“A testament to First Nations resilience.. a rousing call to action,”

Melbourne International Film Festival

“One of the most compelling stories in Australia at the moment,”

Peter Garrett, Midnight Oil

“Panoramic yet intimate,”

Sydney Film Festival

“Deeply personal and emotionally affecting,”

Matthew Eeles, Cinema Australia

Synopsis

A vivid ode to Country and an intimate portrait of an Aboriginal elder’s final year as he strives to preserve his culture and heal his homeland, scarred by the largest contaminated site in the Southern Hemisphere.

Banjima Elder, Maitland Parker, calls his Yurlu (homelands) “Poison Country” – a haunting, toxic truth etched into his body. Set against the breathtaking yet contaminated landscapes of Western Australia’s Pilbara region, YURLU | COUNTRY lays bare the devastating impact of the Wittenoom asbestos mines, where millions of tonnes of waste laced with deadly asbestos fibres have poisoned both land and people. It’s Australia’s largely unknown Chernobyl-scale disaster and it’s on Banjima lands.

As Maitland battles mesothelioma, an aggressive cancer caused by asbestos exposure, his resolve to fight for his homeland and future generations only strengthens. Through striking cinematography and deeply personal storytelling, the film stands as a testament to the resilience of Banjima and their unbreakable bond with Country. Maitland and his family’s fight for justice, cultural survival, and environmental restoration will inspire, enrage, and catalyse.

This is Maitland’s legacy. YURLU | COUNTRY will honour and immortalise it.

TAKE ACTION

It’s time to heal Banjima Country.  

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AWARDS & NOMINATIONS

WALKLEY AWARD 2025
Winner – Documentary Award

SYDNEY FILM FESTIVAL 2025
World Premiere – Official Selection
Nominated – Documentary Australia Award

DOC EDGE NEW ZEALAND 2025
Winner – Edge of Impact Award

BUFFALO INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL 2025
US Premiere – Official Selection
Winner – Best International Documentary

APRA AMCOS SCREEN MUSIC AWARDS 2025
Winner – Best Music in a Documentary

ASSG AWARDS 2025
Winner – Best Sound in a Documentary

NSW ACS AWARDS 2025
Winner – Silver Award for Cinematography

CAPRICORN FILM FESTIVAL 2026
Winner – Best Feature Documentary

FILM CRITICS CIRCLE AUSTRALIA AWARDS 2026
Nominated – Best Documentary

AACTA AWARDS 2026
Winner – Best Sound in a Documentary
Nominated – Best Documentary
Nominated – Best Cinematography
Nominated – Best Original Score in a Documentary

SIMA AWARDS 2026
Special Mention – Best Documentary

FIFO TAHITI 2026
Official Selection

FIFDH GENEVA 2026
European Premiere – Official Selection
Winner – Vision for Human Rights Award

AIDC 2026
Winner – Best Feature Documentary

HEBDEN BRIDGE FILM FESTIVAL 2026
Winner – Best Feature

XXII FESTIVAL EL OJO COJO 2026
Winner – Wink Prize Feature Documentary

FIFDH Human Rights Vision Award Jury Statement

Yurlu | Country wins for the quiet devastation of its gaze, and determined call to accountability. Yaara Bou Melhem’s hypnotic cinematography holds Banjima Country with tenderness and dignity, and serves as a gentle but unflinching rebuke of the impact of colonial abuse of sovereignty, land, labour, and heritage, whose long tail is experienced in asbestos toxicity still killing today. Yurlu | Country shows clearly how human and environmental rights violations compound and intersect through corporate impunity and government complicity in abnegation of human rights obligations. In the face of a new rush to exploitation, extraction and encroachment everywhere, its urgency is undeniable”

AIDC Best Documentary Feature Jury Statement

“We are thrilled to award Best Feature Documentary to Yaara Bou Melhem’s Yurlu | Country. The Jury would like to honour and acknowledge the significant collaboration by Banjima Elder and advocate Maitland, and the ongoing involvement and connection by the community. Yurlu | Country is a crucial exposé on the environmental and cultural devastation in Western Australia delivered at the hands of corporate entities and the state government, which has severely impacted Aboriginal lives and livelihoods for generations. This is a profoundly moving and visually stunning documentary that interweaves the personal, cultural, and environmental into a story of urgent resonance.”

Walkley Documentary Award Judges Comments

“Yurlu | Country is a powerful, deeply personal meditation on the litany of violence that has been inflicted on the Banjima people and their land in the Pilbara, now contaminated by blue asbestos. Banjima Elder and co-writer Maitland Parker, with filmmaker Yaara Bou Melhem, take us on a haunting journey, as Parker fights not only for his own health but also for his homeland, which is accessible only in hazmat suits and masks.

The film is an urgent call to action for justice for both the land and its people. It’s a profoundly political and deeply poetic film.”

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