Wrong Side of the Road: The Police Arrive – NFSA Digital Restoration

For some of the bands involved in this film, Wrong Side of the Road offered them the first chance of recording their music. The arrival of the police at an Aboriginal dance function creates an antagonistic atmosphere, and the tension is sustained throughout the narrative. The filmmakers believe it is not an exaggeration of police harassment, but a true depiction of the relationship between Indigenous communities and the police.

Wrong Side of the Road Synopsis

This documentary-style drama follows the Indigenous bands Us Mob, Coloured Stone and No Fixed Address as they move from gig to gig.

Wrong Side of the Road Curator's Notes

rong Side of the Road has been described as ‘a road movie, a protest film, a political film, a rock film’, evolving as a collaboration between the filmmakers, the community and the musicians featured in the film. Although this film has a strong documentary feel to it, it is a constructed drama, stylistically accomplishing what would otherwise have been an interview situation with talking heads. Wrong Side of the Road was an emergent work whose themes and content evolved from workshopping the central characters, resulting in a music-driven exposé through which personal stories were woven.

Director Ned Lander has been making films with Indigenous themes since the 1970s. Wrong Side of the Road won the AFI Jury Prize in 1981.

Notes by Romaine Moreton