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Sometimes the price of revolution is higher than any one woman can pay.
In 1972 Aboriginal activists founded Australia's first and only Black Panther chapter in Brisbane. One of its members was a woman named Marlene Cummins, an idealistic teen attracted both to the group's revolutionary politics and to its founder, the charismatic, callous Dennis Walker. After ending her relationship with Dennis and leaving the party, Marlene disappeared into a crushing cycle of addiction. But an invitation to a convention of ex-Panthers in New York 40 years later finally gives her the chance to tell the world what happened to the women of her generation.
Black Panther Woman is the eye-opening new documentary from acclaimed Indigenous director Rachel Perkins (Bran Nue Dae, MIFF 2009). Telling Marlene's difficult story with grace and delicacy, this is filmmaking of great importance that shines a light on a long-ignored chapter of Australian history.