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SPS Audio is supported by advertising. Starting a new life in Australia isn't easy. Another of companies have rejected me. From top I feel like, oh, I'm going to quit. I've given up. Working progress is a podcast to help scale migrants, rebuild their careers in a new country. You'll hear inspiring real-life stories, expert advice and valuable tips to help you find a job and advance. Your career, working progress, listen now wherever you get your podcasts. Yama, you're listening to NITV Radio. I'm Nari Pakai and today we speak with social media creator Naima Takah, based down in Perth, Western Australia. Naima shares her life not only to her followers on social media, but also has expanded her reach into film with a documentary titled "Growing Up Naima". We also have Harry, who is the filmmaker of this documentary. Thanks for joining on the call today. Thanks so much for having us. Yeah, no worries. Thank you so much for having us. Can you give a little introduction to yourself, Naima? Who are you? Who's my way from? No worries. So my mom is an Anoma Yamaji and a bandje in my mom's. We're from the Pilbra and the Goldfields in the Buehway. And so yeah, I'm originally born in Kharata and then I moved to Perth when I was around 16 and we talk a little bit about how that changed my life and how I navigated, you know, moving from country to the city. And Harry, who are you? Hey, so I'm Harry. I'm a documentary photographer and filmmaker based in Perth. Last year I released my first full-length documentary, "The World's Longer City" and this year I released "Growing Up Naima" between two worlds, this collaborative film with Naima. Naima, you have amassed a following online through your content that you share. Can you give our listeners a little bit of insight in the type of stuff that you're sharing and the people who support you? Yeah, so the content that we share online right now, I mean Harry, we've been making a bit of content together. It's basically just us going around asking people, where's your mom from? Making friends with all sorts of black followers and Aboriginal mob all from, you know, the city and stuff like that. Yeah, and so it's just basically best around friendship and making friends and stuff like that and the people who support me online. It's typically, you know, the younger generation, they're like, "Go sister girl, you know, it's great to see that." And also it's like the older generations as well, you know. Allies are Aboriginal people and, you know, there's been a bunch of different people, even around the world, you know, from Brazil, Netherlands, Portugal, all different sorts of places. So yeah, it's been fantastic. When it comes to creating your content, how did you get connected up to start doing this? I was mentioned I'm a photographer and I have a passion for culture. I like to kind of be inspired by different cultures and also I love, you know, taking portraits and I saw Nima popped up on Instagram and I saw shoes and indigenous and, you know, she lives in Perth. So we, I'm a messenger, we called up for coffee and then I was like, "Okay, wow, this is really cool." Because I had a lot of, you know, the premise of the film is actually I grew up in Australia and I've traveled the world and I've experienced, you know, cultures all over the world but never, you know, the indigenous culture of Australia where I grew up. So I actually had a lot of questions for her and she was so open to answering those and I thought, you know, we could do a bigger project than just a regular photo shoot. So we created this film growing up Nima between two worlds and we did some photography series to go with it. Nima, though you've been sharing yourself online for quite some time, you've decided to do this documentary here with Harry. How is this different from the stuff that you usually put out? Well, this documentary is different in many different ways because not only does it share different aspects of my life that I've never shared online before, specifically in the past, you know, about how it was for me to move to the city and about the challenges that I faced. We go more in depth in the documentary with that and not only that but we also bring up a lot of different discussions and topics in the documentary, just mining industry, you know, what it's like to live on country versus the city. And so yeah, there's a lot of different conversations that I brought up in this documentary that makes it different from the content that I share online. Can you share a little bit of yarn about the documentary or even the making of how was it like going through telling your story? So the making of it, I'm going to be honest, I was really nervous at the start, you know, putting your life on there on a screen for lots of people to see. It's a very vulnerable thing, you know, speaking about my experiences as a young original girl, it's a very vulnerable thing. There's a lot of people that can say things about it. And, you know, I was really nervous at the start, but after doing a few screenings, we're on through our third screening now. After doing a few screenings, I've seen the feedback of a little people and they're like, this is definitely something that Australia needs, you know, and we're so proud of you for making this film with Harry and I, you know, you know, it's just, it's been, you know, really really great from start to finish the process of it. It was nerve-wracking at first, but, you know, once we started filming, it was great. We got into the groove and, you know, it wasn't anything like too strict. Like we just filmed whenever we had something going on the day, you know, Harry would just say, "I'm not too mean." He'd be like, "Hey, you got anything going on?" And I'd be like, "Yes, let's do some filming." So, you know, it wasn't too strict or anything like that. So, yeah, it was fantastic, honestly, like going through the whole process of it, going back to Karatha and, you know, viewing the murder drug or rock art for the first time. Like, it was just, it was splendid. I'm going to be honest. I'll pose that to you, too, Harry. What was really significant in the making of the documentary for you? So, yeah, as mentioned in the film, this is the first time I've really had a, you know, this is my first Indigenous friend and this has kind of given me a true insight into the experience of an Indigenous person who's, you know, growing up in Australia. So, you know, after catching up with Coffee and we did some test shoots, we had, you know, a lot of conversations and the one topic that came up was how she's kind of navigating this life between this modern life and the city and her, you know, the life in the country where, you know, she has her connection to country and her family and her grandmother lives there in Karatha. So, it was really, like, eye-opening for me and I thought this is something that, you know, we have to share because there is this divide and we felt like showing, you know, by showing Niamah's story, people can connect with Niamah, they can see her story, they can make that connection and hopefully, you know, that will influence them to want to learn more and to, you know, hear this story of an Indigenous person. We thought it was important to make this film was, I think there's a lot of, you know, Indigenous kids out there who are Indigenous people who have that same experience, they have to navigate the life between the modern life and the city and maintain that connection to country and in the film Niamah talks about the importance of that connection to country. So, you've had multiple screenings and you might have a few more coming up also with the premier Aqna session. How has the experience been? I've given up. Working progress is a podcast to help skill migrants, rebuild their careers in a new country. You'll hear inspiring real-life stories, expert advice and valuable tips to help you find a job and advance your career. Working progress, listen now wherever you get your podcasts. SPS is Australia's most trusted multi-lingual broadcaster. I'll listen as a loyal, highly engaged and have supported countless local businesses. We offer advertising packages for businesses of all sizes. Our experienced sales team will guide you through the process of owning a great campaign. Bring your own ad or have our production team make you something in one of our 68 languages. Start the conversation with your new audience today. Email [email protected]. To actually show the film and have audiences there and speaking with them. So, that experience, I'm going to be honest. The first time I did it, I was really, really nervous. I did a lot of public speaking in year seven, but this was completely different. This was about a film that, you know, me and Harry were collaborating on. So, it was just, it was extremely nerve-wracking. But after, you know, I presented, we presented the film and after everybody had watched it and we did do the Q&A. Everybody had such insightful and such great questions. That just removed all of the negative feelings that I felt because I realized that people were really interested in this film and they really wanted to know more. And that sort of interest, you know, especially in my culture, it made me feel really proud of, you know, who I am and where my roots are and where I come from. And so, you know, it really, really, the Q&A actually really enjoy them. Having those discussions, it brings a lot of different perspectives to light, a lot of new ideas to light. And I think it's one of the most important parts of the screenings, honestly. So, it was nerve-wracking at first, but now it's definitely one of my favorite parts. And how about you, Harry? Have you been part of these screenings? Have you also been getting the questions too? Yeah, these screenings have been really important because I think, say, if you're non-indigenous in Australia, you do, you are interested in Indigenous culture, but it's, there's not always a way necessarily for you to experience that, or, you know, ask somebody questions. And yeah, like I said, I think in Australia, it's not uncommon for Australians to grow up and not say, have an Indigenous friend. So, I think having known are open to answering these questions and I think it's a really great step for someone who may have not experienced Indigenous culture or met Indigenous person or for myself, I think, for me, and mostly about how I navigated the film and how I kind of went about what I learned from creating the film. So, for people who want to see growing up Naima, but might not be in Perth, where can they find it or where will it be after these screenings? So, the best website to go to is www.HarryCunningham.com/films. You'll find the link to the film information there. You can watch it online there, you can purchase it and watch it online. Then you can find out the screening dates, however, yeah, we're looking at getting it distributed professionally and once that happens, we may not be able to sell it directly, but at the moment it's there. And once we, you know, we're working with a distributor, we'll put the links on that page as well. That must be incredibly exciting to be working on getting it published somewhere. Yeah, it's amazing. Just having, just creating this film with Naima was a really, it was a really special process for me because yet it's the first time I've truly experienced indigenous culture, fighting out Naima's story as a young indigenous person growing up in Australia and then also going to Karatha was amazing seeing how she connects to country and experiencing with her, how she connects to country, whether it's going to the beach to hear since COVID. And we also went fishing and we caught mud crab and we cooked up the mud crab and then also seeing the amazing mud jigger rock art. It was really special. On top of that, just creating the content with her, where's your mob from content, where we go out and we're finding out, you know, where their language group is from. Like it's really, I feel sort of more of a connection to indigenous culture now and I want to make more and more indigenous friends. So I think it's just been a really positive experience. Yeah, first of all, I want to say thank you guys so much for all the love and support. I really appreciate it. It keeps me motivated and I just wanted to mention a little bit about the documentary, how it has changed me as a person. When I moved to Perth, I kind of lost that connection to my land and to my fair and to where I'm from. So recreating this documentary and going back and even viewing the mojigger rock art for the first time, it really helped me reconnect with my roots and for any young bluff out there who feels like they're not connected to their land, you can do it, you can go out and you can talk to the elders, you can talk to people, talk to your family, go reconnect with your land, go go for a swim, you know, go searching for mud crabs, that's where you from. There's a bunch of different ways that you can reconnect with your land and I didn't realize all the different ways that I could when I'm down here in Perth, you know. So after that documentary experience, there's so many different ways now that I do feel and stay connected to, you know where I'm from and so if anybody out there feels like they're not connected, it's okay, you always have a chance to go and feel connected to your land because the land will always be here for us. Thank you, thank you so much for having us, I really appreciate it. And for people just in general, to be able to follow either one of your works, where can they find you on socials, where can they get more of you. So you can find me on my socials. My talk is Naima Taka with two hours at the end, my YouTube is Naima Taka, my Snapchat is Naima Taka, my LinkedIn is Naima Taka and then my Pinterest is Naima Taka with two hours and then my Instagram is @NayamaTaka and why I am a T-U-C-K-E-R. You can find all my links at www.HarryCunningham.com or you can follow all my filmmaking work at Harry Cunningham Films on Instagram. I want to thank yous for coming on and talking with us today. No worries, thank you so much. Thanks for having us. That was Naima Taka and Harry Cunningham talking about the documentary growing up Naima between two worlds. I'm Nari Pakai, you're listening to NITB Radio. Tom Tom, I feel like, oh, I'm going to quit. I've given up. Working progress is a podcast to help skill migrants rebuild their careers in a new country. Working progress Listen now wherever you get your podcasts.