WASH MY SOUL IN THE RIVER’S FLOW

Sunday School of Rock’s second offering is the award-winning “Wash My Soul in the River’s Flow” on Sunday 9 March.

Director Philippa Bateman weaves together concert footage, interviews and behind the scenes footage to create an intimate portrait of two of Australia’s most iconic and revered first nations artists: the late Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter.

Here’s what the producers have to say about the film.

“The film is a love story told in song and spoken word, from the points of view of Archie Roach and Ruby Hunter — First Nation singer-songwriters and icons of Australian music.

Ruby and Archie have performed with the best – Bob Dylan, Patti Smith, Paul Simon, Sting and Joan Armatrading, among others. In 2021, Roach was on the cover of Rolling Stone as one of the 50 most influential Australian artists of all time with AC/DC, Nick Cave, Kylie Minogue, Michael Hutchence and Sia, among others. Ruby signed with a major record label in 1993, the first Indigenous woman to do so. She is a trailblazer and hero to a new generation of First Nations women in music including: Jess Mauboy, Alice Skye, Casey Donovan, Emily Wurramara, Barkaa and executive producer of Wash My Soul In The River’s Flow, soul singer Emma Donovan.

Archie and Ruby are loved and revered but their road to self expression and success was not an easy one. In 2004, Hunter and Roach, at the peak of their artistic power, created with Paul Grabowsky and the Australian Art Orchestra, ‘Kura Tungar: Songs from the River— in which they told their life stories.

A legendary concert staged when the Australian government had not yet apologised to the Stolen Generations, filmmaker Philippa Bateman filmed the concert, regarded as a powerful act of reconciliation through the artistic collaboration between Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists.

Now, seventeen years later, Hunter and Roach’s profoundly moving experiences—about being stolen as children, finding each other as teenagers while searching for the families they had been forcibly removed from, recovering from alcoholism and returning to their majestic lands—comes to the big screen in a cinematic celebration of love, survival and triumph.”

Sadly, Archie Roach passed away in 2022 before he could see “Wash My Soul in the River’s Flow” take out top honours at the Australian International Documentary Conference in 2023. Philippa Bateman was a finalist in the 2023 Australian Women in Music Awards in the film-making category. The documentary was listed at the top of The Guardian’s best Australian Films of 2022 listing.

David Stratton wrote in The Australian “This beautiful film is, in every way, a memorable experience.” (and then, in typical fashion, only gave the film 4/5 stars)

Running time: 95mins