Synopsis

NAMARALI is a 50min documentary charting artist Donny (Yorna) Woolagoodja's quest to rekindle deep connections with his traditional ancestral culture. Yorna's spiritual beliefs revolve around the wandjina - creator beings who's images adorn the caves and rock ledges throughout the Kimberley. Refreshed with new ochre each year by his ancestors the Wandjinas are now fading away with the absence of Yorna's people. But the decision to allow one of Yorna's designs to appear at the Sydney Olympics opening ceremony in 2000 changes this dynamic. Yorna determines to visit the big boss wandjina NAMARALI and repaint his once imposing 4m ochre cave image. High on the Kimberley coast, over the period of a week, the film is witness to the radical action of a man determined to bring a deity 'back to life’