Some stories cannot be erased. When systems attempt to silence them, they endure through song, through dance, through land, and through those who carry their breath across generations. These are stories shared by indigenous elders in Australia.
Throughout the vast and ancient continent now known as Australia, hundreds of distinct nations—comprising thousands of language groups and clans—have long flourished within an interconnected web of culture and ceremony. Ways of life were governed not by armies or conquest, but by the laws of kinship: relationships with one another, with Country, and with all living beings.
Beginning in the late 18th century, colonization tore through lands and lives. Language was silenced. Ceremony was forbidden. People were uprooted from Country. The machinery of empire sought to cut the thread that bound the people to the land.
Yet songlines still pulse beneath the surface. Ancestral ways still awaken in ceremony. Elders continue to tend the fire, guiding those who choose to listen.
Join the Free Global Film Premiere and Live 5-Day Online Journey with Aboriginal Elders
Watch this Movie
Registration is by donation—any amount, including $0, is welcome.
Half of all proceeds after production costs go directly to the Indigenous communities featured in the film.
🎥 Community Screenings of In the Circle of Life
🔥 Daily live sessions with Indigenous Elders, Healers, & Activists
⏱️ 48-hour access to talks if you can’t attend live
| About the film
Across the continent, ancient songlines carry ancestral memory, alive and enduring. This film walks with First Nations Elders, healers, and artists as they move through the impacts of colonization with the strength of culture intact. Through ceremony, language, and kinship with Country, we witness the living presence of the world’s oldest continuous culture. This is an invitation to face our shared history and to remember our place within the circle of life. In the Circle of Life did not emerge from a script, but from the relationships, stories, and ceremonies that revealed themselves over time. What was shared with us is medicine and we carry it forward with deep respect through the film. With love and respect, Zaya & Maurizio Benazzo |
The Eternal Song
LAND: EARTH
92 Minutes • WATCH NOW
Mauri
LAND: AOTEAROA (NEW ZEALAND)
70 Minutes • WATCH NOW
If an Owl Calls
Your Name
LAND: Esk’etemc, Gitxsan, and Wet’suwet’en (CANADA)
92 MINUTES • WATCH NOW
In the Circle of
Life
LAND: BUNDJALUNG & WIRADJURI (AUSTRALIA)
75 Minutes • WATCH NOW
