Talking Language with Ernie Dingo

Talking Language with Ernie Dingo is a personal journey providing a unique understanding of how knowledge of Aboriginal languages is shaped by ancestral connections to the land, stars, water, sea and the air we breathe. Ernie Dingo visits six people from across Australia whose stories of a spiritual connection to country highlight some of the benefits and current challenges people face to maintain, revive and create languages within their communities. Throughout his journey Ernie explores the complex and delicate balance between language, stories and relationship to country. Importantly, he discovers how these relationships have been impacted and influenced by a different type of relationship to country: western culture, colonial history and development. This relationship excludes the knowledge of the sacred law and custom of the land that nourishes and maintains Aboriginal languages. Ernie's quest reveals a diversity of language that has a direct connection to how Aboriginal people listen, understand and speak to country. In return the countryspeaks to them. This raises an important question that each person Ernie visits must answer - what is the future of Aboriginal languages in their community? (Ronin Films)