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The Whitsell Auditorium and the Northwest Film Center Equipment Room are closed to the public in an effort to further stem the spread of COVID-19. All classes canceled until further notice. Stay connected to art, film, and more by signing up for our newsletter.

Sweet Country

Directed by Warwick Thornton

Australia • 2018 • 113 mins. • In English

Showtimes & Past Screenings

Combining elements of classic period Westerns and courtroom drama, Sweet Country is set in the Australian outback of the late 1920s and is inspired by true events. Aboriginal stockman Sam and his wife, Lizzie, who live in peace, are forced on the run when Sam kills a drunken white landowner in self-defense. Pursued by a grizzled police sergeant and a band of white men determined to see a “blackfella” hang, expert bushman Sam can easily keep a step ahead of his rabid pursuers until, for the health of pregnant Lizzie, he decides to give himself up. Sam, and justice, go on trial. Winner of the Platform Prize, Toronto International Film Festival, and the Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival. (113 mins.)

Filmography: Words with Gods (2014), The Darkside (2013), Samson & Delilah (2009)

Reviews: Hollywood Reporter, Variety, The Guardian

Interviews: The Guardian

Genres: Adventure, Crime, Drama, Historical, Western, Thriller

Appears in: 41st Portland International Film Festival, PIFF 41: Global Panorama

The Northwest Film Center recognizes and honors the Indigenous peoples of this region on whose ancestral lands the museum now stands. These include the Willamette Tumwater, Clackamas, Kathlemet, Molalla, Multnomah and Watlala Chinook Peoples and the Tualatin Kalapuya who today are part of the Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, and many other Native communities who made their homes along the Columbia River. We also want to recognize that Portland today is a community of many diverse Native peoples who continue to live and work here. We respectfully acknowledge and honor all Indigenous communities—past, present, future—and are grateful for their ongoing and vibrant presence.