A thousand years ago, in tribal times in Arnhem Land, ten men, led by old Minygululu, head into the forest to harvest barks for canoe making. It is the season of goose egg gathering, and the men have to get out onto the swamp and hunt the magpie geese and their eggs. Minygululu learns that young Dayindi, has taken a fancy to Minygululu's third and youngest wife. Tribal law is in danger of being broken. Minygululu decides to deal with the situation by telling Dayindi, as a cautionary tale, an instructive, ancestral story of forbidden love, kidnapping, sorcery and vengeance.

Few filmmakers have successfully penetrated Aboriginal Australia. As a result, most Australian films about Aboriginal life are always about the problems facing indigenous people rather than about Aboriginal culture itself. The first feature film to be shot entirely in Aboriginal language, « Ten Canoes » is Rolf de Heer's attempt to get closer to traditional culture, and make a film that's a real collaboration, based on respect. There's never been an Australian film quite like it. « Ten Canoes » is a celebration of the art of storytelling, and of the power of stories to transcend all barriers of space and time and language.


>> Jury Special Prize, Un certain regard Cannes 2006
>> Opening Film, Sydney Festival 2006