“I had to go back so I could move forward.” (Brenda Matthews)
Brenda’s first memories were of growing up in a loving white foster family, before she was suddenly taken away and returned to her Aboriginal family. Decades later, she feels disconnected from both halves of her life, so she goes searching for the foster family with whom she had lost contact. Along the way she uncovers long-buried secrets, government lies, and the possibility of deeper connections to family and culture. The Last Daughter is a moving documentary about Brenda’s mission to unearth the truth about her past, and to reconcile the two sides ofher family.
This screening is part of the Adelaide Film Festival Curate Your Own Festival program.
Unique in Australia, Curate Your Own Festival builds screen culture in regional towns by developing local curatorial skills. Every Festival, AFF invites four emerging regional curators to spend four days at the Festival to select films to take back to their town.
Find out more here.
Nathaniel Schmidt, Brenda Matthews
Nathaniel is an Australian/American director based in Adelaide, South Australia.
He spent six years in Minneapolis, Minnesota filming a series of stories about midwestern life in a six month winter climate. From there, he directed the award-winning short documentary ICE BALL (2021) with renowned Polar Explorer, Will Steger, which won Best Documentary Short at Minneapolis St Paul International Film Festival 2021, before premiering on Short of the Week, and being selected as a Vimeo Staff Pick.
Since returning to Australia in 2017, Nathaniel has been co-directing his first feature documentary, THE LAST DAUGHTER, with Wiradjuri storyteller, Brenda Matthews
Brenda Matthews is a proud Wiradjuri woman living with her husband Mark, in Bundjalung Country, Queensland.
Since 2012 they’ve been hosting cultural camps together, taking teenagers on Country.
Brenda is a mother, a grandmother, a poet, a writer, a speaker and an emerging film director, making her feature film debut with THE LAST DAUGHTER, a documentary about Brenda’s life.
As part of her journey, Brenda penned her first book, also titled ‘The Last Daughter’, which she’s currently editing with Text Publishing. Having trained with Karen Thomas, a renowned speaking coach, Brenda shares her story through public speaking, booking engagements across the education and corporate sectors.