About

Yolngu Boy tells the moving story of a young indigenous boy Botj (Sean Mununggurr) on the cusp of manhood caught between Yolngu and western cultural expectations.

Botj is careering off the rails: fighting, petrol sniffing and stealing. His destructive behaviour is steering him closer to being in deep trouble with the police and leads him to be overlooked for an important traditional Yolngu initiation ceremony. It’s up to his good mates Lorrpu (John Sebastian Pilakui) and Milika (Nathan Daniels) to take Boji into the bush and save him from himself. Using non-professional actors and stunning remote locations in the Northern Territory, director Stephen Johnson developed the film across six years with close consultation and collaboration with the Yolngu community. While Jack Thompson plays a small onscreen role as a police officer, Yolngu Boy marks the beginning of a working relationship between Johnson and Thompson and the development of BIFF 2020 opening night film High Ground.