The First People Project documentary tells of NRL star Angus Crichton’s motivations for launching a new Indigenous foundation of the same name.
AthletesVoice, in collaboration with Canon Australia, has announced the release of First People Project; a new documentary starring and directed by NRL Grand Final champion, Angus Crichton.
The First People Project documentary tells of Crichton’s motivations for launching a new Indigenous foundation of the same name.
Having attended high school with two Yolngu men from Gapuwiyak in the Northern Territory and later visiting Arnhem Land to meet their families, Crichton realised how little the broader Australian community understands the remote Indigenous way of life.
Launched in October 2019, First People Project foundation aims to show the world the power and beauty of traditional Aboriginal and Torres Strait culture through visual storytelling, and to help young Indigeous people achieve their goals by opening doors to new opportunities.
As part of its mission to bring brands and athletes together to engage with audiences through rich and authentic content, AthletesVoice connected Canon Australia with Angus Crichton to bring to life the Indigeous stories close to Crichton’s heart.
“Our access to a growing network of over 3,000 elite athletes puts AthletesVoice in an incredibly powerful position to match brands and athletes around shared values, passions and goals”, says Lucy Wadsworth, director of marketing and partnerships at AthletesVoice.
“Our deep understanding of Angus as a person, and as someone with a love of film and photography, helped us to idenitify Canon Australia as the perfect brand partner. The partnership between Canon Australia, Angus and ourselves has been a dream in terms of sharing a vision and hitting the sweetspot of quality storytelling and effective branded content.”
In addition to providing Crichton with access to the best professional grade cameras and lenses to shoot the First People Project documentary, the collaboration with Canon Australia also provided Crichton with support from a production team of creative storytellers on his first endeavour into documentary filmmaking.
“We see our role in imaging as enabling every Australian to tell the stories that matter to them through technological innovation and creating captivating content,” says Jason McLean, director – Canon consumer imaging, Canon Australia.
“Collaborations like this which enable each partner to work to their strengths in accessing powerful stories and storytellers, and bringing it to life via the world’s leading equipment, are important to give a voice to those whose stories hold a special place in the long history and culture of our nation.”
AthletesVoice, in collaboration with Crichton and Canon Australia, has overseen the project from ideation to final edit, including distribution and amplification of the film.
Available to view from today, AthletesVoice is also working with handpicked members from it’s 3,000 strong ‘Athluencer’ network to share the First People Project documentary across social media, as well as across AthletesVoice.com.au and Crichton’s own social media followers to reach highly-engaged audiences.
Telling a personal story of friendship for Crichton and revealing the beauty of indigeous Australian culture, the First People Project documentry aims to educate the broader Australian community about Indigenous ways of life through film.
Drawing on his passion for photography and filmmaking, Crichton’s First People Project documentary charts his journey from Sydney to Arnhem Land where Crichton is reunited with his indigeneous school friends and their families in Gapuwyiak.
“I’ve been working hard to bring First People Project to life and to give it the launch the people it stands to support deserve, and the bottom line is, I couldn’t have done it without AthletesVoice and Canon," Crichton says.
"There’s so much noise in the world these days, its not always easy to make sure the important stuff stands out, but thanks to this collaboration, I’ll be able to do the people of Arnhem Land and the Northern Territory proud. The real work begins now we’re up and running and I’m looking forward to making a meaningful difference with this work.”
