picture, the girls are forced to decide whether to rise up to the occasion.
Ways of Thinking
Production Coordinator
A docu-drama made with support and assistance from a Warlpiri Community in Central Australia, to highlight the community's effort to control the fate of their heritage and future. Alan Jungarrayi wants to move with his family to the nearest town in the hope of finding work. His wife, Jean Napanangka, wants to remain in the community to fulfil her tribal obligations and to bring up their children in their culture. She fears that if they leave the children will lose their language and grow up 'with too much Western ways and thoughts', and thus lose their Warlpiri identity and their place within the world.