PROGRESS

Overview

Magic Lands: Ngarram is a First Nations–partnered period drama feature film designed as a catalyst for permanent cultural infrastructure, Indigenous-led tourism, and education on Country. Unlike conventional screen projects, the film generates long-lasting cultural and educational assets, delivering cultural, social, environmental and financial outcomes long after production.

Below is a video of collaborators, Uncle Reg Abrahams and filmmaker, James Vegter, speaking about the project.

The Project

Ngarram is based on a true story, a historically grounded feature film set in the early 1800s in southern Victoria, before, during and after colonisation. It’s developed with Traditional Owners, First Nations Communities, Indigenous artists, knowledge holders and international actors and filmmakers. Cultural permission, oral stories, books, journals, academic theses, and truth-telling have led the research process.

The Opportunity

Across Victoria and Australia, demand for authentic Indigenous-led cultural experiences, truth-telling education and ethical heritage tourism is rapidly increasing. However, there is a significant shortage of permanent, place-based cultural infrastructure capable of delivering this at scale.

Magic Lands: Ngarram addresses this gap by using screen production to finance and construct enduring cultural assets, ensuring that investment results in lasting community value, not temporary sets.

Ngarram: Meaning and Cultural Background

Across south-eastern Australia, the sky is understood as a living realm of lore, creation, lore and ancestral presence. Among several Indigenous nations and language groups, Ngarram (with related variants such as Ngarrang, Ngarran, Ngarram-djarr) refers to the Sky Realm or Sky Spirit — the domain that oversees cosmic balance, moral order, weather, seasons and the cycles of life.

This is deeply aligned with the cosmologies of the Wadawurrung and the broader Kulin Nations, in which:

·       Bunjil (the wedge-tailed eagle) is the creator, lore-giver and protector of balance, dwelling in the Sky Realm.

·       Waa (the crow) is the messenger, cultural guide and watcher, moving between sky and earth.

Both operate within Ngarram, the higher world that holds Lore, Spirit, Order and the rhythms of Country.

Ngarram is not mythology—it is a knowledge system, connecting Land, Sky, Lore, Spirit and People through ceremony, observation and oral history.

The Project Will Deliver

·       Permanent cultural infrastructure built for screen authenticity and retained for community, educational and sponsor use.

·       Indigenous-led heritage tourism sites, including interpretive landscapes, guided cultural experiences, place names, culture and history information and visitor structures.

·       Education infrastructure: curriculum resources for childcare, primary school, high school and university learning programs, and research articles that are Harvard-referenced on history, science and Indigenous culture.

·       Employment, training and enterprise pathways that operate through construction, filming and beyond.

Screen production functions as the engine that finances, builds and activates these long-term assets.

Impact & Legacy

Indigenous & Cultural Outcomes

·      Indigenous governance is embedded at all levels.

·      Cultural authority, consent and IP of Traditional Owners and Communities.

·      Intergenerational knowledge is safeguarded and recorded.

·      Sustainable Indigenous employment and enterprise development across Victoria.

Education & Social Outcomes

·      Curriculum-aligned resources.

·      On-Country learning programs.

·      Increased public understanding of history, culture and Country.

Environmental Outcomes

·      Land use guided by Indigenous ecological knowledge.

·      Site rehabilitation and stewardship.

·      Stronger connection between landscape, story and community identity.

Progress & Achievements

• Six years of research and screenplay development completed, backed by over 160 MLA Educational Articles exploring Victoria’s First Peoples, history, and science.

• Cultural permissions and partnerships established with Wadawurrung and other First Nations communities.

• Pre-production underway: financing, casting, and the design of authentic Indigenous huts and set infrastructure with Traditional Owner collaboration.

• Production and post-production to follow, with cultural assets gifted back to communities and sponsors for education, culture, and tourism.

• Global distribution and legacy: the film will be released internationally and licensed to education departments, supported by MLA’s digital learning series.

Why Invest or Partner

This project represents a unique opportunity to be part of a landmark Australian story that unites film, education, and cultural impact. Partners and sponsors will be recognised in international distribution, education licensing, and on-ground community outcomes — a long-term legacy that blends social, educational, and economic return.

Why Now?

·      National momentum around truth-telling and First Peoples’ history.

·      Rising demand for Indigenous and historical education and tourism.

·      Infrastructure built once delivers multigenerational benefits.

·      Unique opportunity to combine screen, culture, communities, land and legacy.

Magic Lands: Ngarram is not just a film —it’s restoring future knowledge for all to work and live together respectfully on Country.