They Live in Forests, They Are Extremely Shy (2016)

• 86%
• 2016
• Documentary
• Saeed Taji Farouky

"They Live in Forests, They Are Extremely Shy" tells the fictionalised story of an Indigenous Australian man invited to London for the Colonial Exhibition of 1886. He's a reluctant ambassador, negotiating for the safety of his people and ancestral land as the British Empire continues to colonise and brutalise indigenous Australians. He plays the 'good native', until a chance encounter forces him to decide whether to live his life with diplomacy or authenticity. It is a short story dense with themes of oppression, dehumanisation, resistance, and the determination of indigenous people to fight for their literal and cultural survival.