Indi: The Road to Canberra Advanced Screening

About Indi: The Road to Canberra Advanced Screening

Indi: The Road to Canberra, is a political documentary about a grassroots movement that ousted Liberal MP Sophie Mirabella, brought together a community and changed Australian politics forever.

Description

“The pressure comes from representing the people of Indi. If I get elected, honouring that commitment, and that responsibility; and it makes me very nervous.” -- Cathy McGowan, in her first interview for the film

Indi is an historically conservative rural electorate in Northeast Victoria, represented for 12 years by Liberal politician Sophie Mirabella until a tumultuous election in September 2013. The last time a Labor candidate won was in 1928 when the Liberal Party incumbent failed to lodge their nomination papers on time. The film is about the weeks preceding and the days following the election, during which an independent candidate, Cathy McGowan, and over five hundred volunteers ran a grassroots campaign and unexpectedly won. The film focuses on the political climate at the time as well as the many factors which made the movement’s success possible; however, at the core of this film is a story about people re-engaging with and taking ownership over the political process in order to define their community. Previously voters were disengaged, felt disenfranchised, with a struggling infrastructure, and had little or no help from their representative in Canberra.

Cathy McGowan's campaign garnered national attention, and was even covered in the New York Times. Indi gives an inside look into the event and provides a more intimate picture of both Cathy and the community than the media gave during that time.

In many ways this is a political documentary, but what is at the core is a story about a community redefining themselves, and, ultimately, redefining the political process. It’s a portrait of rural Australia, and a unique example (what some might call a model) of a successful grassroots political movement.

INDI: The Road to Canberra -- CROWDFUNDING TRAILER from David Estcourt on Vimeo.