VIDEO Interview with the producer of the Byron Bay Fest opening film The Firestarter - The story of Bangarra

Ivan O’Mahoney (producer) presents « The Firestarter - The story of Bangarra » to celebrate the 30^th anniversary of the Bangarra Dance Theatre Company. He sat down with Christophetr Labanne in Byron Bay to chat about his latest feature doc.

Nel Michin and Wayne Blair Directors, take us through Bangarra’s birth and spectacular growth, and recognises Bangarra’s founders and tells the story of how three young Aboriginal brothers, Stephen, David and Russell Page, turned the newly born dance group into a First Nations cultural powerhouse.

Through the eyes of the brothers and company alumni, Firestarter explores the loss and reclaiming of culture, the burden of intergenerational trauma, and crucially the power of art as a messenger for social change and healing.

Firestarter is ultimately not a story of tragedy. It’s the story of art as medicine, and its role as the messenger of social change and pride. It’s a story of resilience, of overcoming obstacles and the embrace and re-birth of a 65,000-year-old culture, the longest continuously surviving culture in the world.

‘Arts and culture are the biggest medicine, the biggest identity for this country. This is what’s good for our country. Good for our soul.’
Stephen Page 

‘A modern dance company unlike any other... remarkable, imaginative and richly varied’
The New York Times

‘Bangarra’s work resonates far beyond the normal reach of dance’
Dance Europe