Radiance is a 1998 Australian independent film. It is the first feature film directed by Rachel Perkins, and only the third feature directed by an Indigenous Australian person. It is about three Indigenous sisters who reunite for their mother's funeral, and is based on the 1993 play written by Louis Nowra.

Plot

Three sisters, Cressy, Nona, and Mae, who have not seen each other for a long time, are brought together after their mother dies, to arrange her funeral. Mae is wears her mother's wedding dress, while she and Nona argue about what to do with their mother's ashes. They each try to grab the ashes, which then spill all over Cressy.

Cast

Production

Rachel Perkins became aware of the play when she saw Trisha Morton-Thomas perform Mae's beach monologue as a part of the Eora College end-of-year student showcase. Perkins called Louis Nowra to adapt it into a half-hour drama, but Nowra suggested they make it as a feature film. It was her first feature fiction film as a director, and only the third feature film directed by an Indigenous Australian person, following Jindalee Lady (1992) and BeDevil (1993). Perkins said later that it took a long time to cast the main characters, who included Deb Mailman, then a newcomer from Brisbane, and that they rehearsed for six weeks before filming began. The actors got to know their characters really well, and added ideas to the script. Louis Nowra wrote the script, Ned Lander produced the film, and the cinematographer was Warwick Thornton. Radiance was filmed at Agnes Water, Rosedale, Childers, Bundaberg, and Hervey Bay in Queensland, and in Sydney.

Awards