One of Australia’s foremost directors, Warwick Thornton, returns to the Central Desert with Wolfram, his follow up to the acclaimed Sweet Country (AFF 2017).

A taut frontier western rooted in real family history, set in 1932, Wolfram sees Aboriginal siblings Max and Kid forced to labour in the wolfram (tungsten) mines under Billy’s control. When Billy dies suddenly, Max is kidnapped by outlaws Frank and Casey, while Kid refuses to let him go. At Kennedy’s station, the brothers encounter Philomac, the boy from Sweet Country, now older and indentured. Brought together by circumstance, the three seize a fragile chance to escape before dawn, pursued by Kennedy and the outlaws in a relentless chase across the desert. Along the way they find temporary refuge with Chinese miners Shi and Jimmi.

At the story’s emotional core is Pansy, played by Deborah Mailman, a mother longing for the return of her stolen children, but with performances from Pedrea Jackson, Hazel Jackson, Eli Hart, Thomas M Wright, Erroll Shand, Joe Bird, Matt Nable, Jason Chong and John Howard, Wolfram forms a formidable ensemble. Thornton delivers a taut western of kinship, survival and colonial reckoning in the Central Desert.