Wayne Blair was at the Cannes Film Festival two years ago trying to raise money to
make a film about a 1960s Aboriginal girl group who entertain the allied troops in
Vietnam.The film would be Australia’s answer to the Supremes, with girls doing the
Pony, frocks and a potentially dazzling soundtrack. But it was still difficult to make
the money stack up.

Now, the film director is back in Cannes with The Sapphires, 200 auditions and a
couple of investors later, having been given a plum slot in the biggest film festival in
the world. The Weinstein Company has already picked up the film and is selling it to
the world.

“The last 12 months have been a roller-coaster,” Blair said, “and it started in a
rehearsal room in Melbourne Theatre Company!”

The Sapphires is based on a hit play by Tony Briggs, who discovered the story when
his mother mentioned in passing that she had once gone to Saigon to sing with a
group made up of her sisters and cousins. When told the movie of the story was being
shown in Cannes, she thought they meant Cairns, rather closer to home.

Blair was in the original production at Melbourne Theatre Company and the Belvoir
theatre company as an actor; he had also made several successful short films, one of

which – The Djarn Djarns – recently won a Crystal Bear at the Berlin Film Festival. “I
was in the right place at the right time,” he said.

Both play and film amalgamate nine or 10 members of the Briggs family and friends
into four composites; most of their dramatic travails and romances are imaginary,
but the core of the story is true. What became clear as they worked on the original
script, he said, was that it was not just about four individuals. It was also the story of
its times.

Mailman in The Sapphires with Jessica Mauboy, Miranda Tapsell and Shari Sebbens.

In 1968, Blair points out, Aboriginal people had only just won the right to vote in
several states. “Before that, [they] counted as flora and fauna,” Blair said. “But these
young Koori women had the same wants and needs as other women in Australia at
that time, you know. Just simple things. We all want love. They wanted respect in
their country town, to be seen as citizens and not as plants or animals. And they
wanted to achieve things. It’s a film that shows that Aboriginal people did participate
in the world in 1968.”

The four singers are played by Deborah Mailman and Jessica Mauboy – both well-
known faces – with newcomers Miranda Tapsell and Shari Sebbens. Even the famous
contenders did half a dozen auditions. “Deb said she wanted to audition,” Blair said.
The band’s manager is played by Chris O’Dowd, who had just had a huge Hollywood
hit with Bridesmaids. “But Chris is so down-to-earth, it’s not funny. They all looked
after each other.”

The real Sapphires are now in their 60s; three of the Briggs aunts came back to work
at the frontline at a Redfern medical centre. “So they achieved things, but what they
chose to do was come back and serve their community rather than be famous,” Blair
said. “They trust Tony implicitly, but I think they still don’t know the ramifications of
being in Cannes; it’s like my mum thought I meant Cairns and a short trip to
Queensland.”

When the film has its premiere in Melbourne on August 9, he said, he thinks the
crowds will bring home how far their story has gone. For them now, it probably all
feels a very long time ago. “They’re very worldly women and they have a sense of
wisdom about them,” Blair said. They only sing at family occasions now, he adds.
“But they love a tune.”

Stephanie Bunbury – SMH – May 20, 2012