Official Trailer for ‘Journey Home, David Gulpilil’ Doc About the Actor
by Alex Billington
July 14, 2025
Source: YouTube
“I live in my land, and land, it lives with me. We live together.” Madman Films in Australia has revealed an official trailer for a documentary film titled Journey Home, David Gulpilil, made by filmmakers Maggie Miles & Trisha Morton-Thomas. It premiered at the 2025 Sydney Film Festival last month, and next plays at the Melbourne Film Festival in Australia. Everyone in cinema knows his face – Aboriginal actor David Gulpilil, who famously starred in Nicolas Roeg’s Walkabout. Gulpilil passed away in 2021 (at age 68) but it was important to return his body back to his homeland up in Northern Australia. Gulpilil’s life & work were previously explored in his own words in Darlene Johnson’s Gulpilil: One Red Blood and Molly Reynolds’s My Name Is Gulpilil; in this final chapter of his singular story, narrated by Hugh Jackman and Yolngu hip-hop artist Baker Boy, the filmmakers portray the man through the eyes of his community. Intimately chronicling the epic trip through to its culmination in a Yolngu funeral ceremony, the doc serves as a fitting tribute to a legend of Australian cinema. This looks like a deeply moving and meaningful film – take a look.
Here’s the first official trailer for the documentary film Journey Home, David Gulpilil, from YouTube:
Intro from MIFF: David Gulpilil was one of Australia’s greatest screen actors, beginning with his first performance in 1971’s Walkabout and continuing over the next five decades through roles in landmark films including Rabbit-Proof Fence, The Tracker. After his death in 2021, his body was repatriated from Murray Bridge, South Australia, to be laid to rest in his homeland on Yolngu country. An extraordinary odyssey across more than 3000 kilometres of outback road from Victor Harbor to Darwin, followed by a chartered plane and helicopter flight to his birthplace in East Arnhem Land, Gulpilil’s final journey is recorded in this moving, thoughtfully observed documentary. Journey Home, David Gulpilil is co-directed by filmmakers Maggie Miles (director of Class Act, Dare to be Different, Trailblazers) & Trisha Morton-Thomas (actress; director of Occupation: Native, History Bites Back). Produced by Rachel Clements, Jida Gulpilil, Lloyd Garrawurra, Maggie Miles, and Trisha Morton-Thomas. This is premiering soon at the 2025 Melbourne Film Festival this month down in Australia, after first debuting at the Sydney Film Festival this year. No final release date is set while it plays on the festival circuit this year. Who’s interested in watching?