We Were Lost in Our Country (2019)

We Were Lost in Our Country (2019) poster

The Ngurrara Canvas II is many things to many people. But to the Ngurrara people it is a map, made from memory, of a place where their ancestors lived for over 60,000 years. It is a direct connection to their land - a country where kartiya (non-Aboriginal people) could not live in, because the desert is an impossible environment without knowledge of how to hunt, gather, and find water. The canvas is a strong symbol of solidarity, and of resistance to the colonial project that attempted to decimate the Ngurrara’s connection to their land - now known generically as the Great Sandy Desert. We Were Lost in Our Country explores questions of personal agency, inherited trauma, and intergenerational transmission, through a conversation among ancestors and descendants. As the voices of the young find their bearings and make their mark on the words of their ancestors, Tuan Andrew Nguyen accesses a past-and-present history of the canvas - a history of displaced memory and of its recreation.

Director: Tuan Andrew Nguyen
Runtime: 32 min
Release Date:
Cinematography: Andrew Yuyu Truong
Original Language: en
More Films by Director: Tuan Andrew Nguyen

Frequently Asked Questions

What is We Were Lost in Our Country about?
The Ngurrara Canvas II is many things to many people. But to the Ngurrara people it is a map, made from memory, of a place where their ancestors lived for over 60,000 years. It is a direct connection to their land - a country where kartiya (non-Aboriginal people) could not live in, because the desert is an impossible environment without knowledge of how to hunt, gather, and find water. The canvas is a strong symbol of solidarity, and of resistance to the colonial project that attempted to decimate the Ngurrara’s connection to their land - now known generically as the Great Sandy Desert. We Were Lost in Our Country explores questions of personal agency, inherited trauma, and intergenerational transmission, through a conversation among ancestors and descendants. As the voices of the young find their bearings and make their mark on the words of their ancestors, Tuan Andrew Nguyen accesses a past-and-present history of the canvas - a history of displaced memory and of its recreation.
Who directed We Were Lost in Our Country?
We Were Lost in Our Country was directed by Tuan Andrew Nguyen.
How long is We Were Lost in Our Country?
We Were Lost in Our Country has a runtime of 32m (32 minutes).