Geelong documentary series Off Country to premiere on NITV’s epic NAIDOC Week 2022 lineup
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09.06.2022

Geelong documentary series Off Country to premiere on NITV’s epic NAIDOC Week 2022 lineup

Off Country - Sunny Handy. Photo credit - Geelong Grammar School.

NITV and SBS are celebrating NAIDOC Week 2022 across the network with coverage across its platforms, exploring this year's theme of, Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up!

SBS is celebrating National NAIDOC Week 2022 across the network with a huge programming line-up and coverage across its platforms, exploring this year’s theme of, Get Up! Stand Up! Show Up!

NAIDOC Week, which runs from 3-10 July, celebrates and reflects on the history, cultures and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Stay up to date with what’s happening in and around the region here

As the official Education Partner for National NAIDOC Week, SBS and NITV have curated an impressive multiplatform NAIDOC offering, including the much-anticipated premiere of compelling four-part crime drama True Colours – NITV’s first foray into long form drama; the NAIDOC Awards; the premiere of documentary series Off Country; and Australia’s first Indigenous breakfast television program, Big Mob Brekky.

 There’s also a range of documentaries, movies and news and current affairs across the network, and free teaching resources available to schools nationally to help students of all ages learn more about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and histories. The SBS Learn resource will be available online, and nearly 22,000 copies will be sent to educators across the country.

“SBS is proud to be the home of national NAIDOC celebrations once again in 2022, and we’re celebrating across every part of the network,” said SBS Managing Director, James Taylor.

“All Australians are invited to participate with programs that exemplify Indigenous excellence, innovative projects that build bridges between our newest Australians and world’s oldest continuing culture, and insightful coverage that champions First Nations perspectives. We’re excited to be bringing audiences together, and also connecting students and schools across the country through our SBS Learn resources.”

Off Country is particularly exciting for the Geelong region, in an eye-opening and empathetic documentary series that surrounds Indigenous teenagers navigating exams, social dramas and maintaining meaningful connections to home while at boarding school.

Off Country follows the lives of seven Indigenous students over a year at the prestigious Geelong Grammar School, grappling with family tragedy, mental health and identity issues. Wrestling with their conflicting identities as students move between boarding life and home life, the series creates a historic record of one of Australia’s key Indigenous education pathways and a complex portrait of what it is to be a First Nations child in Australia today.

Driven by the students’ stories and told entirely in their own words, Off Country combines personal observational storytelling and features intimate perspectives of contemporary First Nations youth alongside their personal educational experiences.

Off Country will be airing weekly from Thursday 7 July, 8pm on NITV. Screeners available on the SBS Screening Room.

Off Countrywill be subtitled in Arabic, Traditional Chinese, Simplified Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean on SBS On Demand. Off Country will also air on SBS later this year.

“This NAIDOC Week is a moment for everyone to come together and celebrate the strength and resilience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. At the heart of our offering across the network is a desire to inspire all Australians to continue driving the change forged by the First Nations trail blazers that have come before us,” says Tanya Denning-Orman, a proud Birri and Guugu Yimidhirr woman and Director of Indigenous Content at SBS.

You can view all the programming details here