The National Centre for Asbestos Related Diseases (NCARD) is proud to sponsor a special health-focused screening of the award-winning documentary YURLU | COUNTRY. This deeply moving story features NCARD clinician-researchers who cared for Banjima Elder Maitland Parker during his journey with mesothelioma.
Health-Focused Screening
Monday 10 November | 6:30pm | Windsor Cinema, Nedlands
This special screening includes a post-film Q&A panel exploring the intersection of clinical care, research and advocacy.
Panellists:
- Professor Gary Lee – Professor of Respiratory Medicine, UWA; Chief Investigator, NCARD; Head, Pleural Diseases Research Group, Institute for Respiratory Health (IRH)
- Dr Wee Loong (Melvin) Chin – Medical Oncologist, Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital; NCARD Research Leader
- Johnnell Parker – Banjima Traditional Owner
- Yaara Bou Melhem – Walkley Award-winning Director and Producer of YURLU | COUNTRY
This event acknowledges the dedication and compassion of healthcare professionals caring for people affected by asbestos-related disease and highlights how clinical excellence, research and advocacy work together to improve outcomes.
Book your tickets here.
About the Film
Directed by Walkley Award-winning filmmaker Yaara Bou Melhem and co-created with Banjima Elder Maitland Parker, YURLU | COUNTRY follows Maitland’s final year as he fights to heal his ancestral lands in the Pilbara – home to the largest uncontained contaminated site in the world.
For eighty years, blue asbestos mining and its waste have poisoned Banjima Country. Every Banjima family has been touched by this tragedy, with Aboriginal communities in Western Australia suffering amongst the highest mesothelioma death rates in the world.
Watch the trailer here.
Additional Q&A Screenings Nationwide
- Sydney: 6:45pm Thursday, 6 November – Randwick Ritz (with Peter Garrett, Johnnell Parker, Yaara Bou Melhem)
- Perth: 2pm Sunday, 9 November – Luna Leederville (with Ernie Dingo, Johnnell Parker, Yaara Bou Melhem)
- Melbourne: Wednesday, 12 November – TBC (with Keren Adams of Human Rights Law Centre, Johnnell Parker, Yaara Bou Melhem)
- Melbourne: 6:20pm Thursday, 13 November – IMAX Melbourne (with Jon Faine, Peter Gordon of Gordon Legal, Johnnell Parker, Yaara Bou Melhem)
- Sydney: 3pm Saturday, 15 November – Dendy Newtown (filmmaker-focused Q&A)
Tickets are available at www.yurlucountry.com/screenings or email impact@illuminate-films.com.au for group bookings of 20 or more.
Banjima people have launched a campaign to #CleanUpWittenoom. We invite you to watch the film and #WalkWithBanjima to be part of this change.
Follow the Campaign:
Instagram: @yurlu.country | @cleanupwittenoom
