Headlined by everyone’s favourite ‘Faboriginal’, MIFF Ambassador Steven Oliver, Looky Looky Here Comes Cooky invites you to experience the Captain Cook story through First Nations eyes and the music of Indigenous singers and performers.

White Australia remembers and memorialises Captain James Cook as a heroic, fearless explorer who discovered the nation. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples – and, indeed, many First Nations communities around the globe – Cook’s arrival marked the beginning of colonisation, genocide and the attempt by settlers to completely destroy their cultures. Looky Looky Here Comes Cooky sets out to put the Cook record straight, responding to the 250th anniversary of his landing by reimagining through songline what the arrival of the HMB Endeavour looked like to the continent’s sovereign inhabitants.

Helmed by Mystery Road TV series co-writer and Servant or Slave (MIFF 2016) and Croker Island Exodus (MIFF 2012) director Steven McGregor, and filled with powerful performances from artists like Alice Skye, Mo’Ju, Trials and Birdz, this film is a rallying cry of resistance, survival and the power of connection to country.

Looky Looky Here Comes Cooky screened as part of the MIFF 68½ program. In this post-screening Q&A, Oliver and McGregor sit down for a virtual chat with artist and educator Nathalie McLean.