A Traumatic Inheritance (Leon Rakai & Corina Abraham, Australia, 2023) is a short film that explores themes of trauma, disability and change. Sensitive and resonant, it invites reflection on isolation, support and motivation while highlighting Indigenous perspectives and individual experience. The film may not provide neat answers, but it opens space for conversations about medical and physical disability, inclusion and the personal costs of inherited pain. Presented in the Focus on Ability International Short Film Festival, this work contributes to our ongoing celebration of storytelling that honours the abilities and lives of people with disability. Expect a thoughtful, human portrait that stays with you after it ends.
Well, since the last time we did our filming last year for Ability Disability Competition, I've had a lot more health difficulties to deal with. Over Christmas, I was in ICU for just over a week. I had major surgery done on my stomach. I had gangrene, large intestine, and I had to have that removed. And then they sewed whatever I had left to my small intestine. We did dialysis every day because my spirit was telling me that I needed it. And I'm very lucky that I did. Otherwise, I would have sadly passed away at home. The doctor said. So yeah, I was so grateful that I made it through that. I've got angels up there. Well, like I still do advocating in my community for a lot of my mob because of the lack of services that are still around. I still fight for country because native title is destroying my land and my people. It's really hard because I wish I could do a lot more. I used to go out and cook for the homeless. I can't even do cook anymore, which is very hard because of my hands. And so this afternoon, I've had to deal with a phone call from a client of mine. She's had a lot of stresses, especially around Homes West, dealing with a lot of issues around harassment, trying to get a house ready for a house inspection. I've been down a few times and advocated on her behalf. And a couple of years ago, I actually went down to her house, learning the family how to declutter their house, learning just all the basics around basic care and hygiene and things like that. They're what what the department would be expecting. It's quite sad because she lost both her parents at a young age. You know, her history, she was placed into Nungala as a baby. And it was thank God that my grandparents had actually gone there and adopted her out of Nungala to look after her. We don't have any housing services that should be assisting our Aboriginal families, especially when they've got a lot of issues, systemic issues, and a lot of intergenerational trauma. Once we as Aboriginal people lose our identity, lose our connection to country, that's when we suffer with the illnesses that we suffered. When you look at the intergenerational trauma that we have suffered, and I have gone through that throughout my generation growing up, I'm a survivor of childhood sexual abuse. You know, my grandmother, my mum's mum was born in Moor River Native Settlement. That was one of the very first concentration camps, I call it, set up here in Western Australia. My great-grandmother was taken there, both on my mum and dad's side. Nowadays, you've got kids running amok on the streets. But why are those kids running amok on the streets? Well, because their parents couldn't look after them properly, because they had their issues that never got dealt with. So then, why couldn't they be good parents? Because their parents had issues. So, you know, it's about generation to generation. We've got so many injustices placed on us, it's very hard, you know. When I see that bigger picture, how we need to make change, that's what gives me that strength to stand up and speak up. you
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A Traumatic Inheritance by Leon Rakai & Corina Abraham (2023)
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A Traumatic Inheritance
by Leon Rakai & Corina Abraham - OPEN ENTRANT DOCUMENTARIES
